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Sermons about Judas Iscariot – SermonCentral.com
Judas Iscariot was a thief, he was never a believer as the others, he sat under the teaching of Jesus for over 3 years, he would be a tool of the devil, never …
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Date Published: 6/13/2022
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4 Things We Can Learn from Judas – The Gospel Coalition
Judas Iscariot was a gospel preacher! He was given the gift of healing, and he exercised authority over demons. Active involvement in ministry …
Source: www.thegospelcoalition.org
Date Published: 9/30/2021
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Sermon on Judas Iscariot | Priceless Lessons from Judas
1) He was taught the gospel and heard about the kingdom of God according to Luke 8:1. · 2) He heard the meaning of the parable of the sower …
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Date Published: 7/20/2022
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And Judas Iscariot…. – Sermons & Articles – Preaching.com
“_And Judas Iscariot._”–Mark 3:19 · First: He gives us a lesson as Christians. · Second: I learn also from Judas that environment is not enough for the …
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Common Men, Uncommon Calling: Judas Iscariot, Part 1
Sometimes you come to church, you sit in here with thousands of people and you think I’m preaching to you. I am, but the point is, I don’t know you, but God …
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Date Published: 6/8/2021
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Our text today deals with a man named Judas Iscariot. He is …
Yet, we see the same thing happening around us all the time. People sit in church for a lifetime, under the Word of God, the preaching of the Gospel, the …
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- Author: Pastor Greg Laurie
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- Date Published: 2015. 9. 15.
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What can we learn about Judas Iscariot?
Judas Iscariot was one of the Twelve Apostles. He is notorious for betraying Jesus by disclosing Jesus’ whereabouts for 30 pieces of silver. Judas brought men to arrest Jesus and identified him with a kiss. Jesus was then arrested, tried, and executed.
What are the characteristics of Judas Iscariot?
In Matthew, Judas is depicted as a traitor of a Davidic king and a failure as a disciple. In Acts, the portrait of Judas presents him as an apostate apostle and a defeated enemy of God’s people. In Papias, Judas is characterized as a greedy and intemperate miscreant who plots against a righteous benefactor.
Why did Judas turn in Jesus?
Matthew directly states that Judas betrayed Jesus for a bribe of “thirty pieces of silver” by identifying him with a kiss—”the kiss of Judas”—to arresting soldiers of the High Priest Caiaphas, who then turned Jesus over to Pontius Pilate’s soldiers.
What is the meaning of Judas Iscariot?
Definition of ‘Judas Iscariot’
2. a person who betrays a friend; traitor. 3. a brother or relative of James and also of Jesus (Matthew 13:55).
Is Judas Iscariot a saint?
The devotion to him as patron saint of desperate causes began in France and Germany in the late 18th century. St. Jude is distinguished in John 14:22 as Judas but “not Iscariot” to avoid identification with the betrayer of Jesus, Judas Iscariot.
Did Judas make it into heaven?
It is one step, but looking to Jesus as the crucified, risen Savior for one’s soul is what brings salvation, assurance of being in heaven for eternity. So from what Jesus said in Matthew 26:24, it would certainly appear that Judas is not in heaven.
What kind of person is Judas?
The Gospel of John describes Judas as an untrustworthy person. It claims that Judas was the treasurer for Jesus and his 12 disciples, carrying the money bag the group shared and sometimes stealing from it. When a woman put perfume on Jesus shortly before the last supper, Judas objected, the Gospel of John says.
What personality type is Judas?
The Judas Personality defines sociopath and psychopath and delineates where this disordered personality ends and sheer evil begins.
What kind of character was Judas?
White states that by Judas blatantly asking for money, he is not such a good character anymore, but rather a disloyal and greedy friend. Then, as Jesus is predicting the betrayal of one of his disciples, Judas now specifically asks, “Is it I, master?” (26:27).
What was the relationship between Jesus and Judas?
It goes on to describe Judas as Jesus’ closest friend, someone who understands Christ’s true message and is singled out for special status among Jesus’ disciples. In the key passage Jesus tells Judas, “‘you will exceed all of them. For you will sacrifice the man that clothes me.
Who paid Judas betray Jesus?
So he began to look for an opportunity to betray him. Then Satan entered into Judas called Iscariot, who was one of the twelve; he went away and conferred with the chief priests and officers of the temple police about how he might betray him to them. They were greatly pleased and agreed to give him money.
How many pieces of silver did Judas sell Jesus for?
According to the Gospel of Matthew, Judas Iscariot was a disciple of Jesus. Before the Last Supper, Judas went to the chief priests and agreed to hand over Jesus in exchange for 30 silver coins. Jesus was then arrested in Gethsemane, where Judas revealed Jesus’ identity to the soldiers by giving him a kiss.
Sermons about Judas Iscariot
Contributed by Derrick Tuper on May 26, 2015
based on 1 rating | 11,735 views
Judas-probably the most notorious figure in history. But before we claim to be nothing like him I would say, “Hold on; not so fast.” We may not be a Judas but I do think we have the capability to develop some of his characteristics if we’re not careful.
JUDAS ISCARIOT We might look at the bad things people did in scripture-like Cain killing his brother Able or David committing adultery with Bathsheba or Peter denying he knew Jesus and think to ourselves, “I would never do such a thing”. This definitely holds true when it comes to …read more
4 Things We Can Learn from Judas
To learn more about Judas, read Colin Smith’s new book, Heaven, So Near—So Far: The Story of Judas Iscariot (Christian Focus, 2018).
It’s easy to dismiss Judas as a villain or a victim, but I’m struck by the fact that, in many ways, he was just like me.
Judas was a follower of Jesus and a preacher of the gospel, but there was a doublemindedness about him. In the end, he abandoned the faith he once professed.
Here are four things that are easily overlooked in the story of Judas.
1. The Commitment He Made
Judas made a commitment to Jesus, and there’s no reason to think he was anything but sincere in his faith. Like the rest of the disciples, he left everything to follow our Lord. Judas was actively involved in ministry, and he was given remarkable spiritual gifts. Luke tells us that Jesus called “the twelve” together—that included Judas—and “gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal” (Luke 9:1–2).
Judas Iscariot was a gospel preacher! He was given the gift of healing, and he exercised authority over demons. Active involvement in ministry is a good and wonderful thing; but it is not, in itself, a guarantee of spiritual life or health.
2. The Opportunity He Was Given
Judas walked with Jesus for three years. He saw the greatest life ever lived up close and personal. You can’t have a better model of faith than Jesus or a better environment for forming faith than Judas had in walking with the Savior.
He directly witnessed the miracles. When Jesus fed the 5,000, Judas was there. He took the bread and distributed it along with the other disciples. When Jesus calmed the storm, Judas was there. And he was there when Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. You can’t have better evidence for faith than Judas had.
Judas heard all the teaching of Jesus, too. He heard the Sermon on the Mount, so he knew there is a narrow road that leads to life and a broad road that leads to destruction. He heard the warnings Jesus spoke to the Pharisees, so he knew there is a hell to shun and a heaven to gain. He heard the parable of the prodigal son, so he knew God is ready to welcome and forgive those who have wasted themselves in many sins.
With Judas’s own eyes, he saw the clearest evidence. With his own ears, he heard the finest teaching. With his own feet, he followed the greatest example. And yet this man still betrayed Jesus.
With Judas’s eyes, he saw the clearest evidence. With his ears, he heard the finest teaching. With his feet, he followed the greatest example. And yet this man still betrayed Jesus.
The human heart is beyond understanding (Jer. 17:9), and there is something incomprehensible about a person who abandons the faith they once once professed. It’s hard to understand how a young person raised by godly parents in the context of a healthy church, taught the truths of Scripture from an early age, and grounded in apologetics can give up on Jesus.
Judas’s story contains an important lesson for parents, leaders, and friends who grieve over someone they love who has abandoned the faith. They worry:
Where did we go wrong?
What more could we have done?
Did we fail in our teaching?
Did we fail in our example?
Should we have immersed our son or daughter or friend in a different environment?
But Judas teaches us that even the the best example, the most compelling evidence, and the finest teaching—the ultimate environment for incubating faith—cannot, in and of themselves, change the human heart.
3. The Choice He Made
Satan made a relentless assault on Judas’s soul, as he makes a relentless assault on everyone who chooses to follow Christ. We read about Satan’s attacks on Judas:
Then Satan entered into Judas Iscariot. (Luke 22:3–4)
The devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him. (John 13:2)
Satan entered into him. (John 13:27)
The Bible’s clear statements about Satan’s activity have led some to say, “Well, poor Judas, he didn’t have a chance. Satan entered into him. What could he do about that?” But this evaluation overlooks the fact that Judas opened the door to Satan.
Judas had been stealing from the collective money bag, and when he kept this sin secret, Satan entered into him. He made a deal with the chief priests and then sat down at our Lord’s table with known sins he would not confess, and Satan entered even further into his life. Unconfessed sin always opens the door to Satan’s power.
Unconfessed sin always opens the door to Satan’s power.
Satan doesn’t gain a foothold in the lives of people who are walking in the light with Jesus. He only gains access when we open the door. As Klaus Schilder observes:
It is the peculiar majesty of Jesus that he can conquer man without man’s first approaching him. But Satan’s frailty is proved by this, that he cannot approach a soul unless that soul has first turned to him.
Sometimes we get this the wrong way around, fearing that Satan will somehow have secret access to God’s children, while doubting that Jesus can do anything for a person unless they open the door. But the Bible teaches precisely the opposite.
4. The Outcome He Embraced
Judas went out into the darkness he had chosen. When you get close to Jesus, one of two things will happen: either you will become wholly his, or you will end up more alienated from him.
Among those who hate Christ the most, some once professed to trust him. His claims are so exclusive, and his demands so pervasive that, in the end, you must either give yourself to him completely or give him up altogether. There is no middle ground.
The story of Judas reminds us that nothing good can come from giving up on Jesus Christ.
Only those who have never known him can remain indifferent to him. For those who get close, the only outcomes are full devotion or eventual antagonism; and every day, each of us is heading in one direction or the other.
In an age when many are abandoning the faith they once professed, the story of Judas warns us to guard our hearts, lest we drift away. The story of Judas also equips us to reach out to those who may be close to walking away from the faith. Christ calls us to “be merciful to those who doubt; save others by snatching them out of the fire” (Jude 22–23). Finally, the story of Judas reminds us that nothing good can come from giving up on Jesus Christ. He is of supreme value, and following him is worth any cost.
Judas Iscariot | Apostle
There are variant traditions about how Judas Iscariot died. According to Matthew 27:3–10, Judas felt remorse after seeing Jesus condemned to death, and he returned the silver and hanged himself. According to Acts 1:18, Judas bought a field with his silver reward and fell “headlong” in it, and “all his bowels gushed out,” implying that he threw himself down rather than that he died accidentally.
Judas Iscariot was one of the Twelve Apostles . He is notorious for betraying Jesus by disclosing Jesus’ whereabouts for 30 pieces of silver. Judas brought men to arrest Jesus and identified him with a kiss. Jesus was then arrested, tried, and executed.
Summary
Judas Iscariot, (died c. ad 30), one of the Twelve Apostles, notorious for betraying Jesus. Judas’ surname is more probably a corruption of the Latin sicarius (“murderer” or “assassin”) than an indication of family origin, suggesting that he would have belonged to the Sicarii, the most radical Jewish group, some of whom were terrorists. Other than his apostleship, his betrayal, and his death, little else is revealed about Judas in the Gospels. Always the last on the list of the Apostles, he was their treasurer. John 12:6 introduces Judas’ thievery by saying, “. . . as he had the money box he used to take what was put into it.”
He disclosed Jesus’ whereabouts to the chief priests and elders for 30 pieces of silver. They provided the armed guard that he brought to the Garden of Gethsemane, near Jerusalem, where Jesus went to pray with the other 11 Apostles after the Last Supper. There he identified Jesus with a kiss, addressing him as “master.” Matt. 26:14–16 and John 12:6 designate Judas’ motive as avarice, but Luke 22:3–6 ascribes his action to the entrance of Satan into his body, paralleling John 13:27, where, after Judas took the bread at the Last Supper, “Satan entered into him.” Jesus then says, “What you are going to do, do quickly.” This is the culmination of John 6:70–71, which, after Jesus says, “Did I not choose you, the Twelve, and one of you is a devil?” discloses that he meant “Judas the son of Simon Iscariot, for he, one of the Twelve, was to betray him.”
There are variant traditions about Judas’ death. According to Matt. 27:3–10, he repented after seeing Jesus condemned to death, then returned the silver and hanged himself (traditionally from the Judas tree). In Acts 1:18, he “bought a field with the reward of his wickedness; and falling headlong he burst open in the middle and all his bowels gushed out,” implying that he threw himself down, rather than that he died accidentally. Apocryphal gospels developed the point in Acts that calls the spot of his death the place (field) of blood. The 1st/2nd-century Apostolic Father Papias is quoted to have given macabre details about Judas’ death, presumably to show that Gospel prophecies were literally fulfilled. His account appears in numerous legends, particularly in Coptic works, and in medieval literature. In Dante’s Inferno Judas appears in the deepest chasm of hell with Julius Caesar’s assassins, Brutus and Cassius.
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Although his name subsequently became associated with traitor (a Judas) and treacherous kiss (a Judas kiss), not all depictions of Judas portrayed him as betraying Jesus. In Muslim polemic literature, Judas ceases to be a traitor; instead, he supposedly lied to the Jews in order to defend Jesus (who was not crucified). The 14th-century cosmographer al-Dimashqī maintains that Judas assumed Jesus’ likeness and was crucified in his place. The 2nd-century apocryphal Gospel of Judas, a Gnostic text written in Greek, depicts him as a collaborator and close confidant of Jesus. According to the gospel—a Coptic translation from c. 300 was discovered in the 1970s and published in 2006—Judas was the only apostle who understood Jesus’ message. In the account of the gospel, during the celebration of Passover, Jesus takes Judas aside and reveals secret knowledge about God and creation to him, declaring that Judas is greater than the other apostles. Jesus seems to instruct Judas to report him to the authorities, so that Jesus’ spiritual self may escape from the material body in which it is trapped. See also Gnosticism.
The death of Judas : the characterization of Judas Iscariot in three early Christian accounts of his death.
Abstract
Three different accounts of the death of Judas Iscariot are preserved in Matthew 27:3–10, Acts 1:18–20, and fragments of Papias. The present study will argue that in the milieu of the ancient Mediterranean such death-accounts would have conveyed to the authorial audience particular character traits of Judas through established conventions. The rhetorical handbooks of the era reveal the strategies employed in the depiction of persons in general as well as in descriptions of death. By comparing these theoretical discussions with the actual practice in various types of discourse, the principal patterns of literary portraiture emerge. Using these patterns as an interpretive grid, the three early accounts of Judas’ death reveal character-shaping details that are relevant to the overall plot and theological interests of each work. In Matthew, Judas is depicted as a traitor of a Davidic king and a failure as a disciple. In Acts, the portrait of Judas presents him as an apostate apostle and a defeated enemy of God’s people. In Papias, Judas is characterized as a greedy and intemperate miscreant who plots against a righteous benefactor.
Judas Iscariot
One of Jesus’ original twelve disciples, known for his betrayal of Jesus
This article is about the biblical figure. For the band, see Judas Iscariot (band)
Judas Iscariot ( ; Hebrew: יהודה איש-קריות Yehūḏā ʾĪš-Qǝrīyyōṯ, “Judah, man of Kerioth”; Aramaic: ܝܗܘܕܐ ܣܟܪܝܘܛܐ; Biblical Greek: Ἰούδας Ἰσκαριώτης; died c. 30 – c. 33 AD) was a disciple and one of the original Twelve Apostles of Jesus Christ. According to all four canonical gospels, Judas betrayed Jesus to the Sanhedrin in the Garden of Gethsemane by kissing him and addressing him as “rabbi” to reveal his identity in the darkness to the crowd who had come to arrest him.[1] His name is often used synonymously with betrayal or treason. In Christianity, Judas is seen as an antagonist. Judas’s epithet “Iscariot” most likely means he came from the village of Kerioth, but many other possibilities have been suggested.
The Gospel of Mark, the earliest gospel, gives no motive for Judas’s betrayal, but does present Jesus predicting it at the Last Supper, an event also described in all the later gospels. The Gospel of Matthew 26:15 states that Judas committed the betrayal in exchange for thirty pieces of silver. The Gospel of Luke 22:3 and the Gospel of John 13:27 suggest that he was possessed by Satan. According to Matthew 27:1–10, after learning that Jesus was to be crucified, Judas attempted to return the money he had been paid for his betrayal to the chief priests and committed suicide by hanging. The priests used the money to buy a field to bury strangers in, which was called the “Field of Blood” because it had been bought with blood money. The Book of Acts 1:18 quotes Peter as saying that Judas used the money to buy the field himself and, he “[fell] headlong… burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out.” His place among the Twelve Apostles was later filled by Matthias.
Due to his notorious role in all the gospel narratives, Judas remains a controversial figure in Christian history. For instance, Judas’s betrayal is seen as setting in motion the events that led to Jesus’s crucifixion and resurrection, which, according to traditional Christian theology, brought salvation to humanity. The Gnostic Gospel of Judas—rejected by the proto-orthodox Church as heretical—portrays Judas’s actions as done in obedience to instructions given to him by Jesus, and that he alone amongst the disciples knew Jesus’s true teachings. Since the Middle Ages, Judas has sometimes been portrayed as a personification of the Jewish people and his betrayal has been used to justify Christian antisemitism.[2]
Historicity [ edit ]
Although Judas Iscariot’s historical existence is generally widely accepted among secular historians,[5][6] this relative consensus has not gone entirely unchallenged. The earliest possible allusion to Judas comes from the First Epistle to the Corinthians 11:23–24, in which Paul the Apostle does not mention Judas by name, but uses the passive voice of the Greek word paradídōmi (παραδίδωμι), which most Bible translations render as “was betrayed”: “…the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took a loaf of bread…” Nonetheless, some biblical scholars argue that the word paradídōmi should be translated as “was handed over”. This translation could still refer to Judas, but it could also instead refer to God metaphorically “handing Jesus over” to the Romans.
In his book Antisemitism and Modernity (2006), the Jewish scholar Hyam Maccoby suggests that, in the New Testament, the name “Judas” was constructed as an attack on the Judaeans or on the Judaean religious establishment held responsible for executing Jesus.[9] In his book The Sins of Scripture (2009), John Shelby Spong concurs with this argument,[11] insisting, “The whole story of Judas has the feeling of being contrived … The act of betrayal by a member of the twelve disciples is not found in the earliest Christian writings. Judas is first placed into the Christian story by the Gospel of Mark (3:19), who wrote in the early 70’s CE.”[11]
Most scholars reject these arguments for non-historicity,[5][13][14] noting that there is nothing in the gospels to associate Judas with Judeans except his name, which was an extremely common one for Jewish men during the first century,[13] and that numerous other figures named “Judas” are mentioned throughout the New Testament, none of whom are portrayed negatively.[13] Positive figures named Judas mentioned in the New Testament include the prophet Judas Barsabbas (Acts 15:22–33), Jesus’s brother Jude (Mark 6:3; Matt 13:55; Jude 1), and the apostle Judas the son of James (Luke 6:14–16; Acts 1:13; John 14:22).[13] B. J. Oropeza argues that Christians should not repeat the historic tragedy of associating Judas Iscariot with the Judeans but regard him instead as an emergent Christian apostate, and hence, one of their own.[13] His betrayal over a sum of money warns Mark’s audience against the vice of greed.[13]
Life [ edit ]
Name and background [ edit ]
Judas Iscariot (between 1886 and 1894) by (between 1886 and 1894) by James Tissot
The name “Judas” (Ὶούδας) is a Greek rendering of the Hebrew name Judah (יהודה, Yehûdâh, Hebrew for “God is thanked”), which was an extremely common name for Jewish men during the first century AD, due to the renowned hero Judas Maccabeus. Consequently, numerous other figures with this name are mentioned throughout the New Testament.[13] In the Gospel of Mark 3:13–19, the earliest of all the gospels, which was written in the mid-60s or early 70s AD, Judas Iscariot is the only apostle named “Judas”. Matthew 10:2–4 follows this portrayal. The Gospel of Luke 6:12–19, however, replaces the apostle whom Mark and Matthew call “Thaddeus” with “Judas son of James”. Peter Stanford suggests that this renaming may represent an effort by the author of the Gospel of Luke to create a “good Judas” in contrast to the betrayer Judas Iscariot.
Judas’s epithet “Iscariot” (Ὶσκάριωθ or Ὶσκαριώτης), which distinguishes him from the other people named ‘Judas’ in the gospels, is usually thought to be a Greek rendering of the Hebrew phrase איש־קריות, (Κ-Qrîyôt), meaning “the man from Kerioth”.[17] This interpretation is supported by the statement in the Gospel of John 6:71 that Judas was “the son of Simon Iscariot”. Nonetheless, this interpretation of the name is not fully accepted by all scholars. One of the most popular alternative explanations holds that “Iscariot” (ܣܟܪܝܘܛܐ, ‘Skaryota’ in Syriac Aramaic, per the Peshitta text) may be a corruption of the Latin word sicarius, meaning “dagger man”,[18][19] which referred to a member of the Sicarii (סיקריים in Aramaic), a group of Jewish rebels who were known for committing acts of terrorism in the 40s and 50s AD by assassinating people in crowds using long knives hidden under their cloaks. This interpretation is problematic, however, because there is nothing in the gospels to associate Judas with the Sicarii, and there is no evidence that the cadre existed during the 30s AD when Judas was alive.[20]
A possibility advanced by Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg is that “Iscariot” means “the liar” or “the false one”, from the Hebrew איש-שקרים. C. C. Torrey suggested instead the Aramaic form שְׁקַרְיָא or אִשְׁקַרְיָא, with the same meaning.[21][22] Stanford rejects this, arguing that the gospel-writers follow Judas’s name with the statement that he betrayed Jesus, so it would be redundant for them to call him “the false one” before immediately stating that he was a traitor. Some have proposed that the word derives from an Aramaic word meaning “red color”, from the root סקר.[23] Another hypothesis holds that the word derives from one of the Aramaic roots סכר or סגר. This would mean “to deliver”, based on the LXX rendering of Isaiah 19:4—a theory advanced by J. Alfred Morin.[22] The epithet could also be associated with the manner of Judas’s death, hanging. This would mean Iscariot derives from a kind of Greek-Aramaic hybrid: אִסְכַּרְיוּתָא, Iskarioutha, meaning “chokiness” or “constriction”. This might indicate that the epithet was applied posthumously by the remaining disciples, but Joan E. Taylor has argued that it was a descriptive name given to Judas by Jesus, since other disciples such as Simon Peter/Cephas (Kephas “rock”) were also given such names.[22]
Role as an apostle [ edit ]
Although the canonical gospels frequently disagree on the names of some of the minor apostles, all four of them list Judas Iscariot as one of them. The Synoptic Gospels state that Jesus sent out “the twelve” (including Judas) with power over unclean spirits and with a ministry of preaching and healing: Judas clearly played an active part in this apostolic ministry alongside the other eleven.[25] However, in the Gospel of John, Judas’s outlook was differentiated—many of Jesus’ disciples abandoned him because of the difficulty of accepting his teachings, and Jesus asked the twelve if they would also leave him. Simon Peter spoke for the twelve: “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life,” but Jesus observed then that despite the fact that he himself had chosen the twelve, one of them (unnamed by Jesus, but identified by the narrator) was “a devil” who would betray him.[26]
One of the best-attested and most reliable statements made by Jesus in the gospels comes from the Gospel of Matthew 19:28, in which Jesus tells his apostles: “in the new world, when the Son of Man shall sit on his glorious throne, you will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” New Testament scholar Bart D. Ehrman concludes, “This is not a tradition that was likely to have been made up by a Christian later, after Jesus’s death—since one of these twelve had abandoned his cause and betrayed him. No one thought that Judas Iscariot would be seated on a glorious throne in the Kingdom of God. That saying, therefore appears to go back to Jesus, and indicates, then, that he had twelve close disciples, whom he predicted would reign in the coming Kingdom.”
A 16th century fresco depicting Judas being paid the 30 pieces of silver
Matthew directly states that Judas betrayed Jesus for a bribe of “thirty pieces of silver”[27][28] by identifying him with a kiss—”the kiss of Judas”—to arresting soldiers of the High Priest Caiaphas, who then turned Jesus over to Pontius Pilate’s soldiers.
Mark’s Gospel states that the chief priests were looking for a way to arrest Jesus. They decided not to do so during the feast [of the Passover], since they were afraid that people would riot;[29] instead, they chose the night before the feast to arrest him. According to Luke’s account, Satan entered Judas at this time.[30]
According to the account in the Gospel of John, Judas carried the disciples’ money bag or box (γλωσσόκομον, glōssokomon),[31] but the Gospel of John makes no mention of the thirty pieces of silver as a fee for betrayal. The evangelist comments in John 12:5–6 that Judas spoke fine words about giving money to the poor, but the reality was “not that he cared for the poor, but [that] he was a thief, and had the money box; and he used to take what was put in it.” However, in John 13:27–30, when Judas left the gathering of Jesus and his disciples with betrayal in mind,[32] some [of the disciples] thought that Judas might have been leaving to buy supplies or on a charitable errand.
Ehrman argues that Judas’s betrayal “is about as historically certain as anything else in the tradition”, pointing out that the betrayal is independently attested in the Gospel of Mark, in the Gospel of John, and in the Book of Acts. Ehrman also contends that it is highly unlikely that early Christians would have made up the story of Judas’s betrayal, since it reflects poorly on Jesus’s judgement in choosing him as an apostle. Nonetheless, Ehrman argues that what Judas actually told the authorities was not Jesus’s location, but rather Jesus’s secret teaching that he was the Messiah. This, he holds, explains why the authorities did not try to arrest Jesus prior to Judas’s betrayal. John P. Meier sums up the historical consensus, stating, “We only know two basic facts about [Judas]: (1) Jesus chose him as one of the Twelve, and (2) he handed over Jesus to the Jerusalem authorities, thus precipitating Jesus’ execution.”
Death [ edit ]
16th-century fresco from Tarzhishte Monastery, Strupets, Bulgaria, showing Judas hanging himself as described in Matthew 27:1–10
Many different accounts of Judas’ death have survived from antiquity, both within and outside the New Testament. Matthew 27:1–10 states that, after learning that Jesus was to be crucified, Judas was overcome by remorse and attempted to return the 30 pieces of silver to the priests, but they would not accept them because they were blood money, so he threw them on the ground and left. Afterwards, he committed suicide by hanging himself according to Mosaic law (Deuteronomy 21:22 [38]) The priests then used the money to buy a potter’s field, which became known as Akeldama (חקל דמא – khakel dama) – the Field of Blood – because it had been bought with blood money. Acts 1:18 states that Judas used the money to buy a field,[39] and “[fell] headlong… burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out.” The field became known as Akeldama, which means “the Field of Blood” in Aramaic, because it was covered in Judas’s blood, and it was used to bury strangers. In this account, Judas’ death is apparently by accident and he shows no signs of remorse.
The early Church Father Papias of Hierapolis ( c. 60–130 AD) recorded in his Expositions of the Sayings of the Lord, which was probably written during the first decade of the second century AD, that Judas was afflicted by God’s wrath; his body became so enormously bloated that he could not pass through a street with buildings on either side. His face became so swelled up that a doctor could not even identify the location of his eyes using an optical instrument. Judas’ genitals became enormously swollen and oozed with pus and worms. Finally, he killed himself on his own land by pouring out his innards onto the ground, which stank so horribly that, even in Papias’ own time a century later, people still could not pass the site without holding their noses. This story was well known among Christians in antiquity and was often told in competition with the two conflicting stories from the New Testament.
According to the apocryphal Gospel of Nicodemus, which was probably written in the fourth century AD, Judas was overcome with remorse and went home to tell his wife, who was roasting a chicken on a spit over a charcoal fire, that he was going to kill himself, because he knew Jesus would rise from the dead and, when he did, he would punish him. Judas’s wife laughed and told him that Jesus could no more rise from the dead than he could resurrect the chicken she was cooking. Immediately, the chicken was restored to life and began to crow. Judas then ran away and hanged himself. In the apocryphal Gospel of Judas, Judas has a vision of the disciples stoning and persecuting him.[43]
The discrepancy between the two different accounts of Judas’s death in Matthew 27:1–10 and Acts 1:18 has proven to be a serious challenge to those who support the idea of Biblical inerrancy. This problem was one of the points leading C. S. Lewis, for example, to reject the view “that every statement in Scripture must be historical truth”.[44] Nonetheless, various attempts at harmonization have been suggested. Generally they have followed literal interpretations such as that of Augustine of Hippo, which suggest that these simply describe different aspects of the same event—that Judas hanged himself in the field, and the rope eventually snapped and the fall burst his body open,[45][46] or that the accounts of Acts and Matthew refer to two different transactions.[47] Some have taken the descriptions as figurative: that the “falling prostrate” was Judas in anguish,[a] and the “bursting out of the bowels” is pouring out emotion.[b]
Modern scholars reject these approaches.[48][49][50] Arie W. Zwiep states that “neither story was meant to be read in light of the other” and that “the integrity of both stories as complete narratives in themselves is seriously disrespected when the two separate stories are being conflated into a third, harmonized version.” David A. Reed argues that the Matthew account is a midrashic exposition that allows the author to present the event as a fulfillment of prophetic passages from the Old Testament. They argue that the author adds imaginative details such as the thirty pieces of silver, and the fact that Judas hangs himself, to an earlier tradition about Judas’s death.[51]
Matthew’s description of the death as fulfilment of a prophecy “spoken through Jeremiah the prophet” has caused difficulties, since it does not clearly correspond to any known version of the Book of Jeremiah but does appear to refer to a story from the Book of Zechariah[52] which describes the return of a payment of thirty pieces of silver.[53] Even writers such as Jerome and John Calvin concluded that this was obviously an error.[c] Evangelical theologian James R. White has suggested the misattribution arises from a supposed Jewish practice of using the name of a Major Prophet to refer to the whole content of the scroll group, including books written by minor prophets placed in the same grouping.[54]
Some scholars have suggested that the Gospel writer may also have had a passage from Jeremiah in mind,[55] such as chapters 18:1–4 and 19:1–13 which refer to a potter’s jar and a burial place, and chapter 32:6–15 which refers to a burial place and an earthenware jar.[56] Raymond Brown suggested, “the most plausible [explanation] is that Matthew 27:9–10 is presenting a mixed citation with words taken both from Zechariah and Jeremiah, and … he refers to that combination by one name. Jeremiah 18–9 concerns a potter (18:2–; 19:1), a purchase (19:1), the Valley of Hinnom (where the Field of Blood is traditionally located, 19:2), ‘innocent blood’ (19:4), and the renaming of a place for burial (19:6, 11); and Jer 32:6–5 tells of the purchase of a field with silver.”[57]
Scholar Glenn W. Most suggests that Judas’ death in Acts can be interpreted figuratively, writing that πρηνὴς γενόμενος should be translated as saying his body changed in position from vertical to prone, rather than falling headlong, and the spilling of the entrails is meant to invoke the imagery of dead snakes and their burst-open bellies. Hence Luke was stating that Judas became a snake and died like one.[58]
Theology [ edit ]
Betrayal of Jesus [ edit ]
The Betrayal c. 1504 Peter raises his sword; Judas hangs himself. Illumination from a western manuscript,1504
Kiss of Judas Iscariot, coloured engraving, 15th century. The, coloured engraving, 15th century.
There are several explanations as to why Judas betrayed Jesus.[59] In the earliest account, in the Gospel of Mark, when he goes to the chief priests to betray Jesus, he is offered money as a reward, but it is not clear that money is his motivation.[60] In the Gospel of Matthew account, on the other hand, he asks what they will pay him for handing Jesus over.[61] In the Gospel of Luke[62] and the Gospel of John,[63] the devil enters into Judas, causing him to offer to betray Jesus. The Gospel of John account has Judas complaining that money has been spent on expensive perfumes to anoint Jesus which could have been spent on the poor, but adds that he was the keeper of the apostles’ purse and used to steal from it.[64]
One suggestion has been that Judas expected Jesus to overthrow Roman rule of Judea. In this view, Judas is a disillusioned disciple betraying Jesus not so much because he loved money, but because he loved his country and thought Jesus had failed it.[59] Another is that Jesus was causing unrest likely to increase tensions with the Roman authorities and they thought he should be restrained until after the Passover, when everyone had gone back home and the commotion had died down.[65][verification needed]
The Gospels suggest that Jesus foresaw (John 6:64, Matthew 26:25) and allowed Judas’ betrayal (John 13:27–28). One explanation is that Jesus allowed the betrayal because it would allow God’s plan to be fulfilled. Another is that regardless of the betrayal, Jesus was ultimately destined for crucifixion.[67] In April 2006, a Coptic papyrus manuscript titled the Gospel of Judas from 200 AD was translated, suggesting that Jesus told Judas to betray him,[68] although some scholars question the translation.[69][70] Nevertheless, the Gospel of Judas is an apocryphal Gnostic Gospel composed in the 2nd century and some scholars agree that it contains no real historical information.[71]
Judas is the subject of philosophical writings. Origen of Alexandria, in his Commentary on John’s Gospel, reflected on Judas’s interactions with the other apostles and Jesus’ confidence in him prior to his betrayal.[72] Other philosophical reflections on Judas include The Problem of Natural Evil by Bertrand Russell and “Three Versions of Judas”, a short story by Jorge Luis Borges. They allege various problematic ideological contradictions with the discrepancy between Judas’ actions and his eternal punishment. Bruce Reichenbach argues that if Jesus foresees Judas’ betrayal, then the betrayal is not an act of free will,[73] and therefore should not be punishable. Conversely, it is argued that just because the betrayal was foretold, it does not prevent Judas from exercising his own free will in this matter.[74] Other scholars argue that Judas acted in obedience to God’s will.[75] The gospels suggest that Judas is apparently bound up with the fulfillment of God’s purposes (John 13:18, John 17:12, Matthew 26:23–25, Luke 22:21–22, Matt 27:9–10, Acts 1:16, Acts 1:20), yet “woe is upon him”, and he would “have been better unborn” (Matthew 26:23–25). The difficulty inherent in the saying is its paradox: if Judas had not been born, the Son of Man would apparently no longer do “as it is written of him.” The consequence of this apologetic approach is that Judas’ actions come to be seen as necessary and unavoidable, yet leading to condemnation.[76] Another explanation is that Judas’ birth and betrayal did not necessitate the only way the Son of Man could have suffered and been crucified. The earliest churches believed “as it is written of him” to be prophetic, fulfilling Scriptures such as that of the suffering servant in Isaiah 52–53 and the righteous one in Psalm 22, which do not require betrayal (at least by Judas) as the means to the suffering. Regardless of any necessity, Judas is held responsible for his act (Mark 14:21; Luke 22:22; Matt 26:24).[77]
Erasmus believed that Judas was free to change his intention, but Martin Luther argued in rebuttal that Judas’ will was immutable. John Calvin states that Judas was predestined to damnation, but writes on the question of Judas’ guilt: “surely in Judas’ betrayal, it will be no more right, because God himself willed that his son be delivered up and delivered him up to death, to ascribe the guilt of the crime to God than to transfer the credit for redemption to Judas.”[78] The Catholic Church has no view on his damnation. The Vatican only proclaims individuals’ Eternal Salvation through the Canon of Saints. There is no ‘Canon of the Damned’, nor any official proclamation of the damnation of Judas.
It is speculated that Judas’s damnation, which seems possible from the Gospels’ text, may not stem from his betrayal of Christ, but from the despair which caused him to subsequently commit suicide.[79] This is confirmed in Cornelius a Lapide’s famous commentary, in which he writes that by hanging himself, “Judas then added to his former sin the further sin of despair. It was not a more heinous sin, but one more fatal to himself, as thrusting him down to the very depths of hell. He might, on his repentance, have asked (and surely have obtained) pardon of Christ. But, like Cain, he despaired of forgiveness.”[80]
In the Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri, Judas is punished for all eternity in the ninth circle of Hell: in it, he is devoured by Lucifer, alongside Marcus Junius Brutus and Gaius Cassius Longinus (leaders of the group of senators that assassinated Julius Caesar).
In his book The Passover Plot (1965), British New Testament scholar Hugh J. Schonfield suggested that the crucifixion of Christ was a conscious re-enactment of Biblical prophecy and that Judas acted with the full knowledge and consent of Jesus in “betraying” him to the authorities. The book has been variously described as ‘factually groundless’,[81] based on “little data” and “wild suppositions”,[82] “disturbing” and “tawdry”.[83]
In his 1970 book Theologie der Drei Tage (English translation: Mysterium Paschale), Hans Urs von Balthasar emphasizes that Jesus was not betrayed but surrendered and delivered up by himself, since the meaning of the Greek word used by the New Testament, paradidonai (παραδιδόναι, Latin: tradere), is unequivocally “handing over of self”.[84][85] In the “Preface to the Second Edition”, Balthasar takes a cue from Revelation 13:8[86] (Vulgate: agni qui occisus est ab origine mundi, NIV: “the Lamb who was slain from the creation of the world”) to extrapolate the idea that God as “immanent Trinity” can endure and conquer godlessness, abandonment, and death in an “eternal super-kenosis”.[87][88]
Role in apocrypha [ edit ]
Judas has been a figure of great interest to esoteric groups, such as many Gnostic sects. Irenaeus records the beliefs of one Gnostic sect, the Cainites, who believed that Judas was an instrument of the Sophia, Divine Wisdom, thus earning the hatred of the Demiurge. His betrayal of Jesus thus was a victory over the materialist world. The Cainites later split into two groups, disagreeing over the ultimate significance of Jesus in their cosmology.
The Syriac Infancy Gospel [ edit ]
The Syriac Infancy Gospel[89] borrows from some of the different versions of the Infancy Gospel of Thomas.[90] However, it adds many of its own tales, probably from local legends, including one of Judas. This pseudepigraphic work tells how Judas, as a boy, was possessed by Satan, who caused him to bite himself or anyone else present. In one of these attacks, Judas bit the young Jesus in the side; and, by touching Him, Satan was exorcised. It further states that the side which Judas supposedly bit was the same side that was pierced by the Holy Lance at the Crucifixion.[91]
Gospel of Judas [ edit ]
First page of the Gospel of Judas (Page 33 of Codex Tchacos
During the 1970s, a Coptic papyrus codex (book) was discovered near Beni Masah, Egypt. It appeared to be a 3rd- or 4th-century-AD copy of a 2nd-century original,[92][93] relating a series of conversations in which Jesus and Judas interact and discuss the nature of the universe from a Gnostic viewpoint. The discovery was given dramatic international exposure in April 2006 when the US National Geographic magazine published a feature article entitled “The Gospel of Judas” with images of the fragile codex and analytical commentary by relevant experts and interested observers (but not a comprehensive translation). The article’s introduction stated: “An ancient text lost for 1,700 years says Christ’s betrayer was his truest disciple.”[94] The article points to some evidence that the original document was extant in the 2nd century: “Around A.D. 180, Irenaeus, Bishop of Lyon in what was then Roman Gaul, wrote a massive treatise called Against Heresies [in which he attacked] a ‘fictitious history,’ which ‘they style the Gospel of Judas.'”[95]
Before the magazine’s edition was circulated, other news media gave exposure to the story, abridging and selectively reporting it.[68]
In December 2007, April DeConick asserted that the National Geographic’s translation is badly flawed: “For example, in one instance the National Geographic transcription refers to Judas as a ‘daimon,’ which the society’s experts have translated as ‘spirit.’ However, the universally accepted word for ‘spirit’ is ‘pneuma’—in Gnostic literature “daimon” is always taken to mean ‘demon.'”[96] The National Geographic Society responded that “Virtually all issues April D. DeConick raises about translation choices are addressed in footnotes in both the popular and critical editions.”[97] In a later review of the issues and relevant publications, critic Joan Acocella questioned whether ulterior intentions had not begun to supersede historical analysis, e.g., whether publication of The Gospel of Judas could be an attempt to roll back ancient anti-semitic imputations. She concluded that the ongoing clash between scriptural fundamentalism and attempts at revision were childish because of the unreliability of the sources. Therefore, she argued, “People interpret, and cheat. The answer is not to fix the Bible but to fix ourselves.”[98] Other scholars have questioned the initial translation and interpretation of the Gospel of Judas by the National Geographic team of experts.[69]
Gospel of Barnabas [ edit ]
According to medieval copies (the earliest copies from the 15th century) of the Gospel of Barnabas it was Judas, not Jesus, who was crucified on the cross. This work states that Judas’s appearance was transformed to that of Jesus’, when the former, out of betrayal, led the Roman soldiers to arrest Jesus who by then was ascended to the heavens. This transformation of appearance was so identical that the masses, followers of Christ, and even the Mother of Jesus, Mary, initially thought that the one arrested and crucified was Jesus himself. The gospel then mentions that after three days since burial, Judas’ body was stolen from his grave, and then the rumors spread of Jesus being risen from the dead. When Jesus was informed in the third heaven about what happened, he prayed to God to be sent back to the earth, and descended and gathered his mother, disciples, and followers, and told them the truth of what happened. He then ascended back to the heavens, and will come back at the end of times as a just king.
This Gospel is considered by the majority of Christians to be late and pseudepigraphical; however, some academics suggest that it may contain some remnants of an earlier apocryphal work (perhaps Gnostic, Ebionite or Diatessaronic), redacted to bring it more in line with Islamic doctrine. Some Muslims consider the surviving versions as transmitting a suppressed apostolic original. Some Islamic organizations cite it in support of the Islamic view of Jesus.
Representations and symbolism [ edit ]
Although the sanctification of the instruments of the Passion of Jesus (the so-called Arma Christi), that slowly accrued over the course of the Middle Ages in Christian symbolism and art, also included the head and lips of Judas,[99] the term Judas has entered many languages as a synonym for betrayer, and Judas has become the archetype of the traitor in Western art and literature. Judas is given some role in virtually all literature telling the Passion story, and appears in numerous modern novels and movies.
In the Eastern Orthodox hymns of Holy Wednesday (the Wednesday before Pascha), Judas is contrasted with the woman who anointed Jesus with expensive perfume and washed his feet with her tears. According to the Gospel of John, Judas protested at this apparent extravagance, suggesting that the money spent on it should have been given to the poor. After this, Judas went to the chief priests and offered to betray Jesus for money. The hymns of Holy Wednesday contrast these two figures, encouraging believers to avoid the example of the fallen disciple and instead to imitate Mary’s example of repentance. Also, Wednesday is observed as a day of fasting from meat, dairy products, and olive oil throughout the year in memory of the betrayal of Judas. The prayers of preparation for receiving the Eucharist also make mention of Judas’s betrayal: “I will not reveal your mysteries to your enemies, neither like Judas will I betray you with a kiss, but like the thief on the cross I will confess you.”
Judas Iscariot is often shown with red hair in Spanish culture[100][101][102] and by William Shakespeare.[102][103] The practice is comparable to the Renaissance portrayal of Jews with red hair, which was then regarded as a negative trait and which may have been used to correlate Judas Iscariot with contemporary Jews.[104]
In the Church of St John the Baptist, Yeovil, one stained glass window depicts Judas with a black halo.
In paintings depicting the Last Supper, Judas is occasionally depicted with a dark-colored halo (contrasting with the lighter halos of the other apostles) to signify his former status as an apostle. More commonly, however, he is the only one at the table without one. In some church stained glass windows he is also depicted with a dark halo such as in one of the windows of the Church of St John the Baptist, Yeovil.
Art and literature [ edit ]
Cathédrale Saint-Lazare, Autun . Judas hangs himself
Judas is the subject of one of the oldest surviving English ballads, which dates from the 13th century. In the ballad, the blame for the betrayal of Christ is placed on Judas’s sister.[105] In Dante’s Inferno, Judas is condemned to the lowest circle of Hell: the Ninth Circle of Traitors, also known as the frozen lake, Cocytus. He is one of three sinners deemed evil enough to be doomed to an eternity of being chewed in the mouths of the triple-headed Satan (the others being Brutus and Cassius, the assassins of Julius Caesar). Dante writes that Judas—having committed the ultimate act of treachery by betraying the Son of God Himself—is trapped in the jaws of Satan’s central head, said to be the most vicious Satan’s three heads, by his(Judas’s) head, leaving Judas’s back to be raked by the fallen angel’s claws.[106] In art, one of the most famous depictions of Judas Iscariot and his kiss of betrayal of Jesus is The Taking of Christ, by Italian Baroque artist Caravaggio, done in 1602.[107]
In Memoirs of Judas (1867) by Ferdinando Petruccelli della Gattina, he is seen as a leader of the Jewish revolt against the rule of Romans.[108] Edward Elgar’s oratorio, The Apostles, depicts Judas as wanting to force Jesus to declare his divinity and establish the kingdom on earth.[109] In Trial of Christ in Seven Stages (1909) by John Brayshaw Kaye, the author did not accept the idea that Judas intended to betray Christ, and the poem is a defence of Judas, in which he adds his own vision to the biblical account of the story of the trial before the Sanhedrin and Caiaphas.[110]
In Mikhail Bulgakov’s novel The Master and Margarita, Judas is paid by the high priest of Judaea to testify against Jesus, who had been inciting trouble among the people of Jerusalem. After authorizing the crucifixion, Pilate suffers an agony of regret and turns his anger on Judas, ordering him assassinated. The story within a story appears as a counter-revolutionary novel in the context of Moscow in the 1920s–1930s.[citation needed] “Tres versiones de Judas” (English title: “Three Versions of Judas”) is a short story by Argentine writer and poet Jorge Luis Borges; it was included in Borges’ anthology Ficciones, published in 1944, and revolves around the main character’s doubts about the canonical story of Judas who instead creates three alternative versions.[111] On April 17, 1945, the radio program Inner Sanctum broadcast the story “The Judas Clock”, in which the cursed title object, a 16th-century Italian marble longcase clock, is unable to run without the thirty silver coins of Judas being placed in its hollow weights. The episode’s main character, played by Berry Kroeger, recites the fate of Judas from Matthew 27:5 (King James version) at the episode’s conclusion.
The 1971 novel I, Judas by Taylor Caldwell and Jess Stearn (ISBN 978-0451121134) was one of the first published novels to portray Judas in a more sympathetic light. In the 1977 television miniseries Jesus of Nazareth, Judas was famously portrayed by Ian McShane, in a critically acclaimed performance. He is portrayed as being torn between personal loyalty to his Rabbi and social loyalty to the Sanhedrin. Ultimately he is “seduced” into betraying Jesus by the temple scribe Zerah, the fictional character who acts as the series’ lead villain.
In Martin Scorsese’s 1988 film The Last Temptation of Christ, based on the novel by Nikos Kazantzakis, Judas’ only motivation in betraying Jesus to the Romans was to help him accomplish his mission by mutual agreement, making Judas the catalyst for the event later interpreted as bringing about humanity’s salvation.[112] In the film Dracula 2000, Dracula (played by Gerard Butler) is revealed in this version to be Judas. God punishes Judas, not only for betraying Jesus, but attempting suicide at dawn, by turning him into the first vampire, and making him vulnerable to silver for taking 30 pieces of silver as payment for his betrayal, and his suicide attempt at dawn also tries to explain a vampire’s violent reaction to sunlight.[113] In The Last Days of Judas Iscariot (2005), a critically acclaimed play by Stephen Adly Guirgis, Judas is given a trial in Purgatory.[114] In C. K. Stead’s 2006 novel My Name Was Judas, Judas, who was then known as Idas of Sidon, recounts the story of Jesus as recalled by him some forty years later.[115]
In the epic miniseries The Bible, Judas is portrayed by actor Joe Wredden.
In September 2017, Boom Studios announced a four-issue comic, Judas, written by Jeff Loveness and Jakub Rebelka.[116] In March 2018, BBC Radio 4’s 15 Minute Drama broadcast Judas, written by Lucy Gannon, in 5 episodes with Damien Molony in the title role.[117] In the March 2018 film Mary Magdalene, written by Helen Edmundson, Judas is played by Tahar Rahim.[118]
Judas is a lead role in Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s Jesus Christ Superstar. The rock opera depicts Judas as somewhat of a tragic figure who is dissatisfied with the direction in which Jesus is steering his disciples. Various actors and singers who have played the role include: Murray Head (original concept album), Ben Vereen (original 1971 Broadway production), Carl Anderson (1973 film adaptation), Roger Daltrey (1996 BBC Radio 2 production),[119] Zubin Varla (1996 London revival), Jérôme Pradon (2000 film adaptation based on the 1996 revival), Tony Vincent (2000 Broadway revival), Corey Glover (2006 “new” A.D. tour), Tim Minchin (2012 Arena Tour), and Brandon Victor Dixon (live 2018 televised concert).
In DC Comics, one of the Phantom Stranger’s possible origins is that he is Judas. After his suicide, he is judged by the Circle of Eternity and is sent back to Earth as an eternal agent of God. The thirty silver pieces he received for betraying Jesus is formed into the signature necklace he wears, and his deeds cause pieces to fall off, bringing him closer towards redemption.
The American band Walk the Moon has a song called “Iscariot” on their self-titled album.
See also [ edit ]
Explanatory notes [ edit ]
^ The Monthly Christian Spectator 1851–1859 p. 459 “while some writers regard the account of Judas’s death as simply figurative ..seized with preternatural anguish for his crime and its consequences his bowels gushed out.” ^ Clarence Jordan The Substance of Faith: and Other Cotton Patch Sermons p. 148 “Greeks thought of the bowels as being the seat of the emotions, the home of the soul. It’s like saying that all of Judas’s motions burst out, burst asunder.” ^ Matthew: A Commentary (Eerdmans, 2004), p. 710; Jerome, Epistolae 57.7: “This passage is not found in Jeremiah but in Zechariah, in quite different words and a different order” “NPNF2-06. Jerome: The Principal Works of St. Jerome – Christian Classics Ethereal Library”. Archived from the original on 2008-10-08 . ; John Calvin, Commentary on a Harmony of the Evangelists, Matthew, Mark and Luke, 3:177: “The passage itself plainly shows that the name of Jeremiah has been put down by mistake, instead of Zechariah, for in Jeremiah we find nothing of this sort, nor any thing that even approaches to it.” “Commentary on Matthew, Mark, Luke – Volume 3 – Christian Classics Ethereal Library”. Archived from the original on 2009-11-25 . . Frederick Dale Bruner,(Eerdmans, 2004), p. 710; Jerome,57.7: “This passage is not found in Jeremiah but in Zechariah, in quite different words and a different order”; John Calvin,, 3:177: “The passage itself plainly shows that the name of Jeremiah has been put down by mistake, instead of Zechariah, for in Jeremiah we find nothing of this sort, nor any thing that even approaches to it.”
Citations [ edit ]
And Judas Iscariot….
“_And Judas Iscariot._”–Mark 3:19
There is something about the name of this miserable man which commands our attention at once. There is a sort of fascination about his wickedness, and when we read his story it is difficult to give it up until we have come to its awful end. It is rather significant, it would seem to me, that his name should come last in the list of the Apostles, and the text, “And Judas Iscariot,” would suggest to me not only that his name was last, but that it was there for some special reason, as I am sure we shall find out that it was. It is also significant that the first name mentioned in the list of the Apostles in this third chapter of Mark was Simon, who was surnamed Peter.
The first mentioned Apostle denied Jesus with an oath, the one last referred to sold him for thirty pieces of silver and has gone into eternity with the awful sin of murder charged against him. The difference between the two is this: their sins were almost equally great, but the first repented and the grace of God had its perfect work in him and he was the object of Christ’s forgiveness; the second was filled with remorse without repentance and grace was rejected. The first became one of the mightiest preachers in the world’s history; the second fills us with horror whenever we read the story of his awful crime.
Different names affect us differently. One could not well think of John without being impressed with the power of love; nor could one consider Paul without being impressed first of all with his zeal and then with his learning. Certainly one could not study Peter without saying that his strongest characteristic was his enthusiasm. It is helpful to know that the Spirit of God working with one who was a giant intellectually and with one who was profane and ignorant accomplished practically the same results, making them both, Paul and Peter, mighty men whose ministry has made the world richer and better in every way. But to think of Judas is always to shudder.
There is a kindred text in this same Gospel of Mark, but the emotions it stirs are entirely different. The second text is, “And Peter.” The crucifixion is over, the Savior is in the tomb, poor Peter, a broken- hearted man, is wandering through the streets of the City of the King. He is at last driven to the company of the disciples, when suddenly there rushes in upon them the woman who had been at the tomb, and she exclaims, “He is risen, has gone over into Galilee and wants his disciples to meet him.” This was the angel’s message to her. All the disciples must have hurried to the door that they might hasten to see their risen Lord–all save Peter. And then came the pathetic and thrilling text, for the woman gave the message as Jesus gave it to the angels and they to her, “Go tell his disciples–_and Peter_.”
But this text, “And Judas Iscariot,” brings to our recollection the story of a man who lost his opportunity to be good and great; the picture of one who was heartless in his betrayal, for within sight of the Garden of Gethsemane he saluted Jesus with a hypocritical kiss; the recollection of one in whose ears to-day in eternity there must be heard the clinking sound of the thirty pieces of silver; and the account of one who died a horrible death, all because sin had its way with him and the grace of God was rejected.
The scene connected with his calling is significant. Mark tells us in the third chapter of his Gospel that when Jesus saw the man with the withered hand and healed him, he went out by the seaside and then upon the mountain, and there called his Apostles round about him, gave them their commission and sent them forth to do his bidding.
In Matthew the ninth chapter and the thirty-sixth to the thirty-eighth verses, we are told that when he saw the multitudes he was moved with compassion, and he commissioned the twelve and sent them forth that they might serve as shepherds to the people who appeared to be shepherdless. “Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few; pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth laborers into his harvest.” And then he sent the twelve forth. As a matter of fact the Scriptures concerning Judas are not so very full, but there is a good outline, and if one but takes the points presented and allows his imagination to work in the least, there is a story which is thrilling in its awfulness.
The four Evangelists tell us of his call, and these are practically identical in their statement except concerning his names. Matthew and Mark call him the Betrayer; Luke speaks of him as a Traitor, while John calls him a Devil. The next thing we learn concerning him is his rebuke of the woman who came to render her service to Jesus as a proof of her affection. In John the twelfth chapter, the fourth to the sixth verse, we read, “Then saith one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, which should betray him, Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence, and given to the poor? This he said, not that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief, and had the bag, and bare what was put therein.”
Next we hear of him bargaining with the enemies of Jesus for his betrayal. The account is very full in Matthew, the twenty-sixth chapter the fourteenth to the sixteenth verse. “Then one of the twelve called Judas Iscariot, went unto the chief priests, and said unto them, What will ye give me, and I will deliver him unto you? And they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver. And from that time he sought opportunity to betray him.”
Then we are told of his delivering Jesus into the hands of his enemies, in Matthew, the twenty-sixth chapter, the forty-seventh to the forty-ninth verses: “And while he yet spake, lo, Judas, one of the twelve, came, and with him a great multitude, with swords and staves, from the chief priests and elders of the people. Now he that betrayed him gave them a sign, saying, Whomsoever I shall kiss, that same is he: hold him fast. And forthwith he came to Jesus, and said, Hail, Master; and kissed him.” And then finally comes his dreadful end, the account of his remorse in Matthew, the twenty-seventh chapter, the third and the fourth verses. “Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood. And they said, What is that to us? see thou to that.” And the statement of his suicide in Matthew, the twenty-seventh chapter, the fifth verse, “And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself.”
I.
The natural question that comes to every student of the life of Judas must be, “Why was he chosen?” but as Joseph Parker has said, “We may well ask why were we chosen ourselves, knowing our hearts as we do and appreciating our weakness as we must.” It has been said that if we study the Apostles we will find them representatives of all kinds of human nature, which would go to show that if we but yield ourselves to God, whatever we may be naturally, he can use us for his glory. It was here that Judas failed. I have heard it said that Jesus did not know Judas’ real character and that he was surprised when Judas turned out to be the disciple that he was; but let us have none of this spirit in the consideration of Jesus Christ. Let no man in these days limit Jesus’ knowledge, for he is omniscient and knoweth all things. Let us not forget what he said himself concerning Judas in John the thirteenth chapter and the eighteenth verse, “I speak not of you all; I know whom I have chosen; but that the Scripture may be fulfilled, He that eateth bread with me hath lifted up his heel against me.” Again, in the sixth chapter and the seventieth verse, “Jesus answered them. Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil?” and finally, in the sixth chapter and the sixty-fourth verse, “But there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should betray him.”
There were others who might have been chosen in his stead. The Apostles found two when in their haste they determined to fill the vacancy made by his betrayal. Acts 1:23-26, “And they appointed two, Joseph called Barsabas, who was surnamed Justus, and Matthias. And they prayed, and said, Thou, Lord, which knowest the hearts of all men, shew whether of these two thou hast chosen, that he may take part of this ministry and apostleship, from which Judas by transgression fell, that he might go to his own place. And they gave forth their lots; and the lot fell upon Matthias, and he was numbered with the eleven apostles.”
It seems to me that there can be no reason for his having been called of Christ except that he was to serve as a great warning to those of us who have lived since his day. There are many such warnings in the Scriptures.
Jonah was one. God said to him, “Go to Nineveh,” and yet, with the spirit of rebellion, he attempted to sail to Tarshish and we know his miserable failure. Let it never be forgotten that if Nineveh is God’s choice for you, you can make no other port in safety. The sea will be against you, the wind against you. It is hard indeed to struggle against God.
Jacob was a warning. Deceiving his own father, his sons in turn deceived him. May we never forget the Scripture which declares, “Whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap.”
Esau was a warning. Coming in from the hunt one day, weary with his exertions, he detects the savory smell of the mess of pottage, and his crafty brother says, “I will give you this for your birthright,” which was his right to be a priest in his household; a moment more and the birthright is gone; and in the New Testament we are told he sought it with tears and could find no place of repentance. But many a man has sold his right to be the priest of his household for less than a mess of pottage, and in a real sense it is true that things done cannot be undone.
Saul was a warning. He was commanded to put to death Agag and the flock, and he kept the best of all the flock and then lied to God’s messenger when he said that the work had been done as he was commanded. He had no sooner said it than, behold, there was heard the bleating of the sheep, and the lowing of the oxen. “Be sure your sin will find you out.”
The New Testament has many warnings like these in the Old, but Judas surpasses them all. There is something about him that makes us shudder.
It is said that in Oberammergau, where the Passion Play is presented, the man taking the character of Judas is always avoided afterwards. He may have been ever so reputable a citizen, but he has been at least in action a Judas, and that is enough.
I was once a pastor at Schuylerville, N. Y., where on the Burgoyne surrender ground stands a celebrated monument. It is beautiful to look upon. On one side of it in a niche is General Schuyler, and on the other side, if I remember correctly, General Gates; on the third, in the same sort of a niche, another distinguished general is to be seen, but on the fourth the niche is vacant. When I asked the reason I was told that “It is the niche which might have been filled by Benedict Arnold had he not been a traitor.”
The story of Judas is like this. He might have been all that God could have approved of; he is throughout eternity a murderer, and all because grace was rejected. Numerous lessons may be drawn from such a story. Certain things might be said concerning hypocrisy, for he was in the truest sense a hypocrite. Reference could be made to the fact that sin is small in its beginnings, sure in its progress, terrific in its ending, for at the beginning he was doubtless but an average man in sin, possibly not so different from the others; but he rejected the influence of Christ. Or, again, from such a character a thrilling story could be told of the end of transgressors, for hard as may be the way the end baffles description. Judas certainly tells us this.
II
However much of a warning Judas may be to people of the world, I am fully persuaded that there are four things which may be said concerning him.
First: He gives us a lesson as Christians. There were many names given him. In Matthew the tenth chapter and the fourth verse, and in Mark the third chapter and the nineteenth verse, we read that he was a betrayer; in Luke the sixth chapter and the sixteenth verse he was called a traitor; in John the sixth chapter and the seventieth verse he is spoken of as a devil, but in John the twelveth chapter and the sixth verse he is mentioned as a thief. To me however one of the best names that could be applied to him is that which Paul feared might be given to him when he said, “Lest when I have preached to others I myself should be [literally] disapproved” (1 Corinthians 9:27). It is indeed a solemn thought, that if we are not right with God he will set us aside, for he cannot use us. I have in mind a minister, who once thrilled great numbers of people with his message. Under the power of his preaching hundreds of people came to Christ. There was possibly no one in the Church with a brighter future. To-day he is set aside, for God cannot use him. I have in mind a Sunday school superintendent, who used to be on every platform speaking for Christ, and then yielded to undue political influence of the worst sort, lost his vision of Christ and his power in speaking, and to-day is set aside. But of all the illustrations, I know of nothing which so stirs me as the story of Judas. He might have been true and faithful and he might have been with Christ to-day in glory; instead, he is in hell, a self-confessed murderer, with the clinking of the thirty pieces of silver to condemn him, and his awful conscience constantly to accuse him. It is indeed enough to make our faces pale to realize that, whatever we may be to-day in the service of God, we can be set aside in less than a week, and God will cease to use us if we have anything of the spirit of Judas.
Second: I learn also from Judas that environment is not enough for the unregenerate. It is folly to state that a poor lost sinner simply by changing his environment may have his nature changed. As John G. Woolley has said, “it is like a man with a stubborn horse saying, ‘I will paint the outside of the barn a nice mild color to influence the horse within.’”
The well on my place in the country some years ago had in it poisoned water. It was an attractive well with a house built around about it, and the neighbors came to me to say that I must under no circumstances drink from it. What if I had said, “I will decorate the well house that I may change the water?” It would have been as nonsensical as to say, “I will change the environment of a man who is wicked by nature, and thereby make him good.” Judas had lived close to Jesus, he had been with him on the mountain, walked with him by the sea, was frequently with him, I am sure, in Gethsemane, for we read in John the eighteenth chapter and the second verse, “And Judas also, which betrayed him, knew the place: for Jesus ofttimes resorted thither with his disciples.” He was also with him at the Supper. But after all this uplifting, heavenly influence of the Son of God he sold him for silver and betrayed him with a kiss. Nothing can answer for the sinner but regeneration. His case is hopeless without that.
Third: Hypocrisy is an awful thing. The text in Galatians is for all such. “Be not deceived; God is not mocked.” Those words in Matthew in connection with the sermon on the Mount are for such, when men in the great day shall say, “Have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out Devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?” Jesus will say, “I never knew you.” If we read the commission in Matthew the tenth chapter the fifth to the twentieth verses inclusive, we shall understand that these Apostles were sent forth to do a mighty work, and evidently they did it. Judas had that commission, and he may have fulfilled it in a sense, but he is lost to-day because he was a hypocrite. The disciples may not have known his true nature. In John the thirteenth chapter the twenty-first to the twenty-ninth verses we read, “When Jesus had thus said, he was troubled in spirit, and testified and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me. Then the disciples looked one on another, doubting of whom he spake. Now there was leaning on Jesus’ bosom one of his
disciples, whom Jesus loved. Simon Peter therefore beckoned to him, that he should ask who it should be of whom he spake. He then lying on Jesus’ breast saith unto him, Lord, who is it? Jesus answered, He it is to whom I shall give a sop when I have dipped it. And when he had dipped the sop, he gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon. And after the sop Satan entered into him. Then said Jesus unto him, That thou doest, do quickly. Now no man at the table knew for what intent he spake this unto him. For some of them thought, because Judas had the bag, that Jesus had said unto him, Buy those things that we have need of against the feast; or that he should give something to the poor.” Which would seem to impress this thought upon us. Oh, may I say that it is a great sin to be untrue? The only time that Jesus is severe is not when sinners seek him out, nor when the woman taken in adultery is driven to him by those who would stone her with stones, nor with the thief on the Cross, but when he faces hypocrites; he can have no tenderness for them.
Fourth: I learn from Judas that sin is of slow progress. There may have been first just a natural ambition. He thought that the Kingdom of Jesus was to be a great temporal affair, and he desired to be a part of it. How many men to-day have wrecked their homes and all but lost their souls, because of unholy ambitions! It may be an ambition for your family as well as for yourself. Doubtless Jacob had such when he stopped at Shechem. The result of his tarrying was his heart-breaking experience with the worse than murder of his daughter. There are souls to-day in the lost world who were wrecked upon the rock of ambition.
Fifth: He was dishonest. It is a short journey from unholy ambition to dishonesty. The spirit of God Himself calls him a thief. But,
Sixth: Let it be known that while sin is of slow progress, it is exceedingly sure. In the twenty-second chapter of Luke and the third to the sixth verses we read that Satan entered into Judas. It seems to me as if up to that time he had rather hovered about him, tempting him with his insinuations, possibly causing him to slip and fall in occasional sins, but finally he has control and then betrayal, denial and murder are the results.
I looked the other day into the face of a man who said to me, “Do you know me?” and I told him I did not, and he said, “I used to be a Christian worker and influenced thousands to come to Christ. In anunguarded moment I determined to leave my ministry and to become rich. My haste for riches was but a snare. I found myself becoming unscrupulous in my business life and now I am wrecked, certainly for time–oh,” said he, “can it be for eternity? I am separated from my wife and my children, whom I shall never see again.” And rising in an agony he cried out as I have rarely heard a man cry, “God have mercy upon me! God have mercy upon me!”
III
There are but three things that I would like to say concerning Judas as I come to the end of my message.
The first is that he was heartless in the extreme. It was just after a touching scene recorded in Matthew the twenty-sixth chapter the seventh to the thirteenth verses, “There came unto him a woman having an alabaster box of very precious ointment, and poured it on his head, as he sat at meat. But when his disciples saw it, they had indignation, saying, To what purpose is this waste? For this ointment might have been sold for much, and given to the poor. When Jesus understood it, he said unto them, Why trouble ye the woman? for she hath wrought a good work upon me. For ye have the poor always with you; but me ye have not always. For in that she hath poured this ointment on my body, she did it for my burial. Verily I say unto you, Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached in the whole world, there shall also this, that this woman hath done, be told for a memorial of her.” It was after this that Judas went to the enemies of Jesus and offered to sell him, and as if that were not enough, it was just after he had left Gethsemane, in Matthew the twenty-sixth chapter the forty-fifth to the forty- ninth verses, that he betrayed him with his kiss. “Then cometh he to his disciples and saith unto them, Sleep on now, and take your rest; behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going: behold, he is at hand that doth betray me. And while he yet spake, lo, Judas, one of the twelve, came, and with him a great multitude, with swords and staves, from the chief priests and elders of the people. Now he that betrayed him gave them a sign, saying, Whomsoever I shall kiss, that same is he: hold him fast. And forthwith he came to Jesus, and said, Hail, Master; and kissed him.” The blood drops had just been rolling down the cheeks of the Master, for he sweat, as it were, great drops of blood; and I can quite understand how upon the very lips of Judas the condemning blood may have left its mark. But do not condemn him; he is scarcely more heartless than the man who to-day rejects him after all his gracious ministry, his sacrificial death and his mediatorial work of nineteen hundred years.
Second: His death was awful. Acts 1:18, “Now this man purchased a field with the reward of iniquity; and falling headlong, he burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out.” I can imagine him going out to the place where he is to end it all, remembering as he walked how Jesus had looked at him, recalling, doubtless, some of his spoken messages, and certainly remembering how once he had been with him in all his unfaithful ministry. All this must have swept before him like a great panorama, and with the vision of his betrayed Master still before him he swings himself out into the eternity; and then as if to make the end more terrible the rope broke and his body burst and his very bowels gushed forth. Oh, if it be true that the _way_ of the transgressor is hard, in the name of God what shall we say of the end?
Third: I would like to imagine another picture. What if instead of going out to the scene of his disgraceful death he had waited until after Jesus had risen? What if he had tarried behind some one of those great trees near the city along the way which he should walk, or, possibly on the Emmaus way? What if he had hidden behind some great rock and simply waited? While it is true that he must have trembled as he waited, what if after it all he had simply thrown himself on the mercy of Jesus and had said to him, “Master, I have from the first been untrue; for thirty pieces of silver I sold thee and with these lips I betrayed thee with a kiss; but Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy upon me”? There would have been written in the New Testament Scriptures the most beautiful story that the inspired book contains. Nothing could have been so wonderful as the spirit of him who is able to save to the uttermost, and who never turned away from any seeking sinner, and he would, I am sure, have taken Judas in his very arms; he, too, might have given him a kiss, not of betrayal, but of the sign of his complete forgiveness, and Judas might have shone to-day in the city of God as shines Joseph of Arimathaea, Paul the Apostle, Peter the Preacher.
The saddest story I know is the story of Judas, for it is the account of a man who resisted the grace of God and must regret it through eternity.
Common Men, Uncommon Calling: Judas Iscariot, Part 1
As you know, we have been studying in the gospel of Luke and we have come to the 6th chapter where Jesus identifies His twelve apostles. If you’d like to turn in your Bible to Luke chapter 6, that would be a place to begin this morning. In verses 14 to 16 Luke introduces us to the twelve. Luke 6:14, “Simon, whom He also named Peter, and Andrew his brother, and James and John and Philip and Bartholomew, who is also called Nathanael, and Matthew, also called Levi, and Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus and Simon who was called the Zealot, Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot who became a traitor.”
We have met each of the twelve apostles, at least up to the last one. We have met the first eleven. We know a little bit about the twelfth because he’s an infamous man. We’re going to know a lot more in the next couple of Sundays as we look at this incredible character named Judas Iscariot.
When I was a seminary student I was fascinated by Judas. I had been for a long time just as a young person because it was so incomprehensible to me that anybody could be in intimate fellowship with Jesus for the period of three years plus, see everything He did, hear everything He said, and end up betraying Him. I couldn’t comprehend the profound wickedness of such a human heart. I couldn’t comprehend the hard-heartedness of such a person. I couldn’t comprehend the obstinate, unwillingness to believe. It just seemed incomprehensible to me.
I was so struck by Judas and so desirous of understanding what was working in him and what was motivating him that when it came time to select a dissertation topic for my thesis in seminary, I elected to write a thesis on Judas Iscariot. And I did. The process of gaining all the information when you do a scholarly kind of work like that sent me to a number of libraries around Southern California, three or four or five libraries in which I imbibed everything I could find on the person of Judas Iscariot. There’s all kinds of fantasy about him, all kinds of apocryphal literature about him. From the earliest times on up into the Middle Ages people were writing fanciful things about Judas to try to make him appear even worse than he was.
I remember one writer wrote that Judas actually died by exploding. What happened was he became so vile on the inside that maggots filled his body and as they multiplied and multiplied and multiplied he was going through town one day in a wagon and he blew up all over the town. And there are all kinds of really bizarre things that were written about Judas.
One, however, need not embellish the Scripture. It’s very clear that those are not the testimony of the inspired Word of God. They can all be set aside. It doesn’t do us any good to study the fanciful things and no matter how much we would despise the man, how much we want to make him appear to be a man of ultimate evil, it does no good to embellish the truth. The truth is enough without adding anything to it.
When we think about history, when we think about the worse people in history, if we were just going to run through history there would be somewhat of a list we could accumulate of the really terrible people in history. We would stop at certain points along the way and mark out certain killers, certain men who massacred towns or villages in more primitive times. We would bring up names, of course, that are at the top of the list such as Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin and others who would fall below their unbelievable wretchedness. We would continue the list to incorporate other people in the more modern times, this new rise of serial killers, as they’re becoming known, those who are pedophiles, those who rape and kill children, rapists and on and on and on we go. We could come up with a pretty big list of the worst of the worst, the wretched of the wretched, the vilest of the vile.
But frankly, at the top of any list is Judas Iscariot, the worst of the worst. I remember reading years ago doing some research on Adolf Hitler, reading that he was very tightly engaged with some…what were called Black Monks from Tibet. They were mediums who contacted demon spirits. And Hitler was up to his proverbial neck in demonism. And he was supercharged by the forces of hell. In fact, his biographers will say that he didn’t speak in his own voice. If you talked to him before he gave a speech you would hear his voice, when he got up to the podium to give a speech, it was not his voice. He was literally taken over by demonic voices.
And I guess you could say the same for these others. Many of the serial killers have some kind of bizarre preoccupation with Satan, and of course, have allowed their souls to be utterly given over to wretchedness and wickedness.
But what to me is more profoundly evil than a man under the influence of Satan, conducting himself like that, is a man under the influence of Christ conducting himself like Judas did. It’s explicable to understand that under the control of the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now works in the children of disobedience, that under the control of Satan, wretchedness to some degree or another is going to manifest itself. And all the unconverted people, all the ungodly people, all those who do not know God through Christ in the world are in the kingdom of darkness under the control of Satan. It’s only a question of degree and manifestation. But all of that is categorically under Satan’s influence.
What makes Judas such a solitary figure in his wretchedness is that for three years plus he was under the direct influence of Jesus Christ. And it wasn’t actually until that night at the Last Supper when he went out to betray Jesus that the Bible says, “And Satan entered into Judas.” This is the epitome of human disaster, a horrifying, colossal failure.
We looked at the eleven. We found them to be common men, I suppose from some viewpoints, unqualified for such a noble calling as being the official representatives of Jesus Christ, the first preachers of the gospel after Christ, those responsible for the founding of the church, overseeing and even in some cases doing the writing of the New Testament. They seemed a low lot to be chosen for such a high task, and hence our series has been called “Common Men, Uncommon Calling.”
But we saw how that these common, unqualified men were transformed and they were empowered and the Lord Himself enabled them to preach and to teach and to heal and to cast out demons and become powerful, official representatives of His kingdom. And we looked at their character, we looked at their personality and in some cases we learned a little about their life and ministry and even about their martyrdom. We have enough information to know that they were successful and we’re living proof of their success. We are their progeny.
But in the midst of it, there was this one colossal, monumental failure, Judas Iscariot. In all four lists of the apostles, Matthew, Mark, Luke and Acts, he is last. He is last. And always there’s a statement with his name about his being the betrayer of Christ so that no one would ever overlook that or forget it or miss it. And what makes the story of Judas so dark is that it’s against the background of the brightest light that ever shone in the face of the world, and that is the light of the glory of God shining in the face of Jesus Christ. And because of the brilliance of Christ, the darkness of Judas is clearly seen. His is the foulest deed ever done by any human being. His is a treachery beyond comprehension.
His name is the legendary byword for betrayal and nobody on the face of the earth names their child Judas. There are forty verses in the New Testament in which there’s a reference to the betrayal of our Lord and each of them there is some implication of the incredible sin of Judas. Judas is always painted as a willful sinner, always painted as one who chose his path of iniquity. He’s never painted as some kind of a victim of destiny, victim of a sovereign choice by God for which he had absolutely no control and to which he made no contribution, not at all. He is loaded with culpability in Scripture.
The church from the very outset after his life has put him in the lowest place. Even Dante in The Inferno in his passage through hell, you find Judas as depicted as occupying the lowest place with Lucifer and that he is enduring the most punishment possible by God. And part of his punishment is that Judas in Dante’s view is barred and shunned from even the caverns of the damned. He’s beneath them. Dante came to that thought because when Judas died it says he went to his own place. In Dante’s view that is a solitary place at the bottom of hell.
And the gospels tell us all we know about Judas and after the gospels and his death in Acts 1 his name disappears from Scripture. But here he is in Luke 6 and at this point none of what will happen is known. And so he’s just in the list. Well, by the time Luke had penned this, it was known and so he identifies him as Judas Iscariot who became a traitor.
Now because there is a lot of information about Judas, it’s going to take us a couple of weeks to look at it, and that’s as it should be. This is one of the most profound, one of the most compelling and one of the most painful if not the most painful record of a human life on the pages of Scripture. Let’s kind of break it down.
Let’s look, first of all, at his name, Judas Iscariot. Judas is a good name. In fact, just prior to him was Judas the son of James. Judas was a common name. In fact, it’s the Greek form of Judah, the Greek form of Judah; Judah, meaning “Jehovah leads.” Well, when this little baby was born, some mother and father wanted God’s will for his life and named him “Jehovah Leads.” I’m sure there was in their heart some kind of prayer that this little one would grow up to step into the leading of Jehovah God. It might indicate that his parents were devout Jews, “Jehovah leads.” Judas is the Greek form of the Hebrew Judah, just changes the “h” to an “s”. It’s a wonderful name. You wouldn’t mind naming your child something that meant “God leads.”
And so, we could assume that his life started out with a lot of hope on the part of his mom and dad and the family around him. And then it says Iscariot, apa keriotu in the Greek, from Kerioth, from Kerioth. That is not the name of his father because in John 6:71 his father’s name is given as Simon. Some Jewish man named Simon and his unnamed wife had this little baby and they named him “Jehovah leads.” Certainly they were like any parent with a newborn in their arms, hopeful of all the best of God’s direction in his life. Apa keriotu means from the town of Kerioth, from Kerioth.
Where was Kerioth? Well there was a Kerioth in Moab, that’s not the Kerioth. But there was another Kerioth twenty-three miles south of Jerusalem. If you were to go from Jerusalem in a direct line south, you’d go a few miles and you’d pass through Bethlehem. You go about twenty-one miles further and you’d be in Kerioth, mentioned also in Joshua 15:25, and as I said, not to be confused with Kerioth over in Moab, far to the east across the Jordan.
Now the area of Kerioth was really a very rural farm area. And there were a number of little hamlets, little farming villages that banded together to form a sort of loosely held-together town called Kerioth.
Now as you can tell by what I’m describing, it was not in Galilee. That was where the other eleven were from. It was in Judea. He’s the only apostle from Judea and that’s why it doesn’t say here, “Judas the son of Simon,” because that wouldn’t give us the hint that we need that he wasn’t one of the group. He started out as an outsider, remained an outsider and is forever in hell an outsider. Seven miles from Hebron in this peaceful little rural town was born a baby who in spite of all the hopes and dreams of the parents who named him “Jehovah Leads” would become the most despicable man ever to live, who would take a position opposite God that was so severe one couldn’t imagine a more severe one, to spend forever in eternal hell. He’s the only non-Galilean, the only Judean. So he began as an outsider.
And maybe that was important because he needed to work his way into the treasury. He needed to get to the money and it helped that nobody knew him or his background. So from his name, let’s talk about his call. How did he ever get into this group? How did he ever arrive here? I mean, you know that if you’re working in a ministry, you’re working in a church and you’re trying to pick leaders, you’re very cautious, and you’re very careful, and you go through all kinds of drill just to make sure you don’t get somebody in a position of leadership who is not qualified to be there, and so you can ask the question: How in the world did this man ever end up as an apostle? How did it happen? Was Jesus blind-sided by the guy?
Well, there are some theologians who would say that Jesus didn’t know what was going on, He thought Judas was a good guy. He only knew the visible part of his life, the manifest part of his life; didn’t know anything more than that; which, of course, is ridiculous since in the second chapter of John the first time Jesus started His public ministry it says, “He knew what was in the heart of man so that nobody needed to tell Him anything about man.” That doesn’t fly.
The real question is: Since Jesus knew exactly what kind of man this man was, why did He make him an apostle? Why? Well, because he had a divine purpose to fulfill in the plan of God. God knew it, Jesus knew it. I don’t think Judas knew it. And I’m confident that the other eleven had no clue. They embraced him as a fellow apostle. They never had a question about his legitimacy. And apparently in the beginning he was attracted to Jesus.
By the time he had reached this age, a young man, maybe in his early 20s, his heart had been given over to material things. He was driven by avarice. That’s the best word, avarice which is a dominating and compelling greed. But that kind of wickedness, that kind of ambition is not just singular. Attached to his driving greed was something of his devout background, some…some idea that there really was a Messiah who really was going to come. And he had been looking for the Messiah.
His view of the messiahship was a material view of the messiahship. It was an earthly, political, military, economic view of the Messiah and that was not foreign to the rest of the Jews. That’s the way they all viewed it. They thought when the Messiah comes He’s going to create a welfare state, He’s going to fulfill all the Old Testament prophecies, the desert will blossom like a rose, we’ll all have free food, everybody will be well, all things will be good, all our enemies will bow down, He’ll rule over the whole world. The Romans will be destroyed, thrown out. And this is what they looked for. They were not looking for a spiritual Messiah to come and to deal with the sin of their hearts. In the end, they executed Jesus because He wasn’t what they wanted.
But in the beginning, they were all looking this way. I mean, even…even James and John were saying you know, “when You come into Your big kingdom, can we rule on the right and the left?” They were… They were self-promoting, they wanted to be in the big seats, in the big chairs at the head of the kingdom, in the positions of power and prestige and financial benefit. So he wasn’t that different at the outset. And he followed Jesus from his side because he wanted to. There was no determinism going on here. He’s not some kind of robot. He’s not some kind of mechanical man who had no thought of his own. He was doing what he wanted to do. He admired Jesus. He believed that this man was very likely the Messiah. He heard His words, he saw His mighty works, he saw Him raise people from the dead, he saw Him heal people, he saw this massive amount of miracles, the profound teaching of Jesus, feeding crowds of people, creating food, there was never anybody like Him, he knew that, he was astute enough to know this man appears to be the Messiah, I am going to hitch my wagon to this star. He’ll take me where I want to go.
He never really had a spiritual interest. It was all a material interest. But the others sort of had a mixing of the spiritual and the material. But you need to understand from the very beginning, when Jesus started preaching, Judas showed up by his own will, his own volition, his own choice. From wherever he was he made the trek. He heard about this one who had all this power, he heard about Jesus, he showed up, he was awestruck by Him. He determined, “I’ve got one life, I’ve never seen anybody like this, I’m hooking up with this man, He’s going to lead me to the place I want to be.”
And so, don’t ever think for a moment that Judas wasn’t acting on his own volition. He was precisely acting on his own volition, acting on his own will, driven by ambition for power and position because it would bring to him money, driven by greed. But on the other side of the story, while all this is working in his wicked heart, from the divine side Christ chose him. God was at work moving him to the crowd, on the edge, moving in. In John 6 when Jesus said, “You have to eat My flesh and drink My blood, you have to take everything in about Me,” Judas wasn’t willing to do that. But he didn’t leave. Some of the disciples, it says, “walked no more with Him.” Not Judas, he hung around. He was going to cash in on this deal. He was in there for the duration. And it was his own volition and his own choice and his own will that he was there. He was driven by ambition, greed, avarice. But at the same time, in that inexplicable and marvelous way in which human volition and divine purpose and sovereignty work, God was putting him in the position to do what the plan required.
I suppose on the spiritual pathology side we could say that Judas was a wicked, wretched, selfish, proud man. He was probably a self-righteous person, probably thought he was good enough the way he was and things were right with God, if he thought about that at all. And he was going to ride the Messiah into the kingdom and become rich. And it was all working in his heart that direction, but what he didn’t know was that God was orchestrating all of his wretchedness to fit perfectly into His eternal plan. From the start, our Lord knew Judas was the betrayer and chose him because He knew that, because He knew that.
It was in John 6 verse 70 that Jesus said, “One of you is a diabolos.” One of you is a devil, a devil. And it never registered with the apostles, right on by. They knew it wasn’t them and they couldn’t identify anybody else. And I doubt that Judas even accepted that description. One of you is a devil. Jesus knew it from the very beginning cause that was the plan.
Let me show you how clearly that is laid out. Turn to Psalm 41. In Psalm 41 verse 9 the psalmist gives us really what is prophecy of Judas. “Even My close friend in whom I trusted who ate My bread has lifted up his heel against Me.” You know, in the ancient Middle East, ancient Near Eastern culture, when somebody ate your bread that was a signal of friendship. That’s… That’s the intimate affirmation of friendship. And for someone who was your close friend, whom you trusted, who ate your bread, sat at the table with you, to lift up his heel against you was the treachery of all treacheries, unthinkable treachery. And yet, that’s precisely a description of Judas.
In Matthew chapter 26 and verse 23 Jesus was saying, “One of you is going to betray Me,” verse 21, “and they all said, ‘Surely not I, Lord,” surely not I. “He answered and said, ‘He who dipped his hand with Me in the bowl is the one who will betray Me.'” He who dipped his hand with Me in the bowl is the one who will betray Me. It’s the one sitting at My table, the one who put his hand with Me in the bowl. And we know at that last supper Judas was sitting next to Jesus and Jesus shared the sop with him.
Verse 24, “The Son of Man is to go just as it is written of Him,” just as it is written, “but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed.” Just because it’s prophesied, just because it fits into the purpose of God, just because God is determined that that man will be the traitor who would betray Christ and bring about His execution, does not exonerate the man who was the traitor. And Jesus then says that compelling statement in verse 24, “It would have been good for that man if he had not been born.” Reason? Because once he was born, he could never die and that spells eternal punishment.
In Luke 22 and verse 21 Jesus says, “Behold, the hand of the one betraying Me is with Me on the table.” There’s that table thing from Psalm 41 again. It’s right here with Me on the table. He’s here, My own companion, My intimate friend. His hand is on the table with Me. And then He repeats, “For indeed the Son of Man is going as it has been determined but woe to that man by whom He is betrayed.” And I say it again, the fact that God used that betrayal in the plan, the fact that God controlled Judas so that he was useful to God in a horrifying way, is not determinism and does not take Judas off the hook. Woe to that man by whom He is betrayed.
Then John 13:18 is key. John 13:18 explicitly refers back to Psalm 41:9, “I do not speak of all of you. I know the ones I have chosen,” Jesus says. I know who I chose, not to be an apostle, but to be saved. This is the choice to salvation. I know whom I have chosen. Interesting that concept of election comes back in. “But it is that the Scripture may be fulfilled.” And then He quotes Psalm 41:9, “He who eats My bread has lifted up his heel against Me.” Judas did what he did in the way that it was designed in the Old Testament so that there would be a fulfillment of prophecy that would show that God knew exactly what was happening, that God was orchestrating everything.
You see, you have these people who write things like Schonfield’s Passover Plot and other books and they’re continually being pumped out of book publishing houses that say that Jesus was this poor misguided patriot and he had a good idea in mind, he was trying to do the right thing and he got going along and things kind of start to go awry, everything got fouled up, things went wrong at the end, one of his friends betrayed him, and he ended up dead. And that is just so ridiculous. Jesus knew every single thing that was going on all the way down the line. He knew Judas. He knew Judas would betray Him. He knew the one who sat at the table and ate with Him that night at the last supper would be the one who would betray Him, and that is exactly the way it happened as God had ordained long before, and indicated in the prophecy of Psalm 41.
Turn to Psalm 55 verse 12, and here again is another Davidic look at this whole idea of sort of inside treachery. “It is not an enemy who reproaches Me,” Psalm 55:12, “It’s not an enemy who reproaches Me. Then I could bear it. Nor is it one who hates Me who has exalted himself against Me. Then I could hide Myself from him.” In other words, it’s one thing to have treachery against you done by an enemy. You can handle it, you can bear it. But verse 13, “It is you, a man” literally my acquaintance, somebody I know, “My companion,” verse 13, “My familiar friend, we who had sweet fellowship together, walked in the house of God in the throng.” That’s the unthinkable part of it. And I’m sure you know this if you’ve lived long enough: The worst pain you’ll ever endure on a human level in terms of relationships is to be betrayed by the people who are the closest to you. No pain like that pain in human relationships. I could have borne it, He says, I could have dealt with it if it was somebody I didn’t know, but it was My own familiar friend, My acquaintance, My companion, we had sweet fellowship together in a worshiping environment. So the Old Testament tells us that there’s going to be a betrayer, he’s going to be on the intimate circle.
Turn to Zechariah chapter 11. If you wonder where Zechariah is, it’s the second to the last book of the Old Testament, two left of Matthew. Zechariah 11, here again is a prophecy, the middle of verse 12, “So they weighed out thirty shekels of silver as my price,” or my wages. “Then the Lord said to me, ‘Throw it to the potter, that magnificent price at which I was valued by them, so I took the thirty shekels of silver and threw them to the potter in the house of the Lord.” There is a very explicit statement looking forward to Christ. The details aren’t all here, of course: Looking forward to Christ, being sold for thirty pieces of silver; those pieces of silver being thrown on the floor of the house of the Lord, which is what Judas did with them because they were burning a hole in his hand because of his guilt. And they were used to purchase the potter’s field for a cemetery. There’s no way that the prophet Zechariah in this vision could understand all of that, but that again is power of inspired prophecy, that the Messiah would be sold for thirty pieces of silver, that they would be thrown down in the house of the Lord, they would end up in a potter’s field. And that’s precisely what happened.
So, Judas came of his own volition, of his own choice, of his own decision to accomplish things that were in his own wretched, proud, greedy ambition. But at the same time he, as far as he was concerned, was functioning completely on his own mind’s desire. God was at work effecting the fulfillment of prophecy through him. This is a great illustration. We cannot understand all of the supernatural way in which this works. But we can know that it does, that men do what they do, but it all works within the framework of God and His purpose. And in the end, the man is culpable for his own choices, he is guilty for his own sins, and he is damned for his own rejection. And yet, the purposes of God come to pass.
I think the…the sum of understanding this man is in one title that he is given in John 17. Turn to John 17. He’s given one title that is very, very clear that sums up the man in a phrase. In verse 11 of John 17, Jesus, of course, is praying for His own, the apostles, and He says, you know, I’m no more in the world, He’s anticipating leaving, “they’re in the world, I come to you, holy Father, keep them in Your name, a name which You have given Me, that they may be one even as we are one, keep these men who are mine. While I was with them I was keeping them in Thy name which Thou hast given Me, I guarded them and not one of them perished.” Jesus says I’m keeping them, I guarding them, I’m holding them, as it were, powerfully to bring them to eternal glory. They’ll not perish. Then He says at the end of verse 12, “But…” not one of them perish, “but the son of perdition that the Scripture might be fulfilled.” There we go again, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, Psalm 41, Psalm 55, Zechariah 11.
But notice here Judas is called “the son of perdition.” Only one other person in the Bible is given that label. Second Thessalonians 2:3 and it’s the Antichrist, the Antichrist. And what it means, Luther interpreted it, translated it as “the lost child.” It’s more than that. That’s good. But a son of perdition means that his nature was lostness. His essential character was destruction. His very nature was to be lost to God. If you say that someone is a son of righteousness, you mean that they’re basically…that by nature they’re righteous. If you say that someone is a son of love, you mean that they’re loving. If you say that someone is a son of darkness, or a son of Belial, you mean that their very nature manifests sinfulness, or Satan. If you say someone is a son of perdition, you are saying that that which is truest about them is their utter lostness. And this is the reason — because only Judas and the Antichrist are called the son of perdition — that some have through the years tried to say that the Antichrist who comes in the end of human history into the world will be a resurrected Judas. There’s nothing in the Bible at all that indicates that. Nothing at all, that would be purely speculation. Just because they have the same name or are given the same label doesn’t mean they are the same person. And there’s certainly no warrant for God to raise from the dead one who has gone to his own place for eternal punishment, namely Judas. Judas has a…has a nature that is headed to damnation. His very definition is lostness. And that’s why early on Jesus could say he’s a devil, he’s a diabolos.
So this man by his own will and his own pride and his own unbelief and his own ambition and his own greed follows Jesus, chooses to get into the circle, is probably shocked when he’s chosen to be one of the twelve because he knows he’s not the same as they are and he feels he’s probably in the background rubbing his hands together, “I can’t believe this happened. I’m in.” And then he manipulates in order to become the treasurer, get his hands on the money. And he’s successful at it. And none of the eleven ever knew that he was the hypocrite because when Jesus said “One of you is going to betray Me,” what did they say? “Is it Judas?” No. What did they say, “Is it I?” If he was the worst of men who ever lived, then he was the best of hypocrites who ever lived, really a good hypocrite, good in the sense of effective. To be that wretched and to be chosen to take the responsibility for the treasury, the small treasury that sustained the life of the apostles, to have that kind of trust when you’re that kind of greedy, you have to be a very adept hypocrite. And the worst of men then is the best of hypocrites.
Just like everything else in the death of Christ, you remember when Peter stood up on Acts…in Acts 2 and preached on Pentecost, verses 22 and 23, he said, “By the determined counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have by the hands of ungodly men killed Christ.” You did it by the hands of ungodly men, you’re responsible. It was by the predetermined plan of God. That’s how all of history goes, folks. That’s how it is. The sinner chooses and God sovereignly orchestrates and controls. So it was with Judas.
And he didn’t appear to have a defective character on the outside so that when Jesus added him to the group, nobody said, “Well what…We’ve gotten to know this guy. You don’t want him in the group,” none of that, none of that. In fact, at the start he might not have been any worse than Matthew who was a wretched, despised, hated tax collector. And he might not have been any worse than Simon the Zealot, who was a terrorist. They became better and he became worse.
Everybody around him saw the material, the same raw material out of which an apostle could be made. Everybody saw the same clay out of which a vessel unto honor could be shaped. They never even asked any questions. He was probably young, nationalistic, zealous, devout religiously, honorable in his efforts, labor, and in his expectations for the kingdom of Messiah, showing the same hope of a kingdom but without the spiritual dimension. He was void of that from the beginning. He got in it because he thought he could get exalted. Well so did James and John, didn’t they? The only difference was they also had the spiritual dimension. They believed in Jesus Christ as their Messiah, Savior.
Well, Jesus chose Judas because of the plan and because of the prophecy. And yet Judas chose Jesus out of his own driven ambition. Judas thought he could hook up to Jesus and get where he wanted to go. And God knew that he would hook up to Jesus and go exactly where God wanted him to go.
And as I said, being a southern Jew he was a little bit of an outsider. That worked in his favor. They didn’t have any background. They trusted him enough to make him the group treasurer. They gave him all the money, which he systematically stole. I mean, if he was wicked enough to betray the Son of God, it certainly didn’t bother that conscienceless man to steal from his acquaintances. The stupid eleven played right into his greedy hands, they gave him the money.
He deceived them and they just were clueless. Day after day after day through the ministry of Jesus his heart got more hard and more hard and more hard and more hard. The same sun that melts the wax hardens the clay. And while the disciples were melting under the Son of Righteousness, he was hardening harder and harder and harder and harder.
You ought to be warned, my friend. Don’t stay around Jesus Christ if it’s hardening you. Get away, lest you become like Judas. See, his view of the kingdom was earthy. How could he gain for himself here and now? And for the disciples it was increasingly heavenly and he concealed the fact that he was a tare, he concealed the fact that he was a fruitless branch described in John 15 by the Lord Himself. When Judas was sitting in that upper room and Jesus taught in John 15, I don’t think the disciples knew they…I don’t think that it all came together even when Judas left, that he was that fruitless branch attached to Christ with nothing growing that was going to be cut down, thrown into the fire. And Jesus never exposed him. All through those years He never told the others. But Jesus did extend to him love and affection. Even at the last supper in John 13, He took the sop, which was some kind of bread and you dipped it in a keroseth. It’s…we’ll talk a little more about it, but it’s kind of a paste that…like a jam that you put on the bread and He gave it to Judas, is what you did to the honored guest, always reaching out with affection, always reaching out with love to Judas, always.
And then there were all those times when Judas was right there, you know, arm’s length from the face of Jesus and Jesus was warning people about money and saying you can’t love God and money. You can’t serve two masters. Who do you think he was talking to? Sometimes you come to church, you sit in here with thousands of people and you think I’m preaching to you. I am, but the point is, I don’t know you, but God does, and sometimes it feels like I’m going right into you with a direct shot. Well here’s Judas standing in the front and Jesus is saying, don’t be concerned about earthly riches, don’t lay up your treasure here, put it in heaven, you can’t serve God and money, don’t worry about what you give up in this life, I’ll give you everything in My kingdom. And it…it never penetrated, it…it just made him hard.
And then Jesus in Luke 16 gave the parable of the unjust steward and warned about having tremendous opportunity, tremendous privilege and wasting it and getting pitched out into outer darkness. And then He told a parable in Matthew 22 about the great wedding feast, and everybody was invited. All the guests were to come and somebody came to the wedding feast and didn’t have a wedding garment. He’s a party crasher, a kingdom crasher. And they picked him up and threw him out into outer darkness where there’s weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth. Who do you think He’s talking to?
I think that the…the message of repentance was offered repeatedly right in Judas’ face. And while it was melting the wax in the other’s lives, it was hardening the clay in his because he was so evil, so wicked, so ambitious, so proud, so money hungry.
Matthew 6 when He was saying, you know, “Don’t worry about what you eat or what you drink or what you wear, seek first the kingdom of God and everything will be added,” that had to ring in Judas’ ear. Matthew 23 when Jesus blisters hypocrisy, that whole chapter is all about hypocrites, hypocrites this and hypocrites that and hypocrites…the biggest hypocrite in the crowd was Judas. He was a far bigger hypocrite than the chief priests, the scribes, the Sadducees, the Pharisees. He was the hypocrite of hypocrites. It didn’t register.
So this is a tragic man and I think Jesus reached out to him in tenderness, love and affection; never exposed him; showed him affection when He gave him the sop at the last supper. I think Jesus preached to him, preached to him, preached to him, preached to him right in his face and his heart just got harder and harder and harder. No wonder, no wonder Jesus said he is a son of perdition. What describes him most is his utter lostness.
And I would warn you, if you come and you hear the preaching continually, continually of the truth and you reject embracing that truth, you are in a Judas path. And if you don’t melt, you will harden. Better if you get out of here and don’t come back, than to harden under the truth. Even as Christians that principle is operative. You know, your parents are Christians, your grandparents were Christians, everybody around you is a Christian, and it’s comme ci comme ca, you drop in here whenever you feel like it, a Sunday here, a Sunday there, you listen a little, listen a little there and you don’t have passion, that hunger, that tremendous appetite for the truth, what is happening in you is that you’re basically becoming hardened to the truth even as a believer. And while some brand new Christian coming out of a world of sin and a life of sin can’t get enough of the Word, you as a Christian generationally having been handed all this stuff can’t get enough of the world; serious issue.
Judas is so tragic. And I want you to understand his culpability. And I also want you to understand that Jesus reached out and spoke to him and preached to him and directed His words at him, as well as His love and His affection at him. And that to me is like the universal gospel offer that increases his culpability and defines his unbelief as obstinate. And he is guilty, and yet God in His amazing, incredible providence and power fit that man’s obstinate unbelief into the plan to fulfill the Scripture so that no one could ever say that things went wrong in Jesus’ life and oops, this happened. This was planned from the start.
So his name and his call. Next time his development, sad, sad story.
Father, we thank You this morning for the Word, as we always do. What would we know about anything without the Scripture? Even this, so dark and so tragic, is so important. Lessons of this man’s life are a profound and many that already our souls are gripped by the unimaginable reality that a man could spend three years walking, talking, eating, sleeping, sharing life with the eternal God, Creator of the universe in human form and not only not be affected positively, but be affected negatively so that admiration turned to indifference and indifference turned to hate and hate turned to betrayal and betrayal resulted in suicide which resulted in damnation. What a horrible story. But what an instructive one. Help us all to examine our own hearts. We want to stand with the eleven, with all their commonness and all their simplicity. We want to stand with those who love You, who embrace You, who believe and who serve You. This is our privilege. Amen.
Sermons and Outlines
Mark 14:10-11
THE GREAT PRETENDER
Intro : Our text today deals with a man named Judas Iscariot. He is, without a doubt, the most notorious and most vilified of all the disciples. His name appears last in every list of the disciples, except in Acts 1 , where his name does not appear at all. Every time he is mentioned in the Bible, the Word of God reminds us that he is a traitor who betrayed Jesus to His death.
Judas was a failure as a disciple. He was exposed to the same teaching the others heard. He saw the same miracles and was involved in the same ministries. Yet, Judas never came to saving faith in Jesus Christ. Judas spent three years with the Lord Jesus Christ and he died lost. The others were converted during their time with the Lord; Judas only became spiritually hard, calloused and hateful.
The other eleven disciples were used of God in amazing ways. Their lives demonstrate the truth that common, ordinary people can be used of the Lord in extraordinary ways. Judas, on the other hand, stands as a stark warning about the dangers of wasted opportunities, hardness of heart, wicked lusts, and spiritual carelessness.
While Judas was a failure as a disciple, he was the most successful hypocrite of all time. He played his part so well that no one but Jesus Himself knew that Judas was a fraud and a pretender. He was as common and as ordinary as the rest of the disciples. He was so ordinary that he never stood out from the rest. He hid behind the camouflage of hypocrisy and no one but Jesus ever realized it.
This passage reveals Judas as he hatches his plot to betray the Son of God into the hands of his enemies, Ill. The Context. We are going to take the opportunity this text offers us to get to know Judas Iscariot a little better. We need to hear and heed the lessons that come from the life of this tragic character.
Dr. John MacArthur reminds us that Judas and his life teach us two basic truths.
1. It is possible to be near Jesus and to associate with Him closely and still be hardened in sin.
2. Judas is a clear reminder that the purposes of God stand sure. No matter what anyone may do, they will never thwart the plan of Almighty God. God always accomplishes what He determines to do, Isa. 46:10-11; Eph. 1:11 .
With those thoughts in mind, I want to preach about Judas Iscariot today. I want to reveal some of what the Bible teaches about this man we will call The Great Pretender. I want you to see Judas And His Personality; Judas And His Privileges; Judas And His Problem; Judas And His Plan; and Judas and His Punishment.
It is my prayer that the Lord will use the lessons from this man’s life to cause us to look deep within our own souls; lest we also be found to be pretenders. Let’s consider The Great Pretender together today.
I. v. 10 JUDAS AND
HIS PERSONALITY
(Ill. We really do not know a lot about Judas Iscariot from the biblical record. He is mentioned 20 times in the Gospels and twice in the book of Acts. He speaks on just two occasions. He is an enigma and he is a mystery. Yet, from what the Bible does say about him, we can learn a few important truths about this man and his life.)
A. Consider His Designation His name is Judas. It is the Greek rendering of the Old Testament name Judah. Judah was the son of Jacob and the father of the largest and most dominant of all the tribes of Israel.
The name has two possible meanings, “Jehovah Leads or He Whom Jehovah Praises. This name suggests that his parents had hope for his future. They were probably a deeply religious family, who hoped that he would be led by God and that his life would bring praise to the name of the Lord. Little did they know that their son would only be led by, and bring praise to, the devil.
Judas stands as living proof that having a godly heritage is not enough to save the soul. Having Christian parents cannot guarantee the salvation of the soul. There must be a conscious turning from sin to embrace the Gospel message by faith. There must be a life-changing, soul-saving encounter with Jesus Christ.
B. Consider His Dwelling His surname was Iscariot. This name tells us something about where Judas came from. The word Iscariot is derived from the Hebrew. Ish means man. cariot refers to the town of Karioth. Thus, Judas is called man of Karioth. Karioth was a humble farming town located 23 miles south of Jerusalem.
We are told that his father’s name was “Simon, John 6:71; 13:2, 26 . Simon was a very common name in that time period. Nothing more is known of his family. Judas was a common man from a common family in a common town in Judea.
C. Consider His Detachment Since he was from Judea, Judas was the only one of the twelve not from Galilee. The rest of the disciples were from the northern part of the nation. Many of them knew one another. Some were brothers. Others were coworkers and friends before they came to know Jesus.
Being the only real stranger in the group meant that Judas would have been somewhat isolated from the other disciples. They would not have known about his family or his background. It is also true the people from the southern regions of Israel often felt superior to people from the north.
These facts enabled Judas to keep a low profile and helped him camouflage his hypocrisy. While there is no evidence that the other men excluded Judas, he may have felt like an outsider. Thoughts of that nature may have helped him justify his treason against Jesus and his thievery from the rest of the disciples.
We do know that Judas worked his way into a place of trust. The other disciples chose him to be the treasurer for the group, but Judas used that position to steal from the bag, John 12:6 . That verse tells us that Judas “…bare what was put therein. The word bare means to take away; to pilfer. Judas was a thief. This is made crystal clear in the Word of God.
( Note : It is interesting to note that in every list that names the disciples, Judas Iscariot is always named last. This illustrates the wide gulf that separated Judas from the Lord Jesus Christ. He was isolated from the rest of the disciples because of his background. He was also separated from them spiritually. He was the only unbeliever in the crowd!)
( Note : This is a clear reminder that you never know the true condition of the hearts of those around you. The other disciples never did figure out that Judas was a traitor until after he had betrayed the Lord Jesus. They always assumed that he was one of them. Perhaps even Judas believed that all was well. Either way, it reminds us that the heart is very deceptive, Jer. 17:9 . It also challenges us to be sure that we are in a saving relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, 2 Pet. 1:10; 2 Cor. 13:5 .)
I. Judas And His Personality
II. JUDAS AND HIS PRIVILEGES
(Ill. A study of the life of Judas reveals that he enjoyed many of the same privileges of the Lord’s genuine disciples. A few of them are mentioned in Mark’s record of the choosing of the twelve disciples by the Lord Jesus Christ, Mark 3:13-19 .)
A. Mark 3:13 How He Was Called There is no question that Judas was chosen by Christ. He was chosen by Him to fulfill a divine plan.
Three Old Testament prophecies need to be considered right here.
· Psalm 41:9 Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me. In John 13:18 , Jesus said that this prophecy would be fulfilled in His betrayal.
· Psalm 55:12-14 For it was not an enemy that reproached me; then I could have borne it: neither was it he that hated me that did magnify himself against me; then I would have hid myself from him: But it was thou, a man mine equal, my guide, and mine acquaintance. We took sweet counsel together, and walked unto the house of God in company. This passage also speaks of the betrayal of Jesus by Judas.
· Zechariah 11:12-13 And I said unto them, If ye think good, give me my price; and if not, forbear. So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver. And the LORD said unto me, Cast it unto the potter: a goodly price that I was prised at of them. And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them to the potter in the house of the LORD. This passage was also fulfilled when Jesus was betrayed, Matt. 27:9-10 .
Jesus makes it crystal clear that when He chose Judas, He knew who he was and what he would do, John 6:70 . Everything Judas did, was part of the eternal plan of redemption ordained by God before the foundation of the world, Acts 2:23 .
It is clear from the Gospel record that Judas was chosen to damnation and not to salvation! There is tension here between divine sovereignty and human responsibility. There is no debating the fact that Jesus Christ was foreordained to suffer for sin, Rev. 13:8 . There is also no doubt that Judas Iscariot was help responsible for betraying the Lord, Mark 14:21 .
While Judas was born to fulfill the ancient prophecies related to the betrayal of Christ, he was not forced to do anything against his will. He was chosen by God to be the one to betray Christ; but Judas betrayed Jesus because he wanted to. So, while Judas was chosen by God for the role he fulfilled in betraying Christ he fulfilled that role willingly.
Some would say, “Is it fair for God to condemn Judas for doing the Lord’s will? This is the same argument Paul both anticipated and answered in Romans 9:19-24 , “Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will? Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour? What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction: And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory, Even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles? Judas was not condemned because he betrayed Jesus. Judas was condemned long before that because he was a lost sinner, John 3:18, 36 .
This begs the question, “Could Judas have been saved? Yes! Had he turned to Christ by faith, he would have been saved. He had every opportunity. The parables of the unjust servant, the man without a wedding garment, and the ten virgins were all designed to speak to Judas and turn him from his evil plans.
However, the Lord knew before he chose Judas that Judas would betray Him into the hands of His enemies. So, while Judas could have been saved, it was never a real possibility for him.
B. Mark 3:13 How He Came When Jesus called Judas, he willingly followed the Lord. He was following Jesus because he believed Jesus would defeat Rome and liberate Israel. He was not following a Savior; he was following a Man he saw as a revolutionary.
C. Mark 3:14 How He Was Consecrated Judas was ordained by Jesus. This word has the idea of training. Jesus took the twelve and made them ready for the mission he was about to send them to accomplish. He was set apart for a special purpose.
D. Mark 3:14 How He Was Connected Like the other disciples, Judas was chosen to be with Him. Imagine that! Every day Judas and the other disciples witnessed the character and compassion of Christ. They heard His words and they saw His works. Every single day was a display of the grace of God for Judas and for the rest of the twelve.
Every miracle, every parable, every sermons, every single act of compassion, was designed by Jesus to reveal His identity to His men. Eleven of them got the message; Judas never did. Jesus tried to touch the heart of Judas in many ways, and on many occasions, but Judas hardened his heart against every attempt of the Lord to reach him.
Some people have a hard time with the idea that Judas could live with Jesus for over three years and still not believe in Christ. Yet, we see the same thing happening around us all the time. People sit in church for a lifetime, under the Word of God, the preaching of the Gospel, the prayers of God’s people, and the clear evidence of His saving power in the lives of those around them, and still some of those people die in their sins and go to Hell. It is a real tragedy! Don’t let it happen to you!
E. Mark 3:14 How He Was Commissioned Judas was sent out to serve alongside the rest of the disciples. He had the same credentials and the same appointment they all had. He was working for Jesus just like the others.
F. Mark 3:15 How He Was Confirmed Judas, and the rest of the disciples, were empowered to preach the Gospel, to heal the sick and to cast out demons. As they went about the country, their preaching was attended by the manifest power of God.
The lame walked, the blind saw, the deaf heard and so on. People who were bound in their sins were brought to faith in Christ by the preaching of the twelve. Even Judas preached with power, worked the miracles, delivered the demon possessed and saw many people saved. In other words, Judas could not be distinguished from the others in his work for the Lord.
That is a sobering thought! Judas was a tare among the wheat and no one but Jesus knew it. I am not even sure that Judas knew. For all we know, he was so caught up in the work of serving Christ, and seeing the fruit of that work, that he may have convinced himself that everything was right between him and the Lord. Jesus tells us that many will face God in that condition on judgment day, Matt. 7:21-23 . Be sure that you are not one of them!
I. Judas And His Personality
II. Judas And His Privileges
III. JUDAS AND HIS PROBLEM
A. His Confusion We are told that Judas went to the religious leaders because he wanted to betray Jesus. Why would Judas want to betray Jesus after he had spent such intimate time with the Lord?
Like everyone else who followed Jesus, Judas thought that Jesus had come to do the work of the Messiah. They saw His miracles, His power over demons, Satan and nature. They heard the way He taught and saw the way He lived, and they believed that he was the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies concerning the Messiah.
Like the rest, Judas was expecting Jesus Christ to overthrow Rome and break the yoke of Roman oppression. He thought Jesus would deliver Israel, establish a restored kingdom in Israel, and richly reward His followers.
When it became apparent that Jesus was not going to do those things, Judas became disillusioned with the Lord. The other disciples slowly began to understand that Jesus was the Messiah, but they also understood that He would accomplish His mission in a way that they could not as yet grasp. Judas never came to that understanding.
Judas followed Jesus because he wanted power and money. He never embraced the spiritual kingdom of Christ. Why did he stay with Jesus? I think he was looking for a way to use Jesus to make himself rich. We must also remember that Judas kept the money that the little band collected as they traveled from place to place, and he was stealing from it.
So, part of the problem with Judas began with confusion as to the identity and ministry to Jesus. As time went on, he became disillusioned and what fondness he may have had for Jesus turned to pure hatred.
( Note : Some would try to salvage the character of Judas right here. They want us to believe that Judas betrayed the Lord in an effort to force the hand of Christ. They believe that Judas betrayed the Lord so that Jesus would be forced to go to war with His enemies.
That flies in the face of the Word of God. Judas was not hoping for a good outcome. He wanted Jesus dead. The Bible makes it clear that what Judas did, he did at the command and whim of Satan, John 13:27 .)
B. His Covetousness We have already learned that Judas was a thief. He was pilfering from the money bag. His covetousness takes center stage in John 12:4-6 . This is the first time Judas speaks in the Gospels. When he does, he complains about the way money was spent.
He was enjoying a feast that was held to honor the Lord Jesus in Bethany. As the feast progressed, a woman named Mary entered the room. She brought with her an alabaster flask filled with pure nard, which is an expensive perfume used by the wealthy. She broke open the flask and poured its contents on the head and feet of Jesus and began to wipe His feet with her hair.
When Judas saw this, the calculator in his brain began to work overtime. He estimated that her ointment was worth about “300 pence, or a years wages for the average worker. In our money, about $20,000.00.
Judas was livid! He did not believe that Jesus was worth that kind of extravagant love. By what he called a “waste, Judas had been prevented from stealing a portion of the money for which the ointment could have been sold.
When Judas said this, he is mildly rebuked by Jesus. Still, Judas does not repent and he does not examine his own heart. He is confirmed in his hatred of Jesus and immediately seeks how he might betray Him to the Jews.
This is a bittersweet scene. On the one hand, Jesus is anointed with extravagant love by Mary. On the other, He is anointed with overwhelming hatred by Judas.
It is interesting to note that when the other disciples heard the objection raised by Judas, they echoed his opinion, Matt. 26:8 . His hypocrisy is so complete that even the other disciples were taken in by Judas.
This serves as a warning to our hearts today! Be very careful who you follow. There are some people who love material things more than they love the Master. There are some people who live to get their own way more than they desire His ways. Those people will lead you into trouble. You would be far better off to follow no one but Jesus Himself!
C. His Condemnation People look at Judas and wonder how a man could do all that he did, see all that he saw, and be so close to Jesus and yet be lost. Some people claim that Judas was saved, but that he lost his salvation. That is foolish! Salvation is eternal in nature and can never be taken away. Judas was never saved!
He was lost when he preached. He was lost when he cast out devils. He was lost when he healed the sick. He was lost as he listened to the Sermon on the Mount. He was lost as he saw the great miracles of Jesus. He was lost when he watched Jesus raise Lazarus from the dead. He was lost when he betrayed Jesus. He was lost when he committed suicide. He was lost when he opened his eyes in Hell!
Here is what Jesus said about Judas: John 6:70-71 . Jesus looked at Judas and called him “a devil. He looked like a saint, but the Lord said he was a devil. He acted like the rest of the disciples, but the Lord said he was a devil. He was a preacher, but he was a devil. He was trusted by everyone, but he was a devil. Judas was nothing more than a wolf in sheeps clothing. He was a devil!
This is a sobering thought! The lost man can do anything the saved man can do, and he may even do it better. Just because a man preaches, prays, witnesses, gives, works in the church, attends church, etc., does not prove that he is saved. A lost man can do all of that, and he can do it with success. You can’t base your relationship with Christ on what you do.
Salvation is by faith, Eph. 2:8-9 . There must be a moment of commitment when you come to Jesus Christ by faith, repenting of sin and calling on Him for salvation. If that moment is missing from your life, then you are lost!
Judas Iscariot was no different than any other lost person. Jesus told the Jews that they were the offspring of the devil, and as such they act just like their father, John 8:44 . There is a family resemblance that cannot be denied. Those who are of the devil will eventually prove it by acting like the devil, Eph. 2:1-3 .
I do not want to hurt anyone’s feelings today, but you need to hear this. I say these things because I love you. I say them because I am a preacher of the Gospel. I say them because I care about your soul.
If you have never been saved, you are just like Judas. There is a part of you that is controlled by Satan. You wonder why you do the things you do. You wonder why you can’t break the cycle of sin in your life. The reason is simple, you need a new Father. You need to be born again. When you are, everything in your life will change, 2 Cor. 5:17 . When you are, you will be delivered from the oppression of the devil.
I. Judas And His Personality
II. Judas And His Privileges
III. Judas And His Problem
IV. JUDAS AND HIS PLAN
A. It Involved Betrayal After being rebuked by Jesus at the feast, Judas approaches the Jewish leaders and negotiates a deal to betray Jesus into their hands. Matt. 26:14-16 tells us that the price they came to was “thirty pieces of silver. According to Ex. 21:32 , it was the price of a slave. It wasn’t a lot of money, but it was all Jesus Christ was worth to Judas! He hated Jesus so much that he betrayed Him for what amounted to nothing.
By the way, Judas betrayed Jesus for about $25.00 in today’s money. It doesn’t seem like a lot does it? It isn’t, but people sell Him out for less. Young people betray Jesus for a few moments of pleasure with a boyfriend or girlfriend. People betray Him by choosing their way of living over His way of living. Others betray Him because their feelings get hurt over this or that. Some betray Him for alcohol, some for drugs, some for sex or some other worldly pleasure. No matter what you betray Him for, it is worth nothing compared to the value of your soul, Mark 8:36-37 .
B. It Involved Blaspheme The deal was struck and Judas set the wheels of betrayal into motion. Judas took his money and blended back into the group as though nothing had happened. He waited for his chance to destroy Jesus.
His opportunity came just a few days later at the celebration of the Passover. During that meal, Judas crossed the line. He reached the point of no return. We do not have the time to go into all the details of that events, but a few of them shed incredible light on the character of Judas.
John reports that during the meal, Jesus taught His men a much needed lesson about humility. Jesus arose from the table, wrapped a towel around Himself and assumed the place of a slave, washing the feet of the twelve disciples. He even washed the feet of Judas! Judas, knowing what he was going to do, just sat their totally unmoved by the Lord’s act of love. Even Peter protested when the Lord tried to wash his feet, John 13:1-11 . During His exchange with Peter, Jesus made it clear that He knew one of His men was lost and would betray Him.
Later in the meal, Jesus became even more direct. In verses 19-30 , Jesus clearly exposes the treachery in the heart of Judas. All of this is an attempt to awaken the conscience and to give Judas an opportunity to repent, but he doesn’t.
Jesus even hands Judas the “sop, John 13:25-27 . The “sop was a piece of bread which was dipped into a fruit mixture that was much like jam. To be handed the sop by ones host at a meal was the ultimate form of respect and love. Jesus honored Judas and attempted to break through the hatred that gripped the mans heart. Judas does not turn from his pan, he simply leaves to go and do his fathers business.
John 13:27 is an interesting verse. While Judas had always been a child of the devil, he is now completely taken over by Satan. Every thought, every deed, every action will be carefully choreographed by Satan himself. This does not mean that Judas was doing these things against his will. Judas was a willing participant in the devil’s plan. Judas could have yielded himself to the Lord and things would have turned out far differently, but he yielded himself to Satan and Satan willingly used Judas as his vessel to accomplish his evil purposes.
After Judas leaves, Jesus institutes the Lord’s Supper. I find it amazing that while Jesus instructs His true disciples about the greatest act of worship given to the church; Judas is out conducting the single greatest act of treachery the world has ever seen.
They finish the meal and they go to the Garden of Gethsemane. While they are there, Jesus prays His high priestly prayer. Of course, Judas knew where they would be, Luke 22:39; John 18:2 . So, he, along with a great multitude of soldiers, came to arrest Jesus, Matt. 26:47 . The soldiers came ready for a fight, John 18:3 . When they arrived in Gethsemane, Jesus met them and identified Himself to them openly, John 18:4-5 .
Judas had given the soldiers a signal by which they could identify which man was Jesus. Judas said that the man he kissed would be Jesus, Matt. 26:48 . When the mob came to get Jesus, the Lord identified Himself to them, so there was no need for Judas to kiss Him. Judas is so filled with hatred for Jesus that he kisses Him anyway, Mark 14:45 .
A kiss speaks of love, affection, tenderness, respect and intimacy. When Judas walked up to Jesus, he did not give Him just one kiss. The tense of the verb suggests that he kept on kissing Him. This display of false love and affection for Jesus only makes his deed darker. Sadly, for Judas, he kissed the vey gates of Heaven and died and went to Hell!
That night, Judas blasphemed the Passover. He blasphemed the Son of God, He blasphemed the Lamb of God. He was guilty of the greatest act of blaspheme the world has ever witnessed!
I. Judas And His Personality
II. Judas And His Privileges
III. Judas And His Problem
IV. Judas And His Plan
V. JUDAS AND HIS PUNISHMENT
A. His Despair After Jesus was arrested, Judas began to have pangs of remorse for what he had done. He never came to a place of repentance, but the powerful influence Satan held over him subsided and he realized what he had done. He tried to return the money, but it was too late, Matt. 27:3-4 . The deed was done and Jesus was on His way to the cross. Satan used Judas for his purposes and then discarded him like he was a piece of trash.
Even now, Judas is not interested in salvation. He is not interested in believing in Jesus. He is not interested in getting right with God. Judas has crossed the line. The door of salvation has closed in his life forever. He is the perfect example of “a reprobate mind.
The word “reprobate means worthless. In Rom. 1:28 , the word is used of people who thought God was worthless so God gave them over to a worthless mind. The result was that they gave themselves to every kind of defilement imaginable.
Judas looked at Jesus, His works, His teaching, His claims and said, “He is worthless!” Therefore, the Lord gave up on Judas. He abandoned him to his own choice. Judas would forever remain lost and separated from God.
B. His Death When Judas saw that he could not fix what he had done, he threw the money down in the Temple and he went out and committed suicide by hanging himself, Matt. 27:5 .
Apparently, he couldn’t even do that right, because the limb or the rope broke and his body fell from a cliff and burst open on the rocks beneath, Acts 1:18 . The money Judas left at the Temple was used to purchase a field where strangers could be buried, Matt. 27:6-10 . Judas was the first person to be buried there. It was a tragic end to a tragic life!
It is interesting to consider the deeds of the chief priests. They gave Judas the money to betray Jesus and when Judas gives them back the money, they refuse to put it back in the treasury because it is “blood money and it would have been unlawful to do so.
Where was their concern over the Law when they were conspiring to have Jesus arrested? Where were their scruples when they condemned Him to death using false witnesses and lies? Where was their concern for right and wrong when they murdered their Messiah?
That is the way of hypocrisy! It cares for nothing but achieving its own ends. They got what they wanted and that’s all they cared about!
C. His Damnation Acts 1:25 says that when Judas died, he went “to his own place. That simply means that he went to a place prepared for him and people like him: he went to hell!
Just as surely as there is a place called Heaven prepared by Jesus for the saints of God, John 14:1-3 , there is a place called Hell prepared for the devil and for those who follow him, Matt. 25:41 .
Every lost sinner, every religious hypocrite, every false disciple will go to Hell when they die. This is made crystal clear by a multitude of Scripture passages. Consider the following verses and hear their message clearly.
· Matt. 25:46 , “And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.
· Matt. 3:12 , “Whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.
· Matt. 13:40 , “As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world.
· Matt. 13:42 , “And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.
· Matt. 13:50 , “And shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.
· Mark 9:43-48 , “And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched: Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. And if thy foot offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter halt into life, than having two feet to be cast into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched: Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out: it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire: Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.”
· 2 Thes. 1:9 , “Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power;
· Rev. 14:10-11 , “The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.
· Rev. 20:10-15 , “And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever. And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.
If you miss Jesus Hell is where you will spend eternity. In the end, it will not matter how good of a neighbor you were. It will not matter that you were a church member. It will not matter about the money you gave or the good deeds you did. All that will matter is your relationship to the Lord Jesus Christ. If you are saved, you will go to Heaven. If you are lost, you will go to Hell! Don’t let that happen to you! Come to Jesus and be saved or get it sure today!
Conc : Judas was the great pretender, but his hypocrisy never went unchallenged. The Lord Jesus placed many roadblocks in his way. Judas went to Hell because of his unbelief, but he had to work hard to get there.
Every sermon, every act of kindness, every miracle was a call from Jesus to repent of sin and believe on Him. When Jesus told His disciples that one of their number was “a devil, that was a call to repent. When Jesus washed the feet of Judas and revealed that one of their number was not clean, that was a challenge to his hypocrisy. When Jesus handed Judas the sop at dinner, it was a call for him to turn from the path he was following. Judas climbed over every obstacle a loving Lord placed in his path and continued on his way to Hell.
What about you? Are you genuinely, truly saved by the grace of God today? Are you in a personal, faith relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ? Have you looked to Him by faith for your soul’s salvation? Are you trusting Him, His shed blood and His resurrection as your path to Heaven?
Or, are you counting on your good works to get you in? are you expecting to get to Heaven because you are a church member? It did not work for Judas and it will not work for you. If you want to go to Heave, you must be born again, John 3:3,7 . If you want to miss Hell, you must not miss Jesus, John 14:6; Acts 4:12 .
If you are not saved, come to Him today. If you are saved, you need to thank Him for His grace in calling you, converting you and keeping you.
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