Luke 22:70

He knew the secrets of their hearts, that they who had not believed His works would much less believe His words. Hence it follows, And he said unto them, If I tell you, ye will not believe, &c. As if he said, There is no time left to you any longer for discourses and teaching, but hereafter shall be the time of judgment, when ye shall see Me, the Son of man, sitting on the right hand of the power of God. When then they heard this, they ought to have been afraid, but after these words they are the more frantic; as it follows, All said, &c. Whereby it is manifest, that the disobedient reap no advantage, when the more secret mysteries are revealed to them, but rather incur the heavier punishment. Wherefore such things ought to be concealed from them.

Then said they all,....

After the revolutions of many ages, it is at length come, Isa. lxiii. And, it is observable, it is in the very first month of that year that the redemption is wrought out, so much in haste was the Redeemer to perform his undertaking, so was he straitened till it was accomplished.

We should notice, firstly, in these verses — the shameful treatment that our Lord Jesus Christ underwent at the hands of His enemies . We read that the guards "mocked" Him, "beat" Him, "blindfolded" Him, and "struck Him in the face." It was not enough to have taken a prisoner a person of most blameless and charitable life — they must needs add insult to injury. Conduct like this shows the desperate corruption of human nature. The excesses of savage malice to which unconverted men will sometimes go, and the fierce delight with which they will sometimes trample on the most holy and the most pure — almost justify the strong saying of an old divine, that "man left to himself — is half-beast and half-devil!" He hates God, and all who bear anything of God's image. "The carnal mind is enmity against God." (Romans 8:7.) We have probably a very faint idea of what the world would become, if it were not for the constant restraint that God mercifully puts upon evil. It is not too much to say that if unconverted men had their own way entirely — the earth would soon be little better than a Hell! Our Lord's calm submission to insults like those here described, shows the depth of His love towards sinners. Had He so willed, He could have stopped the insolence of His enemies in a moment. He who could cast out devils with a word, could have summoned legions of angels to His side, and scattered those wretched tools of Satan to the winds. But our Lord's heart was set on the great work he had come on earth to do. He had undertaken to purchase our redemption by His own humiliation — and He did not flinch from paying the uttermost farthing of the price. He had undertaken to drink the bitter cup of vicarious suffering to save sinners — and "for the joy set before Him, He despised the shame," and drank the cup to the very dregs! (Hebrews 12:2.)

We should notice, firstly, in these verses — the shameful treatment that our Lord Jesus Christ underwent at the hands of His enemies . We read that the guards "mocked" Him, "beat" Him, "blindfolded" Him, and "struck Him in the face." It was not enough to have taken a prisoner a person of most blameless and charitable life — they must needs add insult to injury. Conduct like this shows the desperate corruption of human nature.

Art thou then the Son of God? - They all insisted on an answer to this question, and the high priest particularly put it to him, Mat 26:63.