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Chapter 59—Priests and Rulers Continue Plotting
This chapter is based on
John 11:47-54
.
News of the raising of Lazarus was soon carried to Jerusalem.
Through spies the Jewish rulers were speedily in possession of the
facts. A meeting of the Sanhedrin was called at once to decide what
should be done. That mighty miracle was the crowning evidence
offered by God that He had sent His Son into the world for their sal-
vation. It was a demonstration of divine power sufficient to convince
every mind that was under the control of reason and enlightened
conscience.
But the priests were only enraged at this new miracle. The
dead had been raised in the full light of day, and before a crowd of
witnesses. No artifice could explain away such evidence. For this
reason the priests were more than ever determined to put a stop to
Christ’s work.
The Sadducees had not been so full of malignity toward Christ as
were the Pharisees, but now they were thoroughly alarmed. They did
not believe in a resurrection of the dead, reasoning that it would be
impossible for a dead body to be brought to life. But by a few words
from Christ, they were shown to be ignorant both of the Scriptures
and of the power of God. How could men be turned away from Him
who had prevailed to rob the grave of its dead? The miracle could
not be denied, and how to counteract its effect they knew not. After
the resurrection of Lazarus the Sadducees decided that only by His
death could His fearless denunciations against them be stopped.
The Pharisees believed in the resurrection, and they could not but
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see that this miracle was an evidence that the Messiah was among
them. But from the first they had hated Him because He had torn
aside the cloak under which their moral deformity was hidden. The
pure religion that He taught had condemned their hollow professions
of piety. They thirsted to be revenged for His pointed rebukes.
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