And I became like a man who does not hear

and hath no answer in his mouth.

For in Thee, O Lord, I trust;

Thou shalt hear, O Lord my God" (Psalm 37:13-16).

In view of the widespread eschatological ideas about the Heavenly Temple that the Messiah will bring with him, we understand the next step of the high priest in the interrogation, who finally took the whole matter into his own hands. He asked Jesus directly if He was the Messiah.

2. The high priest's question: "Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?" In this matter, some points should be noted:

The designation of God as "Blessed" is unusual among Christians, but was accepted among the Jews, who so sometimes substituted for the unpronounceable Name of God. There were a lot of substitutes for the Name of God: the Lord, the Mighty, the Almighty, Heaven, the Holy One, including the Blessed One.

And again: in the promise given to Nathan about David, among other things, it says: "He will build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his father, and he will be my son" (2 Samuel 7:13-14). In one of the Qumran commentaries on this passage from the Book of 2 Samuel it is said: "I will be his father, and he will be my son: this is about the offspring of David, who will appear with the teacher of the law, and who will be in Zion at the end of days" (4_Qflor_1:11). That is, according to Jewish ideas, the Messiah (as the Son of David) must be the Son of God (of course, in the sense of adoption, as an adopted son).

Thus, the question of the high priest is formulated in the Gospel in the Jewish way. Therefore we have no reason to doubt that he was appointed high priest in this way. And this question finally and irrevocably prepared the ground for the condemnation of Jesus. It is quite clear that Jesus, realizing that it was time to put an end to the shameful spectacle in which He would be condemned, no matter what He said, did not hesitate to answer that yes, He was the Messiah. In typical His manner, He explained this title by another name for the Messiah, the Son of Man:

"Jesus said, 'I;

and ye shall see the Son of man;

Who sits at the right hand of power

and coming on the clouds of heaven."

Yes, He is the Messiah, sent by God to establish the Kingdom of God on earth. And they will "see" His messengership, see Him sitting at the right hand of the Power (i.e., God), and coming with the clouds of heaven. At the same time, Jesus Christ, so that no one would have any doubts, briefly quotes the famous passage from the book of the prophet Daniel: "I saw in night visions, behold, with the clouds of heaven came as the Son of man, and came to the Ancient of Days, and was brought up to Him. And to Him was given power, glory, and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and tongues should serve Him; His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom shall not be destroyed" (Dan. 7:13-14).