The King Behind the Trial | Restoring Warriors Daily Devotional | Matthew 26:64

“You have said so,” Jesus replied. “But I say to all of you: From now on you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.” — Matthew 26:64

If you walked into the courtroom that night, you would have thought Jesus had lost.
He was arrested, falsely accused, abandoned by His disciples, and standing before the most powerful religious leaders in Israel. Caiaphas and the Sanhedrin believed they were in control. They believed they were judging Jesus.
But appearances can be deceiving.
In the middle of His trial, Jesus makes a stunning declaration: one day they will see Him sitting at the right hand of God and coming on the clouds of heaven. The One standing before them in chains was actually the King of Kings. The One being judged was the ultimate Judge. The One who appeared powerless possessed all authority in heaven and on earth.
How often do we make the same mistake? We look at our circumstances and assume God has lost control. A marriage struggles. Finances tighten. A prayer goes unanswered. A door closes. We begin to think God is absent because we can’t see what He’s doing.
But God has never been limited by what is visible.
The cross looked like defeat. The tomb looked like defeat. The trial looked like defeat. Yet every one of those moments was part of God’s greater victory.
As men, we must learn to trust God’s sovereignty even when life doesn’t make sense. Just because God appears silent doesn’t mean He isn’t working. Just because the battle looks lost doesn’t mean the King has surrendered His throne.
The King is still reigning—even when the courtroom says otherwise.
Reflection Question
Where in your life are you allowing your circumstances to convince you that God is not in control?
Daily Challenge
Identify one area of your life that feels uncertain and spend five minutes in prayer surrendering it to God. Refuse to let your circumstances determine your view of His faithfulness.
Prayer
Father, help me trust You when I cannot see what You’re doing. Remind me that You are always on the throne, even when life feels chaotic or uncertain. Strengthen my faith to believe that You are working all things together for Your glory and my good. In Jesus’ name, amen.
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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hey, welcome back to the Restoring Warriors Daily Devotional. I'm Sean, and we're gonna dive back into the book of Matthew today. Before we do, head over to our website. It's called RestoringWarriors.com. All right, and once you're there, click on join a group and you'll see a link to our powerful Restoring Warriors online school community. Would love to see you over there. It's a place for fellowship, it's a place for brothership, it's a place where iron sharpens iron. Head on over there. All right, Matthew chapter 26, verse 64. You have said so, Jesus replied. But I say to all of you, from now on, you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the mighty one and coming on the clouds of heaven. All right, so if you walked into the courtroom that night, you would have thought that Jesus had lost. It didn't look great for him in the moment. He was arrested. All these people falsely accused him. He was abandoned by his brothers, by his disciples, and standing before the most powerful religious leaders in Israel, he was standing in front of Caiaphas and the Sanhedrin, and they believed that they were in control. They believed that they were judging Jesus. But appearances oftentimes can be deceiving. You can't judge a book by its cover, right? In the middle of his trial, Jesus makes a stunning declaration. All right, one that just dropped jaws. One day they will see him sitting at the right hand of God, coming on the clouds of heaven. A bold declaration, right? The one standing before them in chains was actually the king of kings. All right, the one being judged, he was the ultimate judge. The one who appeared powerless, possessed all authority in heaven as well as on earth. All right, so looks can be deceiving. How often do we make the same mistake? We look at our circumstances, we look at the situations we're in, and we assume that God has lost control. Our marriage struggles, finances tighten, right? A prayer goes unanswered, a door closes, we begin to think God is absent because we can't see what he's doing in the background. We can't see it right in front of us. But God's never been limited by what's visible. No, the cross looked like defeat. Anybody on the outside looking in could see that that looked like defeat. The tomb, it looked like defeat. The trial looked like defeat. Yet every one of those moments, every one of those moments was part of God's greater victory. Right? And as men, we have to learn to trust God's sovereignty even when life doesn't make sense, even when it doesn't feel that good, even when from the outside looking in, it seems like everything's collapsing. Just because God appears silent doesn't mean that he's not working. Just because the battle looks lost doesn't mean that the king has surrendered his throne. The king is still reigning. He's still reigning today, even when the courtroom says otherwise. All right, pull out your journals. We're going to take a few minutes. This is a reflection question. I want you to pray and journal about what comes up for you during this reflection question. All right, where in your life are you allowing your circumstances to convince you that God's not in control? And finally, here's your daily challenge. All right, identify one area of your life that feels uncertain and spend five minutes today praying and surrender to God over that area. All right, refuse, refuse to let your circumstances determine how you view his faithfulness. All right, men, let's pray. Heavenly Father, help me trust you. Even when I can't see what you're doing, Lord, remind me that you are always on the throne, even when life feels chaotic and feels uncertain, Lord. Strengthen my faith to believe that you're working all things together for your glory and for my good. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Hey, thank you for tuning in today. If you were encouraged by this devotional, I encourage you to send it to a friend. Make sure you like, make sure you subscribe, leave a comment. All that helps us in the algorithms. Hey, it's an absolute blessing doing ministry with you every day. Can't wait to see you on the next one.