Luke 22:71

‘And they said, “What further need have we of witness? For we ourselves have heard from his own mouth.”

But it was enough for them. It is clear that they recognised in His reply a positive response. The need for witnesses had therefore now ceased. They were all witnesses to the most amazing blasphemy, for He had convicted Himself out of His own mouth. Thus they had been put in the position that either they must accept His claim and submit to Him, or they must claim it to be blasphemy. And they made their fatal choice. They would not accept Him to be what He claimed, and so to them He was guilty. Feeling therefore that they now had matters under control they determined to persuade Pilate to have Him crucified as a Messianic pretender. They were quite confident that that would finish off His pretensions, and no longer felt in sympathy with Him. But they had in fact, without recognising the fact, lost control. For what they did not realise was that in that moment they had sealed the fate of Jerusalem, and, unless they later repented, their own eternal destinies as well.