And this spake he, not of himself, but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation. John 11:51
Many years ago, a bitter opponent of Christians in a European country had devised a plan for eliminating all of the churches in his region. With his considerable authority and money, he managed to secretly buy up all of the land around every church. When his land purchases were all finalized, this man announced that he would prevent anyone from crossing his property to enter any of the churches. Setting up guards on his new properties to prevent the faithful from reaching their churches, this man called in his like-minded friends and threw a great victory party, confident that Christianity in the region was defeated. But at his party, the tyrant suffered a seizure and died. Because he had no children, all of his property went to his brother. The brother, deeply ashamed of what had happened, quickly donated all of the properties to the churches which they surrounded, leaving them better off than they would have been had the wicked man left them alone. God can, and often does, use wicked men to His purposes.
The declaration of Caiaphas that Jesus should die for the people carries far more meaning and far greater impact than what Caiaphas intended. This wicked man had his intention that Jesus of Nazareth should be disposed of. And the conspiracy to carry out that disposal went into effect that day. But what Caiaphas could not know was that his words, and his actions that followed, were in perfect harmony with the everlasting purposes of God. Instead of thwarting the mission of the Lord Jesus, Caiaphas was actually setting into place the very plan that would enable the fulfilment of prophecy in the rejection, suffering, and death of the Messiah.
Led by Caiaphas, the Jewish leaders were determined to get rid of the meddling Galilean. Beginning with Caiaphas’ declaration that Jesus should die for the people, they began their campaign of spying, plotting, and recruiting that eventually let to Christ’s betrayal and false trials. The experts on the Old Testament failed to see how they were falling right into line with the prophecies they claimed to hold in such high esteem. If in the greatest event in this world’s history God uses His enemies to work His purposes, how can we doubt that He uses enemies today to advance the efforts of the Lord’s people?
Do not be dismayed today if you encounter opposition to the Gospel and to your testimony. God may well be using that very opposition for your blessing and His glory. -Jim MacIntosh