ion. He did not need to speak: silence
spoke better than the loudest words could have done. It brought home
to His judges the ridiculousness and the shamefulness of their
position. Even their hardened consciences began to be uneasy, as that
calm Face looked down on them and their procedure with silent dignity.
It was by the uneasiness which he was feeling that the high priest was
made so loud and shrill.

In short, he had been beaten along this second line quite as completely
as he had been along the first. But he had still a last card, and now
he played it. Returning to his throne and confronting Jesus with
theatrical solemnity, he said, "I adjure Thee by the living God that
Thou tell us whether Thou be the Christ, the Son of God." That is to
say, he put Him on oath to tell what He claimed to be; for among the
Jews the oath was pronounced by the judge, not by the prisoner.

This was one of the great moments in the life of Christ. Apparently He
recognised the right of the high priest to put Him on oath; or at least
He saw that silence now might be construed into the withdrawal of His
claims. He knew, indeed, that the question was put merely for the
purpose of incriminating Him, and that to answer it meant death to
Himself. But He who had silenced those by whom the title of Messiah
had been thrust upon Him, when they wished to make Him a king, now
claimed the title when it was the signal for condemnation. Decidedly
and solemnly He answered, "Yes, I am"; and, as if the crisis had caused
within Him a great access of self-consciousness, He proceeded,
"Hereafter shall ye see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of
power and coming in the clouds of heaven." [6] For the moment they
were His judges, but one day He would be their Judge; it was only of
His earthly life that they could dispose, but He would have to dispose
of their eternal destiny.

It has often been said that Christians have claimed for Christ what He
never claimed for Himself; that He never claimed to be any more than a
man, but they have made Him a God. But this great statement, made upon
oath, must impress every honest mind. Every effort has, indeed, been
made to deplete its terms of their importance and to reduce them to the
lowest possible value. It is argued, for example, that, when the high
priest asked if He were "the Son of God," he meant no more than when he
asked if He were "the Christ." But what is to be said of Christ's
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