Seven Trials of Jesus

Today’s devotion is an excerpt from Jesus, Day by Day - Enjoy!

Today’s Through the Bible Reading: Matthew 26:57-27:26; Luke 22:66-23:12; Mark 14:53-15:5; John 18:13-38

…they had bound Him…and delivered Him to Pontius Pilate the governor. Matthew 27:2

In the Bible, the number seven represents completion. God created the world and rested on the seventh day. Naaman the leper was told to bathe in the Jordan river seven times in order to be completely healed (2 Kings 5:10). Joshua marched around Jericho for seven days before that city was completely destroyed (Joshua 6:3–4). In the book of Revelation, we find Jesus’s seven letters to the seven churches. All of these are glorious depictions of God’s completed work of divine perfection. So when we see Jesus put on trial seven times before His crucifixion, we can be sure it’s significant! With each trial we find man’s utter failure, the breaking of the law, and complete injustice. In contrast, Christ’s perfection was highlighted, prophecy was fulfilled, and God’s divine plan perfectly played out.

~ In the first trial: Jesus was taken to Annas’s house (John18:12–14) where Jesus, the Lamb, was inspected by the high priest, just as the law required (fulfilling Ex. 12:3, 6).

~ In the second and third trials: Jesus was taken to Caiaphas the high priest and the Sanhedrin (Matt. 26:57–27:1; Luke 22:66:23:1). Here Jesus was rejected by His brethren, spat on, struck, and mocked (fulfilling Isa. 50:6).

~ In the fourth, fifth, and sixth trials: Jesus was taken from the Jewish rulers and delivered to Pilate, then to Herod, then back to Pilate (John 18:28–38; Luke 23:7–12; Matt. 27:15–26). And so it had to be! For Psalm 22:16 prophesied that the Messiah would be delivered to the Gentiles and His death had to come by way of the Roman cross (fulfilling Deut. 21:23).

~ In the seventh trial: Finally, Jesus was taken from Pilate’s hall to the court of scourging (Mark 15:16–20) where His back was striped, He was given a crown of thorns, and mocked (fulfilling Isa. 53:5, 50:6).

In these seven trials of Jesus we find the perfect fulfilment of the law and the prophets, the perfect Redeemer, and the perfect Lamb of God—God’s perfect work perfectly completed.