Every student of the Bible will be presumed to be familiar with the Great Sanhedrin that can be regarded as equivalent to the modern-day Supreme Court in most countries of the world that pride themselves as subscribers to the doctrine and practice of the Rule of Law. Cases move from lower courts to the highest court in such countries, a court taken to be infallible and final! Our own thoughtful Justice Chukwudi Oputa we called Socrates drummed this into our ears when he said: “We are not final because we are infallible, but we are infallible only because we are final”. So was it in Israel at the time of the Lord Jesus Christ. There are cases that go straight to the Supreme Court if we take Nigeria as an example, matters such as States versus States or States versus the Federal Government. In Israel at the time each town was seat of Sanhedrin, a court of justice consisting of 23 members. Originally, members were a gathering of elders to settle disputes. According to records, it was established by Moses but became courts after the Jews came back from Babylonian captivity. The Great Sanhedrin based in Jerusalem had 70 members saddled with, predictably, religious affairs, then law and the state. On edge following experiences from captivity, the Great Sanhedrin members were also charged with the protection and representation of all the Jews. At its head was the High Priest who as of the time of the Lord was called Caiaphas.

Torah being the body of laws and general rules of conduct purportedly drawn principally from the Divine Revelation of the Commandments and Prohibitions to the chosen Jewish race was the “guidebook” for them. These were read in the Synagogues every Sabbath day. Of the 82 articles of the penal code, Caiaphas had 12 ready to entrap and convict at all costs the Lord Whom the priestly and political establishments had regarded as a threat to their authority, to their hold on power and influence over the people.

The Scribes and Pharisees took exception to Christ making a self-revelation of Himself and to healing on the Sabbath Day. The Lord Christ had said “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” (John 14, 6). He healed a man who had been infirm for 38 years in Jerusalem. The man could not enter a Bethesda pool by a sheep market to bathe and be cleansed, (John 5: 2, 8, 9). He also healed the son of a nobleman sick and close to death at Capernaum (John 4:50). These took place on a Sabbath Day and the Torah fanatics took umbrage. The situation worsened when He said to them: “My Father worketh hitherto, and I work. Therefore, the Jews sought the more to kill him, because not only had He broken the sabbath, but said also that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God.” (John 5: 17-18). “Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you. The Son can do nothing of Himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever He doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise. For the Father loveth the Son and sheweth Him all things that Himself doeth: and He will shew Him greater works than these, that ye may marvel.” (John 19-20). Those who witnessed the Lord heal a man who had been blind from birth made similar remarks as those who were disturbed in the earlier cases: “This man is not of God, because he keepeth not the sabbath day. (John 9: 16).

These were not all; they sought to put Him on a collision course with Rome by asking Him questions about payment of taxes, “And they send unto him certain of the Pharisees and of the Herodians, to catch Him in His words. And when they were come, they say unto Him, Master, we know that thou art true, and carest for no man: for thou regardest not the person of men, but teachest the way of God in truth: Is it lawful to give tribute to Ceasar, or not? Shall we give, or shall we not give? But He, knowing their hypocrisy, said unto them, Why tempt me? Bring me a penny, that I may see it. And they brought it. And He saith unto them. Who is this image and superscription? And they said unto Him, Cesser’s. And Jesus answering said unto them, Render unto Ceasar the things that are Ceasar’s, and to God the things that are God’s. And they marvelled at Him” (Mark 12: 13-17). Drake’s Annotated Reference Bible.

Several instances to entrap the Lord. Consider also the betrayal of Judas Iscariot who had linked with the Resistant Movement to rope Him and pass Him as leader of the armed rebellious group. Part of the plot was to give Him an unforgettable reception during which He would be haled as the King of Israel. The country had long sought to throw off the yoke of Rome and the Resistant Movement thought the time to get the Lord Jesus endorse and present Him as the leader in their quest was during the Passover in Jerusalem when pilgrims in multitudes would gather. And indeed, they staged the reception that surprised the Lord. On the occasion there were cries and there was rejoicing: “Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord.”

The Lord rode on camel’s back quite all right, but these praise-singing and hailing meant absolutely nothing to Him. He had no use of earthly power. His Mission was far too sublime. It was not to enslave but to free; it was to release human beings from their errors, weaknesses and attendant guilt that hinders ascent to the luminous Kingdom of His Father that is Paradise. He could see through the plot. He headed for the Temple and in addressing the congregation among whom were the warriors who had come to do battle, said that submission to the Will of the Father was paramount and that all should love their fellowmen. He even commanded them to love their enemies. Members of the resistant movement could not believe their ears and they concluded that they had been conned by Judas. Caiaphas was lurking in the shadows in all these. Although disappointed, but convinced, however, that Judas hated his Master no end, and could still be useful. He quickly buried his disappointment and struck a deal with him to return to the Master so that when it was time to get Him, the disloyal Disciple would be able to reveal the Lord’s whereabouts.

How did the hatred of Judas arise? Hatred for Him Who had, at every turn, been overwhelming His helper with love! But Judas had his firm gaze elsewhere, on materialism. He was always disappointed at how some of the people healed and many grateful listeners deeply touched by the Lord’s address had attempted to demonstrate their gratitude by offering Him their wealth but which the Lord would not accept. His Master always rejected the gifts. Judas found this inexplicable. When they should be swimming in material comfort, Judas reasoned, murmuring, they were going about like vagrants living from hand to mouth!

The Penal Code Caiaphas had ready for reference and to invoke against the Son of God read as follows Article by Article:
1). He who knowingly and deliberately transgresses the Sabbath commandment or any other precept of the Torah is an impious person;
2). He must be warned;
3). If he does not heed the warning, and continues to offend against the Torah, he must be sentenced to death and stoned.
4). He who doubts the Divine origin of the Torah will suffer death by burning.
6). The Great Sanhedrin in the Temple of Jerusalem dispenses justice in the full authority of God. God Himself respects these judicial decisions.
13). He who rebels against the officiating clergy in Jerusalem is deserving of death.
16). He who openly utters the name of Jahveh is a blasphemer.
21). The convicted blasphemer will be stoned.
52). A pseudo-prophet is a renegade preacher who seeks by means of visions, illusions, false oracles, magic, exorcism, hallucination or genuine miracles to seduce Israel to apostasy.
55). A pseudo-prophet must be judged by the Great Sanhedrin, and be executed in Jerusalem.
76). The President of the Great Sanhedrin has the right in exceptional cases to pass over any obstructive regulations in order to put a swift and radical end to apostasy. Such an action is called the Horaath Schaah, an action according to the need of the moment.
82). Even the execution of an innocent person can serve in the maintenance of law and order, and the salvation of god’s people.

The trial of the Son of God became urgent after He raised Lazarus back to life in Bethany after Mary and Martha asked Him for help over their brother who had taken seriously ill. The act stirred up great sensation on the one hand and raised hope of the imminent coming of the Messiah on the other in the widespread belief they had harboured that the calling of dead people to life was to precede His emergence and that the liberation from Rome was in the offing. While it generated the enheartening feeling of the liberation it struck alarm in the hearts of the Jewish leaders who feared for their own power and influence being taken away. And they asked the Envoy of God: “Tell us, by what authority doest thou these things or who is he that gave thee this authority?” The leaders consisted of the High Priest, scribes and elders who also constituted the Great Sanhedrin. An urgent and special meeting was convened at the behest of Caiaphas to discuss the Lazarus situation: “What do we? For this man doeth many miracles. If we let him thus alone, all men will believe on him: and the Romans shall come and take away both our place and nation.” (John 11, 47-48). Exploiting the confusion in the minds of his colleagues, Caiaphas convinced them that the Son of God Whom he described as troublesome and dangerous must be done away with. He referred them to Article 82 of the penal code so they could invoke it: “Even the execution of an innocent person can serve in the maintenance of law and order, and the salvation of God’s people.” “It is expedient for us, that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not.”

An announcement was made for all the Jews to give information about the whereabouts of the Lord Jesus; town-criers read out the announcement by the priests in the streets of Jerusalem that the Lord Jesus of Nazareth had been sentenced to death for blasphemy by the supreme court of justice. The announcement was crafted in a way that the pilgrims and the people normally resident in Jerusalem who had only a few days hailed the Son of the Most high as the King of the Israel on whom they had pinned hopes for national liberation changed their attitude and felt that they had been deceived. Practically every who-was-who from members of the Sanhedrin to Temple priests, scribes, pharisees and Sadducees joined the crowd in their hostility. The wife of Pontious Pilate had been disturbed and she warned her husband: “Have thou nothing to do with the death of that just man: for I have suffered many things this day in a dream because of him.” The Jews were unrelenting. They lied against the Son of the Most High. Pilate washed off his hands. The Lord was humiliated, He carried the cross on which He was to be nailed, He was jeered…in the end He was executed like a common criminal. The Prince of Peace: the Personification of Love as the Love Arm of the Father Who had sent Him to bring the Truth to erring mankind and lay open the way back to Paradise. Until His Coming no human spirit had succeeded in getting back to Paradise. His Coming provided the keys to the Golden Gate of the Spiritual Realm more known as Paradise.

French writer Ernest Schmitt wrote: “Life-giving Word of God against dead-letter belief and intellectual sophistry. Divine Love defeated by the hatred of those whom It wished to save. The Son of God sentenced as blasphemer, because He neither could nor would deny His Origin, even at the price of His earth-life. A drama of comic dimensions, and the gravest crime that was ever committed.”

John the Apostle wrote: “In Him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.” (John 1, 4-5).

Up till today, a great many in Christendom do say the Son of God died for the sins of mankind with all the tribulations and humiliation He went through when it should have been: He died because of our sins. Mankind did not recognise the Son of God how much more think of protecting Him from persecution and harm. Indeed, punny human beings dared to lay hands on Him. It is revealed in higher knowledge on earth today that in not one case has it occurred in which an Envoy of God was recognized or made welcome. The Mission is always entangled in recrimination befuddled by man’s own ideas and expectations. Whether they are Prophets, Teachers of Mankind or Forerunners, from lack of recognition they had been faced with hostilities and incalculable suffering. Every time the expectation of mankind never accorded with God’s design and His Will.

There have been tremendously shaken events on earth manifesting in seven Light Manifestations over millennia. And 150 years ago today, mankind still in slumber were launched into the Age of Everlasting Testament with a most unique occurrence which will lead into the complete enthronement of the Will of God; when only what is in harmony with It shall stand no matter what it may be, man or systems—social, political or economic. The wars, chaos and confusion; political instability and economic collapse, are gales of purification and the trumpets of the proverbial World Judgment to install the new order according to His Will. We mankind are never on the alert; we are ever in slumber and the picture of the wakeful has never corresponded with the reality of God’s Will! What are these times saying to us?

“In Him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and darkness comprehended it not!”

This year’s unique Easter Festival on 18 April, 2025, has provided a most opportune time for deep reflection over the waves of the Rays of Light around us and our world.