When the confusion and tumult of the Council was at the height, the high priest Caiaphas stood up, and began to attack the leaders of the nation, accusing them of ignorance and thoughtlessness. He had some right in what he said, since he was the chairman of the Council in his capacity of high priest. He had been anointed with oil, symbol of holiness, but he was an Anti-Christ. He was expected to be filled with the Holy Spirit, for God to speak through him as the nation’s leader. Yet he followed error and caprice. In assuming the role of prophet linked to his position as high priest, he described all the people as ignorant.
The type of ‘"rue spirit" that spoke in Caiaphas was exposed, because Satan spoke in him, apparently committed to God’s purposes, but in practice opposed. Doubtless, it was better for the people that the Lamb of God should die in their place, so that they might escape God’s wrath and have eternal life. But Satan’s spokesman was voicing such thoughts for political reasons, "Let Jesus die to rescue us from Roman wrath." With this devilish prediction Christ’s words were justified, that the devil is the father spiritually to many Jews, because he is a liar and father of lies.
In spite of this devilish mentality, John saw that Caiaphas expressed an evil aim, that was implicitly a divine truth. Caiaphas had to explain Jesus’ death as a deliverance for all, not realizing the higher implications of his "authoritative" words. The ignorant unthinking one was Caiaphas, because he did not believe in Jesus, even though the Holy Spirit had led him to utter a sentence on Christ’s atoning death. He failed to grasp the sense of his own words, because he really intended the contrary.
John, the evangelist, perceived the meaning of this statement in the widest range as salvation for the world. Jesus did not die to atone only for the sins of his people, but for every believer among the nations. All who trust in him are the children of God, as by their confidence in the Savior they receive eternal life with its energies and qualities.
The aim of our faith is not just personal salvation, but unity of all God’s children to be one in Christ. His love is the symbol and power of Christianity. His name unites his followers. Whenever they link with their center, they are linked with one another. Let us wake up and hurry towards him, to discover that we are brothers and sisters in God’s family, more intimate than worldly kinship.