"Instead, just sit down, put a chair in front of you, and imagine God sitting in that chair—then just talk to Him as you would to your best friend. I've been doing that ever since!" Several days later, the daughter of the old man called the minister to tell him that her father had passed away peacefully. And then she said, "Odd thing, though—his hand was on that empty chair beside his bed. Isn't that strange?" "Oh, no," the minister responded, "I understand perfectly—he was reaching out to his very best friend."
What a powerful truth, but I would like to take it even further than that—empty chairs would be the key to the most important series of events in all of human history. Matthew 26:57 tells us, "And they that had laid hold on Jesus led Him away to Caiaphas the high priest, where the scribes and the elders were assembled." This council of the Jewish faith was known as the Sanhedrin. Finding its basis in the appointment of the 70 elders by Moses in Numbers 11:16, it really was a product of the period of time between the Old and New Testaments. The council, in Jesus' day, was comprised of 70 men—23 priests, 23 scribes, and 23 elders, with the high priest presiding. In a rush to get rid of this Galilean trouble maker and have it go their own way, they may have only notified certain of their members—a secret meeting, for it only took one-third of them to have a quorum. If true, this would have resulted in some very"…there was a man named Joseph, a counsellor; and he was a good man, and a just: (the same had not consented to the counsel and deed of them;)" Was this "non-consenting" in personor was he not informed of the meeting and his chair was empty? Maybe there were even others, but even so, they were not nearly as important as the empty chair we are about to see!
conspicuous empty chairs. After the death of Jesus, Luke 23 tells us, as he voted "Nay,"
From beginning to end, what was about to take place was illegal—capital trials were not to be held at night, under the cloak of darkness; at least two agreeable witnesses were required, and they were to be the only prosecutors; if a guilty verdict was the result, it could not be pronounced for at least 24 hours in order to make sure that "cool heads" prevailed; on the third day, a second vote would be taken, and it had to agree with the first in order to proceed with the death penalty; and the list of legal infractions goes on and on. The initial intention was to insure fairness in the proceedings, but fairness was not their objective—they wanted Him dead! You see, there are two ways to want Jesus—dead or alive. Perhaps a graphic illustration will help—Every old western movie had a sheriff's bulletin board plastered with "Wanted: Dead or Alive" posters—remember? Spiritually speaking, we are presented with a very real choice—which way do we really want Jesus: dead or alive?
Oh, sure, most people would not admit that they want Jesus dead—even in the Church—but what else is it when we won't allow Him to be in total control of our lives? It really isn't all that different from these "religious" leaders as they "…sought false witness against Jesus, to put Him to death; But found none: yea, though many false witnesses came, yet found they none. At the last came two false witnesses." (vss. 59-60) For a long time, they couldn't find two that would agree, but they finally did, and this was their story—"…this fellow said, I am able to destroy the temple of God, and to build it in three days."at all! Check out John 2—He didn't say that He would destroy the Jewish temple; He said they would—AND He wasn't even speaking of the building, He was referring of His own body! Isn't it amazing how we will sometimes twist the truth to get what we really want? Even if we just "shade" the truth, we make it clear how we want Jesus—we want Him dead! And look how far we are often willing to go with it—in Jesus day, if the witnesses were found to be false, they, too, suffered the same fate as the accused.
(vs. 61) Now if you didn't know the Scriptures, you would think that they really had Him on that one, but that is not what He said
And then comes a very crucial verse—"And the high priest arose, and said unto Him, Answerest thou nothing?" (vs. 62) "And the high priest arose"—now I know that seems inconsequential, but it isn't. And if you will wait a minute, you will see the amazing truth that is in that often-ignored phrase. What is usually the focus is the fact that Jesus remained silent. In fact, they had no right to try to make Him testify against Himself—this was one of the protections, or safeguards, built into the system. But when the high priest said, "I adjure thee by the living God, that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ, the Son of God." (vs. 63b), Jesus did answer, for what He would then say would give glory to that living God. He said, "Thou hast said: nevertheless I say unto you, Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven." (vs. 64) With that, the high priest, still standing, ripped his robes as a sign of disgust, and accused Jesus of blasphemy.
So why didn't He make His position even clearer? When the high priest stood up in the first place, why didn't Jesus run to the front, push him aside, and take his empty chair? He could"THE LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool…The Lord hath sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek." (110:1,4) In the New Testament, in practically every chapter of the Book of Hebrews, Jesus is declared to be the ultimate High Priest—"Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need." (4:14-16)
have, you know—In Psalms, King David describes it well—
Amazing! Not only did He have every right as the real high priest to take a hold of that empty chair and take it for His own, but the Scriptures also make clear why Hedidnot! Remember—God is in complete control! Just because the high priest and his cohorts think they have Jesus where they want Him, they don't—not really! They want Him dead, but the end result of this event would be life, even life eternal! God was using this whole scenario to accomplish His will—Jesus could not rise with resurrection power and ascend to sit at the right hand of the Father, if He had not first suffered and died in order to take away our sin. Before He could pass into the heavens, the sinless Son of God would do just that—provide the only way there would ever be for us to be forgiven and join Him there. Simply because He is LOVE itself, He was touched by our plight and went the only way that would remedy it—the Cross of Calvary!
Oh, Praise God—even before the high priest and his crew could do their dastardly deed to the fullest, Jesus Christ, the Lord of Glory, brought into view that empty chair in the sky, as well as His soon return in the clouds. Oh, what a Christ! Paul declares that God…"hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus." (Eph. 2:6) If He hadn't done it all, including being resurrected from the dead on the third day and ascended into heaven forty days later, where would we be? Actually, that is a very good question—you can't answer it for me, and I can't answer it for you. It is a very personal issue—where am I, even right now in this very moment? The message of most churches today is that Jesus suffered, died, and rose again, and because of that, everybody's fine. Some twist it a little bit and make church membership, or some other "good work", to be the criteria, but that is not Biblical. Everyone is not fine! There are many—even within the church—that still want Jesus dead. Most would not admit it, but if we don't let Him be our High Priest—not just the one who offers the sacrifice, but also is the sacrifice—we really do want Him dead. In the end, where will you be? Right now—in this very moment—are you raised up next to Him, with your hand on the throne of Grace, boldly reaching out to your very best friend? Remember—it is no longer an empty chair—it holds the resurrected Lord!!!
