Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 1364
“Jesus said unto him, You have said (or said so), nevertheless, I say unto you, Hereafter shall you see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of the Power, and coming on the clouds of Heaven.” Matthew 26:64.
Our Lord, before His enemies, was silent in His own defense, but He faithfully warned and boldly avowed the Truth of God. His was the silence of patience, not of indifference—of courage, not of cowardice. It is written that “before Pontius Pilate He witnessed a good confession,” and that statement may, also, be well applied to His utterances before Caiaphas, for there He was not silent when it came to confession of necessary Truths of God. If you will read the chapter now open before us, you will notice that the High Priest commanded Him to speak the truth, saying, “Are You the Christ, the Son of God?” to which He replied at once, “You have said it.”
He did not disown His Messiahship. He claimed to be the Promised One, the Messenger from Heaven, Christ the Anointed of the Most High. Neither did He, for a moment, disavow His personal Deity! He acknowledged and confessed that He was the Son of God. How could He be silent when such a vital point as to His Person was in question? He did not hold them in suspense, but openly declared His Godhead by saying, “I am,” for so are His words reported by one of the Evangelists.
He then proceeded to reveal the solemn fact that He would soon sit at the right hand of God, even the Father. In the words of our text He declared that those who were condemning Him would see Him glorified and, in due time, would stand at His bar when He would come upon the clouds of Heaven to judge the quick and dead according to our Gospel. See, then, dear Brothers and Sisters, in a few words, the great Truths of our holy religion clearly set forth by our Lord Jesus! He claimed to be the Christ of God and the Son of God! And His brief statement, by implication, speaks of Jesus dead, buried and risen, and now enthroned at the right hand of God in the power of the Father, and Jesus soon to come in His glorious Second Advent to judge the world in righteousness.
Our Lord’s confession was very full and, happy is he who heartily embraces it! I intend to dwell upon three catchwords around which there gathers a world of encouraging and solemn thought. The first is, “nevertheless,” and the second is, “hereafter.” What the third is you shall know later, but not just now.
I. “NEVERTHELESS,” said Christ, “hereafter shall you see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power, and coming on the clouds of Heaven.” This, then, is the string from which we must draw forth music. “Nevertheless,” which, being interpreted by being pulled in pieces, signifies that the Truth of God is never-the-less sure because of opposition. “Nevertheless,” not one atom the less is the Truth of God certain to prevail for all that you say or do against it. Jesus will surely sit at the right hand of the Power and come in due season, upon the clouds of Heaven.
Let us dwell for a little time upon this important fact, that the Truth of God is none the less certain because of the opposition of men and devils. Observe, first, that the Savior’s condition when He made use of that, “nevertheless,” was no proof that He would not rise to power. There He stood, a poor, defenseless, emaciated Man, newly led from the night watch in the garden and its bloody sweat. He was a spectacle of meek and lowly suffering led by His captors like a lamb to the slaughter, with none to speak a word on His behalf. He was surrounded by those who hated Him and He was forsaken by His friends.
Scribes, Pharisees, priests were there, all thirsting for His heart’s blood. A lamb in the midst of wolves is but a faint picture of Christ standing there before the Sanhedrim in patient silence. And yet, though His present condition seemed to contradict it, He who was the faithful and true Witness spoke truly when He testified, “Nevertheless, hereafter you shall see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of Heaven. Despite My present shame and suffering, so it shall be.” He gives
Himself that lowly, humble title of Son of Man, as best indicating Himself in His condition at that time. “Hereafter you shall see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power, and coming on the clouds of Heaven.”
The humiliation of Christ did not in the least endanger His later Glory. His sufferings, His shame, His death, even, did not render it any the less certain that He would climb to His Throne. Nor did the caviling of His opposers keep Him, for one instant, from His place of honor. I want you to remember this, for there is a great principle in it. There are many poor weak-minded people who cannot take sides with a persecuted Truth of God, nor accept anything but the most popular and fashionable form of religion. They dare not be with the Truth of God when men spit in its face, or buffet it, or pour contempt upon it—but it will be victorious, none the less, although cowards desert it and false-hearted men oppose it.