Thoughts on Judas When I think about Judas several thoughts spring immediately to mind. This man committed the greatest betrayal of all time. His evil deed was committed with "malice aforethought"; which, at least according to our legal system, makes it a more serious crime than one committed in the "heat of the moment". He was responsible for the death of the Son of God, the savior of the world. What greater sin could there be?
His life was one of hypocrisy. While claiming to love and serve God, he exposed his personal geed and self-interest by pilfering from the treasury and complaining when expensive oil was used to glorify and comfort Christ.
He did repent however, and tried to return the blood money. (Matthew 27:3-4) He seemed to show true sorrow for what he had done. As a Christian we should show a spirit of forgiveness toward everyone and when they seek forgiveness, grant it. But what about Judas?
In his defense he might claim that he was chosen for this role by Christ Himself, and had walked with Him for three years. He might plead for the mercy of God. His case would remind us that Peter also denied Christ and was forgiven.
From what we can read Judas totally lost his faith in Christ. Like every man he was given the free will to choose, or reject Christ. He was one of the twelve apostles, but as Jesus Himself tells us, in Luke 12:48: "For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more."
A fair judgment of Judas would be difficult for us to make. Fortunately, God knows his heart and can discern whether his repentance was acceptable to Himself or not. Whether Judas is condemned or lost I still have the same obligation to follow after God and keep his commandments. I am glad that I am not the judge of any man's eternal soul.
I believe Judas was a good guy when JESUS first picked him, but because Satan took him over it caused him to make a very, very costly choice. I believe JESUS viewed him highly, as he does us. HE loves everyone equal whether they are sinners or not, it is up to us to make the choice as to whether we will accept HIS love and return it to HIM or ignore it completely. Before the betrayal, I think the apostles thought he was a good guy with a good heart that really loved JESUS and wanted to follow HIM the rest of his life. After, I think they immediately changed heart, basically saying to one another, “Look at THAT guy. He betrayed JESUS for thirty pieces of silver. I certainly don’t want to be seen around him.” Hypocrisy is wrong. Webster defines a hypocrite as “a person who puts on a false appearance of virtue or religion; a person who acts in contradiction to his or her stated beliefs or feelings.” It is like a person who says drinking is wrong and you shouldn’t do it, but the same night, he is at a bar having four or five beers. It is all deception and deceitful, which is lying, and GOD hates liars as stated multiple times in Proverbs 6:16-19: “a lying tongue”, “a false witness who utters lies”, and “one who spreads strife among brothers” , which would be gossip, a form of lying. Being a hypocrite, I believe, is simply being a liar, which is something HE hates, and we should too.
My thoughts, and what I hope were the thoughts of the apostles after Judas' death, is that they felt for him and hoped he somehow received eternal salvation. Only God knows where his heart was when he went crazy and committed suicide, but I sure hope he doesn't have to sit in Hades knowing how close he was, and that the King was a close friend and mentor of his, even though he turned his back on him (which happens to be what all of us do with our continuous sin).
Before the betrayal, they were most likely around him enough to know what ruled his life. On the other hand, if he stayed with them that long, he must have been a trustworthy person, or there would have been discussions about getting rid of him. With that said, maybe we don't have record, and maybe Jesus kept him around because he knew that was the way he was going to be arrested. All in all, it's hard to answer that question, as it's opinion-based...but, I will end how I started...when you're around someone enough, you know where they're going, and the few passages that do discuss his personality show that.
Concerning Jesus, we can't possibly understand what He thought because we can only understand things from a human perspective. My assumption is that Jesus saw him the same way he saw everyone else, because during their time together I can't imagine that any of them were sin-free, so that made Judas the same as the rest of them, at least as far as God is concerned. The hard part would have been knowing that Judas was going to be the one, and trying to balance his human & Godly sides to continue to love him as we love those we trust, as we are routinely unable to love our enemies the way we're commanded. Jesus knew he was a human AND Godly enemy, but continued to love him the same way, and even gave him a chance to turn from his decision when Jesus let him know He knew what was coming. On the other hand, Jesus knew He was going to die a horrific death, and whatever man it was going to be that started the process was most likely of no signifigance to Him. He was sent, it was going to happen, and I can't imagine Him looking around 24/7 everyday he was here to figure out who it would be. That would have driven Jesus crazy, and His wisdom was too great for that.
Thoughts about Judas: Coveteousness caused Judas to lose his way, even though he was physically walking with the LORD, listening to HIS words, and witnessing the miracles that HE performed. Satan always is nudging your weakness to take your spiritual eyes off the mark. Satan wins many battles when the heart is not focused ... and not completely yielding.
How did JESUS view Judas? JESUS knew beforehand that Judas would betray HIM because HE knew Judas's heart. JESUS knew that when it was time to choose between the world and HIM, Judas would choose the world. (Matt. 6:21 - For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also) How do you think the apostles viewed Judas? The apostles evidently viewed Judas as one of them, no different. Nothing is revealed in the Bible that indicates that the aposlles were suspicious of Judas. At the last supper, they did not say ... it is Judas, but they answered, is it me LORD?
Thoughts on hypocrisy! I know that in my life I have been a hypocrite on occasion. Hypocrisy is a sin that can slip up on the Christian when we become judgmental of the sins of others. The medicine is always "preventive". Have god's word on the frontlets of your eyes ... and have love in your heart for all the things that GOD loves ... including sinners. I don't believe that Jesus hated Judas .. HE loved him .. but called him the son of perdition. (John 17:12)
I have often given Judas the benefit of the doubt, thinking that he did feel sorrowful after what he had done, maybe he was saved. Often, I equate his actions to Eve; if it wasnt her, it would have been someone else, as the scripture had to be fulfilled. But even Jesus named him as a devil.We are often like Judas...we feel sorry for what we have done, or sorry that we got caught but we do not follow thru asking for forgiveness or truely repenting. I think the entire story of Judas is a parallel to each of us. We all have free will. We make our choices. Jesus is always in our midst and we daily make the choice to accept Him, or betray Him. I think Jesus viewed Judas in the same light he views us. He already knows what we are going to choose but He ets us own it, as well as the consequence. Of course he is heartbroken when we do not choose Him but He allows us that freedom. And, like Judas, we often hang ourselves.
Thoughts on Judas
ReplyDeleteWhen I think about Judas several thoughts spring immediately to mind. This man committed the greatest betrayal of all time. His evil deed was committed with "malice aforethought"; which, at least according to our legal system, makes it a more serious crime than one committed in the "heat of the moment". He was responsible for the death of the Son of God, the savior of the world. What greater sin could there be?
His life was one of hypocrisy. While claiming to love and serve God, he exposed his personal geed and self-interest by pilfering from the treasury and complaining when expensive oil was used to glorify and comfort Christ.
He did repent however, and tried to return the blood money. (Matthew 27:3-4) He seemed to show true sorrow for what he had done. As a Christian we should show a spirit of forgiveness toward everyone and when they seek forgiveness, grant it. But what about Judas?
In his defense he might claim that he was chosen for this role by Christ Himself, and had walked with Him for three years. He might plead for the mercy of God. His case would remind us that Peter also denied Christ and was forgiven.
From what we can read Judas totally lost his faith in Christ. Like every man he was given the free will to choose, or reject Christ. He was one of the twelve apostles, but as Jesus Himself tells us, in Luke 12:48: "For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more."
A fair judgment of Judas would be difficult for us to make. Fortunately, God knows his heart and can discern whether his repentance was acceptable to Himself or not. Whether Judas is condemned or lost I still have the same obligation to follow after God and keep his commandments. I am glad that I am not the judge of any man's eternal soul.
I believe Judas was a good guy when JESUS first picked him, but because Satan took him over it caused him to make a very, very costly choice. I believe JESUS viewed him highly, as he does us. HE loves everyone equal whether they are sinners or not, it is up to us to make the choice as to whether we will accept HIS love and return it to HIM or ignore it completely. Before the betrayal, I think the apostles thought he was a good guy with a good heart that really loved JESUS and wanted to follow HIM the rest of his life. After, I think they immediately changed heart, basically saying to one another, “Look at THAT guy. He betrayed JESUS for thirty pieces of silver. I certainly don’t want to be seen around him.” Hypocrisy is wrong. Webster defines a hypocrite as “a person who puts on a false appearance of virtue or religion; a person who acts in contradiction to his or her stated beliefs or feelings.” It is like a person who says drinking is wrong and you shouldn’t do it, but the same night, he is at a bar having four or five beers. It is all deception and deceitful, which is lying, and GOD hates liars as stated multiple times in Proverbs 6:16-19: “a lying tongue”, “a false witness who utters lies”, and “one who spreads strife among brothers” , which would be gossip, a form of lying. Being a hypocrite, I believe, is simply being a liar, which is something HE hates, and we should too.
ReplyDeleteMy thoughts, and what I hope were the thoughts of the apostles after Judas' death, is that they felt for him and hoped he somehow received eternal salvation. Only God knows where his heart was when he went crazy and committed suicide, but I sure hope he doesn't have to sit in Hades knowing how close he was, and that the King was a close friend and mentor of his, even though he turned his back on him (which happens to be what all of us do with our continuous sin).
ReplyDeleteBefore the betrayal, they were most likely around him enough to know what ruled his life. On the other hand, if he stayed with them that long, he must have been a trustworthy person, or there would have been discussions about getting rid of him. With that said, maybe we don't have record, and maybe Jesus kept him around because he knew that was the way he was going to be arrested. All in all, it's hard to answer that question, as it's opinion-based...but, I will end how I started...when you're around someone enough, you know where they're going, and the few passages that do discuss his personality show that.
Concerning Jesus, we can't possibly understand what He thought because we can only understand things from a human perspective. My assumption is that Jesus saw him the same way he saw everyone else, because during their time together I can't imagine that any of them were sin-free, so that made Judas the same as the rest of them, at least as far as God is concerned. The hard part would have been knowing that Judas was going to be the one, and trying to balance his human & Godly sides to continue to love him as we love those we trust, as we are routinely unable to love our enemies the way we're commanded. Jesus knew he was a human AND Godly enemy, but continued to love him the same way, and even gave him a chance to turn from his decision when Jesus let him know He knew what was coming. On the other hand, Jesus knew He was going to die a horrific death, and whatever man it was going to be that started the process was most likely of no signifigance to
Him. He was sent, it was going to happen, and I can't imagine Him looking around 24/7 everyday he was here to figure out who it would be. That would have driven Jesus crazy, and His wisdom was too great for that.
Thoughts about Judas:
ReplyDeleteCoveteousness caused Judas to lose his way, even though he was physically walking with the LORD, listening to HIS words, and witnessing the miracles that HE performed. Satan always is nudging your weakness to take your spiritual eyes off the mark. Satan wins many battles when the heart is not focused ... and not completely yielding.
How did JESUS view Judas?
JESUS knew beforehand that Judas would betray HIM because HE knew Judas's heart. JESUS knew that when it was time to choose between the world and HIM, Judas would choose the world. (Matt. 6:21 - For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also)
How do you think the apostles viewed Judas?
The apostles evidently viewed Judas as one of them, no different. Nothing is revealed in the Bible that indicates that the aposlles were suspicious of Judas. At the last supper, they did not say ... it is Judas, but they answered, is it me LORD?
Thoughts on hypocrisy!
I know that in my life I have been a hypocrite on occasion. Hypocrisy is a sin that can slip up on the Christian when we become judgmental of the sins of others. The medicine is always "preventive". Have god's word on the frontlets of your eyes ... and have love in your heart for all the things that GOD loves ... including sinners. I don't believe that Jesus hated Judas .. HE loved him .. but called him the son of perdition. (John 17:12)
I have often given Judas the benefit of the doubt, thinking that he did feel sorrowful after what he had done, maybe he was saved. Often, I equate his actions to Eve; if it wasnt her, it would have been someone else, as the scripture had to be fulfilled.
ReplyDeleteBut even Jesus named him as a devil.We are often like Judas...we feel sorry for what we have done, or sorry that we got caught but we do not follow thru asking for forgiveness or truely repenting. I think the entire story of Judas is a parallel to each of us. We all have free will. We make our choices. Jesus is always in our midst and we daily make the choice to accept Him, or betray Him. I think Jesus viewed Judas in the same light he views us. He already knows what we are going to choose but He ets us own it, as well as the consequence. Of course he is heartbroken when we do not choose Him but He allows us that freedom. And, like Judas, we often hang ourselves.