The high priest asked again, “Are you the Christ, The Son of the Living God?†“I am,†Jesus said. And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of God and coming on the clouds of heaven. The high priest tore his robes. “Why do we need any more witnesses?†he asked. “you have heard his blasphemy. What do you think?†They all condemned Him to death. (Mark 14:61b-64 NIV)
Here Jesus is making a statement to Caiaphas himself. Jesus could not be any clearer. He told him, “and you Caiaphas will see the Son of Man coming in power and great glory.†Somehow Caiaphas saw Christ. What I want to draw attention to is the fact that we will all see Jesus one day. Whether by His coming or by our death we will all see him. What is important is HOW will we meet him? Will it be as Savior or judge? Do we accept Christ’s claim that he is the way, the truth, and the life? And that he has made satisfaction for our sins? Or do we reject His claim as savior of mankind and go our own way? Caiaphas met him as judge because he rejected him repeatedly. Knowing that Jesus’ message was different and that his power was supernatural he still hardened his heart to the Scriptures and their vindication of Christ as the promised Messiah. So he was judged. We don’t know if Caiaphas died before A.D. seventy or if he was killed in the mayhem when Jerusalem was overthrown. But one thing is certain. We have no promise of tomorrow. What we do with Jesus determines our eternal destiny. Caiaphas showed that he had no need for Jesus; do we learn from his mistake and embrace Christ as our Lord or like Caiaphas show the same disregard?