The Kings of this Present Age and the Kingdom of God

In our passage this Lord’s Day, the second act of the third movement of Jesus’ passion and suffering, we see the trial of the Son of Man before the Gentile kings of this present age.

The Jewish teachers and leaders of Israel sitting in official session have found Jesus guilty of claiming to be the Divine Son of Man (which implies also the very Divine Son of God, cf. Daniel 7:13-14, Luke 22:66-71, see last sermon on Luke’s Gospel). On motion on the floor of the Jewish Session, (not all agreed to this by “common consent”, cf. Luke 23:51) the Session of the visible church formally acted against the Lord Jesus, and now would seek to demit him through death from the Messianic Office’s of Prophet, Priest and King.

Yet the Jewish Council does not have the authority to actually convict Jesus to a death sentence (John 18:31), so they combine forces and unify with Pontius Pilate and King Herod.