Commentary on the Gospel of John

                                  Chapter Eighteen

                                                                                                                                              Verses 12-14

The mob arrested Jesus and took Him into the presence of Annas who was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, the high priest. Apparently, Annas was also considered to be a high priest. Luke 3:2. But Judaism had always had only one high priest. Why they had two at that time is not clear.

Caiaphas had prophesied to the Jews that they needed a man to die for the people, but he had misinterpreted what that meant. Both Caiaphas and the Romans knew that there were bands of zealots among the Jews who secretly fomented open rebellion against the Romans. Caiaphas also knew that should rebellion come, the Jews had no chance against the powerful Roman army who would crush his people and destroy his nation. Since Caiaphas hated Jesus anyway, he devised a wicked plot to arrest Jesus , turn Him over to the Romans, accuse Him of having a desire to be king of the Jews which would give the Romans the idea that Jesus was a leader of the zealots, and have the Romans crucify Jesus which would discourage the zealots who hoped to use Jesus' power to free their nation from Roman rule, and mollify the Romans by showing that the rulers of the Jews were willing to turn rebels over to the Romans. By doing all this, Caiaphas could take credit for saving his nation from destruction. John 19:12-13.

What Caiaphas did not realize was that the Holy Spirit had given him this prophecy that Jesus would die for the spiritual salvation of not only his people but for the people of the whole world. John 11:47-53.