Not Condoned but Confirmed
Recently, a friend of mine posted this on Facebook: “Discernment means being able to tell your Judas from your Peter. Peter had a bad day; Judas had a bad heart. You gotta know who’s in your corner.” I saved that for a rainy day because I agreed with her that not everyone in your circle is in your corner. As I came across it, though, my mind went in a different direction. Surely Jesus, in His omnipotence, knew when He chose Judas to be His disciple that he would betray Him; so, I did some digging and the rabbit trails I went down gave me some new perspective that I wanted to share…maybe it will be eye-opening for you as well.
First, the bible clearly says that Jesus knew. In John 6:64, He says to His disciples, “’Yet there are some of you who do not believe.’ For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray him.” So, that answered that, but then you have to wonder why. Why would Jesus pick someone that would send him to His death? That’s where my rabbit trails began.
Jesus had to pick Judas to fulfil scripture. Psalm 41:9 “Even my close friend, someone I trusted, one who shared my bread, has turned against me.” As hard as that must have been for Him, all along He knew the plan, proving to all who followed Him that God was in control.
Judas’ betrayal tells us that even the most heinous of sins can be used by God and serve His ultimate purpose. Acts 4:27-28 (AMP) “For in this city there were gathered together against Your holy Servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose predestined [before the creation of the world] to occur [and so without knowing it, they served Your own purpose].” I love how the Amplified Bible pulls the scripture out, like taffy, giving us more insight, more to chew on. Here, in brackets, it says ‘without even knowing.’ The world is predestined, our lives are predestined, so even though the Jesus adversaries thought they were doing the right thing by crucifying Him, which the Jesus-followers thought was the wrong thing, it ended up being the right thing…the will of God.
Another Judas lesson is that associations and miracle-working are NOT concrete evidence that someone is a born-again believer; not proof of a saving faith. You can’t be any closer of an associate to Jesus as one of His disciples, yet we know what Judas did. In Matthew 10:1, Jesus gave authority to His disciples to cast out unclean spirits. Judas witnessed and helped perform miracles, yet we know what he did. This just proves that what you see on the outside isn’t always indicative of what’s on the inside.
To this day, Judas is not remembered well; his actions define who he is in our minds. But after doing this little bit of research, I think I have a different perspective; and while I suppose I wouldn’t condone his actions, these scriptures have confirmed to me his purpose. I feel like I need to be thankful for Judas, for without his betrayal, Jesus would not have been captured, crucified and resurrected. And without that, where would you and I be?