The First Group's Confusion. (The Group of 7:12c.)

For illustration, see Peter's confession to Christ upon hesitancy over John's position.

A piece of the puzzle of the Portrait of Christ lay in each of their hands but their blindness kept them from seeing and assimilating it for their own benefit. Some said He was the Prophet of Moses' prophecy, others said, the Christ.

All the evidence was before them to meet their understood requirements to believe but they could not see. In Him was personified all that was prophesied in the Old Testament, plus two final compelling conditions that glared here for recognition:

The crowd becomes divided and the chasm between the Council and Christ deepens. Has not this been Satan's age-old battle tactic first seen used to separate Eve from Adam, then Adam from God, etc., etc... Here we see it at work again, and his puppets snap at the moment to seize their prey. But, failing to recognize who some say He is, they underestimate His Power and Stealth. (Watch for this tactic in your own relationships. Recognize its source and deal with him, not the person with whom you are presently at odds. This is where the battle really exists. Once you do this, then victory is yours! Try it, won't you. All of us have someone [or ones] with whom this occurs. Sometimes, these are well-wishers who mean good but are constant thorns we can't seem to extract, no matter how hard we try. Stop seeing the person with whom you are engaged as the enemy. He or she is not! There is one behind them of which they know nothing about, and because humans respond to all attacks in the natural realm, Satan continues to use and is successful with this worn out method. He never changes -- why should He, when it works! This was the key to Christ' success. Study Jesus' words to Peter - Mt.16:22-23 & Lk.22:31. Fortunately for Peter, Satan was not successful and Peter and Jesus could not be separated. But unfortunately for Judas, he was successful, and you are aware of the end result of that divided relationship! Oh yes, don't forget in your hypersensitivity to others' shortcomings, that you aren't used yourself sometimes as agents against them. Hard to admit? No harder for you than it is for them, when neither can see its source. So, guard against both frontal and rear attacks!)

Unable to defeat Christ in a battle of words, the rulers will not concede defeat in their conspiracy. The failure in His arrest speaks volumes to the confusion and uncertainty that surrounded this Council's ill-conceived plan for His arrest and condemnation.

But Christ has succeeded in bringing them out into the open. Their strategy of secrecy they hoped to be to their advantage has vanished before them as equally as Christ has eluded His arrest (as on other occasions). It is not time. He will be heard to say later that no man can take Him unless He is willing, and for now, it is not the Father's Will.

Unable to succeed in their intentions, and suspecting there are Council members who are traitors to their cause, they immediately turn on themselves to find fault in this failure. Nicodemus speaks to His defense (whether a believer yet it is not known -- if not, he soon will be).

Their ire is provoked and their prejudice against Galileans surfaces; Jesus is condemned by them solely on the basis of adult residency. Consider all the previous signs (signs that the people were willing to accept, only most awaiting their Rulers' assent) these arrogant ones had to ignore in order to continue with their rejection of this miracle worker, one with whom even their guards were impressed.

It is clear now that these Rulers have chosen a path in which there will be no turning away from until they have achieved their desired goal. They have expended too much time, energy, and pride in their efforts to save face if they were to recant now. There will be no reasoning with them. Nicodemus is silenced, and likely because he is reminded of his own like origins, a little dejected. This may have been the catalyst that finally drove him to Jesus.