Luke 6: 16
The Son of Perdition
Doctored Pictures Of The Antichrist
16 Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot who also became a traitor.
Today we are going to take a look at Judas in regards to his possible association to the Antichrist.
Judas was the betraying disciple and one of the twelve. Not much is know of Judas before Jesus called him. "Iscariot" is generally thought to be taken from the Hebrew Ish Kerioth, which means "a man from Kerioth." His father's name was Simon, who was also surnamed Iscariot.
Jesus could see through the traitor Judas from the start. He was a thief and a liar and followed Jesus for the money. Judas was the steward of the resources for Jesus' ministry and had been consumed with avarice from the beginning. Looking forward to Jesus sitting on the throne of David, Judas expected a rich reward from an exalted position in the Kingdom. When the Kingdom turned out to be a spiritual one, disappointment turned to bitterness and Judas sold Jesus out.
Satan entered into the heart of Judas Iscariot and he went his way and counseled with the chief priests and captains how he might betray Jesus unto them. Judas said to them, "What will ye give me, and I will deliver him unto you?" They were glad, and contracted with Judas for thirty pieces of silver. Judas promised and sought opportunity to betray Jesus to them away from the crowds. As Jesus and the twelve began to eat at the last supper, Jesus said "You are not all clean, verily, I say unto you that one of you shall betray me." They all looked around but it was Judas who replied, "Lord is it I?" Jesus came back with what amounted to "You said it! What you do, do quickly" Judas went immediately out into the night.
The Romans did not want to get involved in religious matters and uphold the religious freedom of the Jews to preserve order but would get involved if civil power was at stake. From the mind of the Jew, Jesus had disrupted the established order and twice attacked the Temple market place. Our Lord and the disciples were now treated as a clandestine, subversive group. A member of the inner circle would guide the Jewish and Roman authorities to the leader of the circle by night and surprise a band of outlaws. By using the stealth of Judas in this way, the Jews were able to convince the Roman authorities that Jesus was a subversive, a revolutionary and a rebel that deserved to be executed under Roman law.
The dirty deed was accomplished when Judas led a multitude of soldiers and officers of the chief priests and Pharisees scribes and elders carrying torches, lanterns and weapons to the garden of Gethsemane, near the brook Kedron. Judas walked up to Jesus and betrayed Him with a prearranged signal, a kiss.
Ever since Judas "betrayed, innocent blood" by selling Jesus to the highest bidder, his name has been symbolic of the worst crime known to man.
After our Lord Jesus was crucified, Judas found out that his plan had backfired and Jesus had been condemned innocently. Not willing to keep blood money he repented of his evil. "I have sinned in that I have betrayed innocent blood," to which the Pharisees replied, "What's that to us, see to it yourself." Judas threw the silver back to the chief priests and elders in the Temple. The priests did not want blood money either and later used the price to buy the potter's field to bury foreigners in, fulfilling in part, the prophecy of Zechariah. The field was named Aceldama, which means the "field of blood." Judas had just betrayed the Messiah, the Son of God. Not willing to live with the guilt of what he had done, Judas went and hanged himself.
Judas’s name has popped up as a possible reincarnation to be the Antichrist. For we read in the Gospel of John in chapter 17 when our Lord Jesus prayed to The Father, He said this about Judas, “While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Your name. Those whom You gave Me I have kept; and none of them is lost except the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.”
Out of all the disciples that our Lord was given by our Father God – Adoni Yahweh – He has not lost except one and that was Judas. It is good for us to remember that the only ‘one’ lost was Judas so if you ever think that your sins can keep you from Heaven, the ‘only one lost’ spot has already been taken and that by Judas.
I would like to ask you a question, ‘where does the title ‘Antichrist’ come from? Is this an evil person looming in the near future? He is alive today?
You may be surprised as to what the Scripture reveals. So, let us see where this person is described.
The only mention of this title is from the apostle John. After our Lord had gone back to Heaven, John penned three letters – I, II, and III John. He is the one who spoke about this person, which you will note was not about a future person but was already on the scene.
I John 2: 18, “Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour.”
So, John tells us that a ‘Antichrist’ will come onto the scene and that there have already been a bunch of ‘Antichrists’ during John’s day.
1 John 2: 22, “Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son.”
We see here how we can identify the ‘Antichrist’ - these are people who deny that Adoni Yahweh is God and that our Lord Jesus Christ is the Messiah - Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son.
What about all the people in the world who have other religions and other beliefs? Are they Antichrists? Look at the Scripture again and you tell me. I think John tells you and me that answer in his next remarks.
1 John 4: 3, “and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world.”
People have spirits. We are spiritual people in earthly bodies. This is not just talking about Satan and his fallen angels. Please note that John is saying way back in the early years of AD that ‘Antichrist’ was already in the world
2 John 1: 7, “For many deceivers have gone out into the world who do not confess Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist.”
So, we read that people who go out into the world and try to teach others that Jesus Christ is really not who He has proven Himself to be - are ‘Antichrists’
Now there are other Scriptures that somewhat declare that after John’s lifetime a particular individual will arise and epitomize this heresy.
We read in the book of 2 Thessalonians regarding the Antichrist this, “Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition”
It makes you stop and think, doesn’t it? What day are we talking about? Some people use this verse to say that the day is the ‘Rapture’. People who believe in this theory also claim that the ‘Antichrist will not be identified until after the ‘Rapture’. That cannot be true. Look again at the passage - Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition.
Before ‘that day’ there will be a ‘falling away’. Those who profess a belief in our Lord Jesus Christ will turn away from Him. Perhaps it will be those who have believed the ‘Strong Delusion’ which our Lord said would come upon the world. Perhaps this strong delusion is the message that believers will be snatched out of this world?
And please notice that the man of sin, the son of perdition is revealed before that ‘day’. So, if the ‘day’ is the Rapture, then as we read in this verse the Antichrist will be revealed.
So, is the ‘day’ something else? Yes, it is. It is the ‘Second Coming’ of our Lord Jesus Christ to the earth as predicted in the Scriptures.
Now, what can we derive from the two listings of the term ‘Son of Perdition’. I can see that the first listing in John’s Gospel was talking about Judas. Then the Apostle Paul talks about a different person in the book of 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. What is the connection?
The answer is found in chapter 6 verse 16 of Luke’s Gospel. Judas was selected by the Father to be one of the Lord’s 12 special disciples called Apostles. Judas was part of the Lord’s church. His betrayal was not of a stranger but as our Lord clearly indicated as a ‘friend’ – one who had joined in the profession that Jesus Is truly God’s Son, the Messiah. He came out of the church body in his betrayal.
He killed himself so all the reference to another evil man was in the future. The ‘Antichrist’ is a man who infiltrates the church and takes on the position of denying the Father and the Son. He puts himself in the position of God on earth and desires that all people worship him as god.
This ‘Antichrist’ as John teaches is somehow always alive since his day. Now that is unique statement since no man continue to live on. So, what we see is a system of men who take on a position or title as god on earth. When one Antichrist dies another takes his place. Now who are we talking about? I think you already know the answer.
The Papacy is the Antichrist. They have deceived the church that they are the direct authorized leaders of our Lord Jesus Christ’s church from the apostle Peter. Baloney!
We need to stop and take a look at who these people really are and what they pull. They are only men – nothing more. God has not appointed them as His replacement. Do you have any children? Would you be happy if I told you that your children cannot just come to you, that they first must go through another person, who you did not even authorize to do such things? Certainly not. They have duped Christians so much that people do not know what is right or wrong anymore.
The answer is to go back to the Word of God. Let Him direct your paths of life. Amen.
