THE DEVIL’S FANGS FOR HIRE – 30 PIECES OF SILVER (JUDAS ISCARIOT) PART 1
CHARACTERS OF JOHN’S GOSPEL - - JUDAS ISCARIOT – PART 1 of 2
INTRODUCTION: The conflict with God’s will to use the evil man.
A betrayer was prophesied in the Old Testament, so is Judas really to blame for the action he took? Here is the Old Testament prophecy regarding that - Zechariah 11:12-13 “And I said to them, “If it is good in your sight, give me my wages; but if not, never mind!” So they weighed out thirty shekels of silver as 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.”
A betrayer was in the will of God as prophesied, so was not Judas helping God’s will? It is said Judas pushed Jesus to establish the kingdom, so he was trying to help the will of God. The expected kingdom is to be established in Israel but did Judas think he could help that along? Does he deserve the bad name he has? After all, how many men do you know have the first name Judas?
In this message we are going to consider another character in John’s gospel today but you don’t hear much of this man in messages. I think that could be because people don’t like talking about it, or they don’t know what to say, but we will. This man is called in the gospels, Judas Iscariot.
[A]. HIS NAME. We will look at his name. Judas is derived from yad and means "to throw or stretch out the hand" and is the base root in the name Yehudah. If you were standing before something magnificent for the first time you might throw your hands out and say, "Wow, will you look at that". This is the Hebraic understanding of "praise" and the name Yehudah. Some say his name means “praise”. The name Iscariot has received many interpretations more of less conjectural. The most probable is from Ish Kerioth, i.e. "man of Kerioth," a town in the tribe of Judah. Do you know his father’s name? (We will come back to that question at the end.)
[B]. HIS CALL. We have the record of the call by Jesus of a number of the disciples – Peter, James, John, Nathaniel, Matthew, for example but there is no record of the call of Judas, but be very clear about this, Jesus did call him into His group of 12 and did that very specifically. The Lord spent all night in prayer before calling His disciples. It would be wicked to suggest even that Jesus made a mistake in calling Judas.
[C]. HIS POSITION. He was the treasurer for the group. How was he chosen for that position? We don’t know if it was by the Lord’s appointment, or by the disciples’ choice, or if it was realised he was most suitable such as having some qualifications. The band of disciples did have support, and offerings were given to them which went into the treasurer’s bag. Luke speaks of a loyal band of women who accompanied them and ministered to them. It is so essential to the gospel that there are those who stand behind the speakers and teachers and the evangelists and missionaries and those who minister the word. It is biblical to do so.
John gives this incident in 12 v 3-6: “Mary therefore took a pound of very costly perfume of pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped His feet with her hair, and the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume, but one of His disciples, Judas Iscariot who was intending to betray Him said, “Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and given to poor people?” Now he said this, not because he was concerned about the poor, but because he was a thief, and as he had the money box, he used to pilfer what was put into it.”
The fact Judas mentioned the poor may mean that the disciples could have supported the poor from time to time. However we must note two things here. John wrote “who was intending to betray him,” and that was written in hindsight after the gospel events. Never at any time did anyone suspect Judas as we shall see in this examination later. The way the expression reads means he was waiting for a window of opportunity. The second matter John raises relates to the character of Judas. John declared that Judas had no concern for the poor; that he was a thief; and used to help himself to the funds in the bag. Regarding that word Strong’s says, “properly, a case i.e. a casket or purse”. Of course, none of that was known at the time, only in retrospect.
[D]. JESUS’ EARLY DECLARATION. It was early in His ministry that Jesus declared that one of the disciples was not as he seemed. In fact Jesus called him a “devil” from the Greek diabolus (os), meaning devil. There is only one devil and all the others are demons but this was going to be a very special case. The KJV uses devils where it should use demons from the Greek da?µ???a (daimonia). I am fairly sure what Jesus said did not register with the disciples and in the last verse of the passage John explains what it meant, but he did that in hindsight. Here is the record of that – John 6 verses 68-71: “Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life, and we have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God.” Jesus answered them, “Did I Myself not choose you twelve, and yet one of you is a devil?” Now He meant Judas the son of Simon Iscariot, for he, one of the twelve, was going to betray Him.” John did not know that at the time of the incident, but only in hindsight.
The Gospels record nothing of Judas from that time until we get near to the final weeks before the cross. The disciples were learning dependency on the lord and as Peter confesses there is no one else who has the words of eternal life and they know Jesus is the Holy One of God. However Judas had no relationship to the Saviour, and with the Saviour, and it is likely at this stage he did not decide to betray the Lord as that came in time when Satan worked his evil in him. Bishop Ellicott makes an observation – “And of even twelve (disciples), one who was subject for hope then, is beyond hope now. There may be mystery connected with this life of Judas which none of us can understand; there are certainly warnings connected with it which none of us can refuse to heed.”
The words the Lord spoke contain a half-rebuke to Peter for his impetuous statement of loyalty in the name of them ALL when the Lord knew differently and amended what Peter said. There is only one devil and multitudes of demons. In Greek there is “diabolus” which means “devil” and daimonion” which is “demon”– all translators use devil here, not demon, and the highly recommended and accurate Holman version translates as “Jesus replied to them, “Didn’t I choose you, the Twelve? Yet one of you is the Devil!?” This is the only use in scripture where a person is called the devil. This is a correct translation because 13 verse 27 explains it more.
[E]. A FURTHER SEPARATION OF THE DISCIPLES. Jesus reveals more and this again was not understood in any way by the disciples. I think the disciples were so surprised that their Lord was washing their feet that they did not listen carefully to what He said to them. John 13:2-5 During supper, the devil having already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, to betray Him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come forth from God and was going back to God, rose from supper and laid aside His garments, and taking a towel, He girded Himself about. Then He poured water into the basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded.
John 13:8-11 Peter said to Him, “Never shall You wash my feet!” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.” Simon Peter said to Him, “Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head.” Jesus said to him, “He who has bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean, and you are clean, but not all of you,” for He knew the one who was betraying Him. For this reason He said, “Not all of you are clean.”
You see the division in verse 10 where Jesus said, “but not all of you.” Yet again the disciples would not have understood that at all. Most versions translate in verse 11 “who would betray Him” but I like the NASB best with “who was betraying Him” (remember the words earlier “who was intending to betray Him”?) because it was an ongoing deed already enacted by Judas. It is a continuous tense in Greek. What a hypocrite Judas was with the Lord washing his feet to make them clean yet his heart was as dirty as it could be, sitting/reclining there acting the part of a holy hypocrite.
[F]. THE BETRAYER IS REVEALED. John 13:18 I do not speak of all of you. I know the ones I have chosen but it is that the Scripture may be fulfilled, ‘He who eats My bread has lifted up his heel against Me.’ From now on I am telling you before it comes to pass, so that when it does occur, you may believe that I am He. Truly, truly, I say to you, he who receives whomever I send receives Me and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me.”
We have a very careful expression here – “that the scripture may be fulfilled,” then a very free quote from Psalm 41:9 which in the NASB is “Even my close friend, in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted up his heel against me.” It is commonly understood this relates to Ahithophel, and of the enemies of David who had been admitted to his friendship, and who had now proved ungrateful to him. The Lord’s words to the disciples would not have been understood until after Calvary.
John 13:21 When Jesus had said this, He became troubled in spirit and testified, and said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, that one of you will betray Me.” John 13:22 The disciples began looking at one another, at a loss to know of which one He was speaking.
John 13:23-25 There was reclining on Jesus’ breast one of His disciples, whom Jesus loved. Simon Peter therefore gestured to him, and said to him, “Tell us who it is of whom He is speaking.” Leaning back thus on Jesus’ breast, He said to Him, “Lord, who is it?”
John 13:26 Jesus therefore answered, “That is the one for whom I shall dip the morsel and give it to him,” so when He had dipped the morsel, He took and gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. John 13:27 After the morsel, Satan then entered into him. Jesus therefore said to him, “What you do, do quickly.” John 13:28 Now no one of those reclining at the table knew for what purpose He had said this to him, John 13:29 for some were supposing, because Judas had the money box, that Jesus was saying to him, “Buy the things we have need of for the feast”, or else, that he should give something to the poor, John 13:30 and so after receiving the morsel he went out immediately and it was night.
The passage ends with “and it was night” and that is a terrible statement, for that night, Judas’s night was going to become an eternal night. We need to look at this passage in some detail and follow the verses as we look at them. In verse 18 Jesus said he knows the ones he chose and we know that Judas was chosen as the betrayer. There has been a considerable debate over this where some say that Judas had no choice in the matter; that he was programmed by God for that part and can’t be held to be guilty. We must reject that. Judas had free choice and he chose evil. God will not appropriate evil to people or create them strictly to fulfill an evil purpose. The great mystery is how this man could hear the Lord for all those three years and see His miracles, yet accepted none of what Jesus stood for. Who can answer that? I think the only answer can come from Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; Who can understand it?
The last thing Judas ate before his death was the morsel offered by Jesus. It was supposed to be a privilege to do that but Judas used it as his cue to set in motion his dastardly act. A morsel is a piece of something or even a choice piece. Judas took the small piece but then went out to perform the greatest betrayal in history.
Look at verse 21. Jesus came out directly with the fact that one of them would betray Him. That was a bombshell, but in that verse don’t miss the first part that says, “Jesus became troubled in spirit.” That is so deep. The disciples He had nurtured were not completely one, and he had to speak of a betrayer and that grieved Him. God is not willing that any should perish yet before Him that night was one who was going to perish. That cut Him to the quick. How can we appreciate the love of God that all might find redemption, yet that night there was a man who could not be reached.
Verse 22 is a glorious testimony to the Lord’s behaviour with His disciples. They were looking at this one and that one, thinking, “Who is it? Is it Nathaniel, Matthew, Peter even . . ?” but had no clue which one was meant. Matthew adds “and being deeply grieved, they each one began to say to Him, “Surely not I, Lord?” Think about that. Each one of them asked of the Lord. Did they doubt their own hearts and commitment? In all the time the Lord was with them He had treated them all equally with no hint who was to betray Him. If it was us, we would have given it away fairly quickly at the start by our manner and attitude. Not so the Lord.
Verses 26-30 seem to have a problem I can’t properly resolve. In verse 26 Jesus answered John’s question by giving the morsel to Judas. Matthew writes it this way in 26 v 23 “He answered and said, “He who dipped his hand with Me in the bowl is the one who will betray Me.” Then in verse 27 Satan entered into Judas. This was a horrible thing. Judas became as the devil. Luke in 22 verse 3 wrote it this way – “Satan entered into Judas who was called Iscariot, belonging to the number of the twelve.” Judas left the gathering to execute his dark bargain for the betrayal money, but verse 28 says that not one of them knew the reason he left, supposing he was on an errand for the Lord. John must have known because he saw Judas receive the morsel. John wrote that not one of them knew but he must have. I can’t say more. 13 verse 7 is a really awful verse in what it is saying. Judas became evil. He may have been evil but now he has Satan dwelling in him, overtaken by the devil.
In order to explain the problem I expressed above, BibleRef.com offered this explanation – “Jesus predicted that one of the men present at this last supper would betray Him (John 13:21–22). Peter signaled to John, who is directly to Jesus' right, to ask who this person is (John 13:23–24). As was custom, the men are reclining on their left sides around the food. That places John to the right of Jesus, facing away from Him. In order to ask his question, John must lean back (John 13:25). He can probably hear Jesus better than anyone else, but he's in an awkward position to see. That would explain why, so far as we can tell, neither John nor the others realise Jesus has identified Judas as the traitor.”
I would like to refer to Matthew - Matthew 26 v 24 The Son of Man is to go just as it is written of Him but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been good for that man if he had not been born.” Matt 26:25 Judas who was betraying Him, answered and said, “Surely it is not I, Rabbi?” He said to him, “You have said it yourself.” Please stand there that night and observe. The Lord spoke of the terrible woe on the betrayer even that it was better he had not been born. Take heed Judas! Turn back! The question asked in Matthew 26 v 25 is hypocritical, “Surely it is not I?” He was a sham for the other disciples. Could he have turned back at that late hour from his wicked plan? Who can answer that? Do we know what it is like to become almost as Satan? It was what I call “saturated evil”, the same thing the serpent allowed itself to become in Eden.
PART 2 WILL FOLLOW NEXT
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