The Jewish leaders had been often bitterly incensed by His teaching and His actions before. His bold seizure of authority now decided them: they resolved on His death.[201] He was apprehended[202] and brought before the Sanhedrin,[203] _i.e._, the High Court of Judæa. Evidence was led against Him, but it proved very unsubstantial;[204] so the High Priest, the president of the court, formally asked Him, “Art thou the Christ, the Son of God?” and He answered in the affirmative.[205] Since they did not believe His claim, they could only come to the conclusion that He was an irreligious impostor, impiously arrogating divine authority to Himself. Consequently they declared that He ought to be put to death for blasphemy against God.[206] But the Sanhedrin could not put anyone to death; the sanction of the Roman Governor was necessary.[207] He was therefore dragged before Pilate. Here they did not charge Him with blasphemy, but with rebellion against the Roman Emperor. ‘The King of the Jews’ was a synonym for ‘the Christ’; so they argued that Jesus, in claiming to be the Christ, claimed the sovereignty of the Jews, and was therefore guilty of rebellion against Tiberius.[208] Pilate knew perfectly well that the Jewish leaders were jealous of Jesus, and that the charge was a mere pretence;[209] his Roman sense of justice revolted against the execution of an innocent man; and he wished to save Him; but they played upon his fears, and finally succeeded in wringing a condemnation from him.[210] It was because the Roman soldiers were struck with the extreme absurdity of the idea of Jesus being a rival of Tiberius, that they got up their pitiable comedy of a court, and did Him mock homage as King of the Jews. So He was led away to Calvary and crucified, and above His head on the cross was written, in three languages (Hebrew, Greek and Latin), the charge against Him,— JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS. Thus Jesus took good care that there should be no doubt as to what He claimed to be: He did not write a book, nor cut an inscription on a rock, _but He let Himself be crucified_, that all men to the end of time might know that He claimed to be the Christ.[211] * * * * * Now let us see what He meant when He called Himself the Christ. To get to understand this fully would be to learn the complete meaning of His teaching; for it is such a perfect organism that every member of it is closely related to every other member; yet we may gain sufficient insight for our purpose from a broad survey.