<p>26:65&nbsp;<i>Then the high priest tore his garments, saying</i>- Declaring the end of his priesthood, to be replaced by the Lord Jesus. The Lord was crucified for blasphemy; this was the charge on which He was found guilty at His trial by the Jews, and the basis upon which they demanded His crucifixion. The Mishnah claims that this was only possible if someone actually used the Yahweh Name.&nbsp;<i>Sanhedrin</i>&nbsp;7.5 outlines the protocol for condemning someone for this, in terms which have accurate correspondence with the Lord&rsquo;s trial: &ldquo;The blasphemer is not guilty until he have expressly uttered the Name... When the trial is over... the judges stand up and rend their clothes&quot; (Quoted in F.F. Bruce,&nbsp;<i>The Spreading Flame (</i>Grand Rapids: Eerdmans<i>, </i>1995 ed.), p. 53). So when the Lord responded to their question as to His Messiahship by saying &ldquo;I am&quot;, and went on to appropriate the Messianic words of Dan. 7:13 and Ps. 110:1 to Himself, He must have explicitly used the Yahweh Name about Himself. This is why they were so quick to accuse Him of blasphemy, and why the High Priest rent his clothes. The Lord died because He declared the Yahweh Name, unashamedly, knowing that His declaration of it would take Him to the cross. Our declaration of the essence of Yahweh, by truthfulness, forgiveness... this may cost us, although maybe not so dearly. Yet we can be inspired by the Lord&rsquo;s example.&nbsp;</p><p><i>He has spoken blasphemy. What further need have we of witnesses? You have now heard the blasphemy</i>- Again, legal procedure, which they had tried so carefully to follow, was made a mockery of. They began with a conviction of plotting to destroy the temple buildings, then turned that into an accusation that He was a &quot;Christ, the Son of God&quot;, a rival to Caesar; and now they jump on the charge of blasphemy, for which they gave Him the death penalty. And yet the Jews had no legal power to execute people; they had to present their case to the Roman authorities. And blasphemy was not a capital offence under Roman law. Their careful attempts to follow legal integrity broke down in pathetic collapse, and thereby they condemned themselves. The same word,&nbsp;<i>blasphemeo</i>, is then used of how the Jews &quot;reviled&quot; or blasphemed the Lord as He hung on the cross (27:39; Lk. 22:65). They had earlier accused the Lord of blasphemy at least twice during His ministry (Mt. 9:3; Jn. 10:36 s.w.). So they should have thought of that earlier in the trial, seeing they themselves were the witnesses of that supposed crime. We are left with the impression of a judge and jury increasingly desperate to find the Lord guilty, progressively throwing their integrity and legalism to the winds in their obsession to make Him guilty of death. Little wonder that Pilate later remonstrated with them that Jesus was simply not legally guilty of any capital offence. But the more he made that point to them, the more they screamed for His death.&nbsp;</p>