SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/5/2021 9:16 AM
My Worship Time Focus: The
Progressive Rejection of Judas
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew
10:4b
Message of the
verse: “and
Judas Iscariot, the one who betrayed Him.”
I think that it is best that we
understand that when Judas became a disciple of Jesus that at that time it was certainly
not his intention to betray Jesus. Judas
was in full sympathy with what he thought was Jesus’ purpose and so he was ready to support Him.
Perhaps after each miracle that Jesus did Judas was hoping and expecting
that Jesus was going to announce His kingship and then begin a campaign against
Rome. We know that Rome had a great army
at the time, however we also know that this would not have been a problem for
our Lord. Now I have studied prophecy
most of my Christian life and I believe that the Antichrist will come out of
the geography of the Old Roman Empire.
When Jesus returns to earth as described in the 19th chapter
of Revelation He comes to end a battle, the Battle of Armageddon, and we know
that the Antichrist will be a big part of that battle as it takes place in
Israel which also was a part of the Old Roman Empire. Why do I say all of this? Well I believe that it is not too far of a
stretch to say that what all of His disciples wanted to happen, including
Judas, especially Judas will happen at this future time that the Bible speaks
of, and ending in Revelation 19.
Now back to Judas and his
progressive rejection of our Lord. Judas
continued to hang on as he expected Jesus to fulfill his dreams of defeating
the despised oppressor. He was kind of
like a gambler who thinks every loss puts him that much closer to winning, so perhaps
Judas thought that each and every failure of Jesus to use His power against
Rome brought that ultimate and inevitable goal just a little bit closer.
At the end of Jesus’s public
ministry He came riding into Jerusalem on a colt of a donkey, and it was
probably at this time that Judas thought that Jesus was going to do what he
wanted Him to do all along. Perhaps
Judas reasoned that Jesus had been building up to a grand climax, waiting for
the crowds to fully recognize His messiahship and also His right to the throne
of David. Jesus would then ascend His
throne by popular demand, and then the Lion of Judah would at last expel and
destroy the eagle of Rome. However we
know the rest of the story and this did not happen at the end of our Lord’s
earthly ministry but we know also that it will happen at the beginning of our
Lord’s reign when He returns in triumph to take down all those who are opposing
him and to put Satan, the Antichrist, and the false prophet into the lake of
fire.
All of this must have been so
difficult for Judas to understand as Jesus rejected the crowd’s crown and then
instead began to teach even more earnestly about what would next happen to Him,
that is His imminent arrest and death as it was Judas’s hopes and expectations
that were expelled and then totally destroyed.
Judas was devastated that Jesus could build up to such a perfect
opportunity and then intentionally let it slip right through His hands. Judas must have really thought that Jesus was
mad to willingly allow Himself to be mistreated and even killed, especially
after with one word he could have destroyed any opponent. It was at this time the he knew beyond doubt
that, whatever Jesus intended to do, it had no relationship to his own
misguided motives and plans.
9/5/2021 9:47 AM
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