The Devil’s Fangs For Hire – 30 Pieces Of Silver (Judas Iscariot) Part 2 Series

THE DEVIL’S FANGS FOR HIRE – 30 PIECES OF SILVER (JUDAS ISCARIOT) PART 2

CHARACTERS OF JOHN’S GOSPEL - - JUDAS ISCARIOT – PART 2 of 2

[G]. THE ACCOUNT OF THE BETRAYAL. John 18:1 When Jesus had spoken these words, He went forth with His disciples over the ravine of the Kidron where there was a garden, into which He Himself entered, and His disciples. John 18:2 Now Judas “who was betraying Him”, also knew the place, for Jesus had often met there with His disciples. John 18:3 Judas then, having received the Roman cohort, and officers from the chief priests and the Pharisees, came there with lanterns and torches and weapons. John 18:4 Jesus therefore, knowing all the things that were coming upon Him, went forth, and said to them, “Whom do you seek?” John 18:5 They answered Him, “Jesus the Nazarene.” He said to them, “I am He.” Judas also “who was betraying Him”, was standing with them.

This is the second and third time John used the words “who was betraying Him” so he was strongly emphasising that point, the dastardly act of Judas. The passage we have just read is set in the Garden of Gethsemane where the betrayal took place. John deals with it quite succinctly without too many details, and to get those, we go to the other Gospels.

Consider these two verses from Luke - Luke 22 v 47 While He was still speaking, behold, a multitude came and the one called Judas, one of the twelve, was preceding them, and he approached Jesus to kiss Him, Luke 22:48 but Jesus said to him, “Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?” There we learn that Judas was leading the murderous group of demonically inspired scribes and Pharisees and officials who followed vengefully. He had already been to the chief priests and officers to negotiate a traitor’s reward and to work out the strategy. Luke deals with all that.

There is an expression that is famous for traitors, “the Judas kiss,” derived from the ghastly way Judas behaved. Have you ever thought about this point – “Was Judas not aware of the tremendous consequences of his betrayal? Would he not be fully fearful of divine justice? Anyone else would have been quaking in his boots. Why did it not affect Judas?” Well, there is an answer. Satan had entered into Judas as two of the Gospels record, and Judas had become as the devil himself, with all the -ness and filthy evil that is Satan. He was incapable at that point of any moral decision or understanding. He was as Satan in bodily form. He was devoid of any touch of goodness or moral consideration. Satan possessed him fully. In fact, up to this point, Judas was the most satanic who had existed. (A worse one is coming – that will be the Antichrist).

[H]. THE AFTERMATH OF THE GREATEST TRAGEDY. John ends his account of Judas at the Garden but Matthew takes it up after that point. Although this is not in John, I want to complete the story. Look at Matthew 27 v 3-10 Then when Judas who had betrayed Him saw that He had been condemned, he felt remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders Matt 27:4 saying, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood,” but they said, “What is that to us? See to that yourself!” Matt 27:5 He threw the pieces of silver into the sanctuary and departed, and he went away and hanged himself. Matt 27:6 The chief priests took the pieces of silver and said, “It is not lawful to put them into the temple treasury, since it is the price of blood,” Matt 27:7 and they counselled together and with the money bought the Potter’s Field as a burial place for strangers. Matt 27:8 For this reason that field has been called the Field of Blood to this day. Matt 27:9 Then that which was spoken through Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled saying, “And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of the one whose price had been set by the sons of Israel, Matt 27:10 and they gave them for the Potter’s Field as the Lord directed me.”

It is recorded in verse 3 Judas felt remorse. The bible does not say so, but I think after the betrayal, Satan left Judas, for he spitefully used him, then cast him away. In a sense, Judas came to his senses, crashing to basement level, and realised the enormity of what he had done and it caused remorse. Note carefully, remorse is not repentance; it is regret only. That is like notable people who get caught out in a public exposure, and regret what has happened and apologise. It is remorse, not repentance. It was impossible for Judas to repent for he is called “the son of perdition” in the great prayer of Jesus in the Garden - John 17 v 12 “While I was with them whom You have given Me, I was keeping them in Your name and I guarded them, and not one of them perished but the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.” The only other time that phrase is used is in 2 Thessalonians to refer to the World Ruler/Antichrist in the Tribulation. The word “perdition” means destruction, causing someone (something) to be completely severed – cut off, but not annihilated. Judas is cut off from God forever. He always was. He always was the son of perdition. He will be eternally cut off.