Friday, July 12, 2024

PT-3 "The Contrast Between Guilty Judas and Innocent Jesus" (Matt. 27:3-5)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/12/2024 9:53 AM

 

My Worship Time            Focus:  PT-3 “The Contrast between Guilty Judas and Innocent Jesus”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matthew 27:3-5

 

            Message of the verses:  3 Then when Judas, who had betrayed Him, saw that He had been condemned, he felt remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, 4 saying, "I have sinned by betraying innocent blood." But they said, "What is that to us? See to that yourself!" 5 And he threw the pieces of silver into the temple sanctuary and departed; and he went away and hanged himself.”

 

            I will try and get a little further into these verses today and not get sidetracked as I have been for the last few days.  The “then when” in verse three could be translated “at that time” and that seems to fit the context better.  This was happening even before dawn, and even by then it was evident to Judas and the others in the courtyard that the foregone verdict of the Jewish leaders had been confirmed.  Now Judas, who had betrayed Him, saw with his own eyes that He had been condemned.  MacArthur writes “Although horao (saw)was sometimes used in the figurative sense of being aware of or perceiving, its use here suggests literal, physical sight.  If Peter was able to see Jesus during at least part of the trial (Luke 22:61), then others in the courtyard could have seen Him as well.  Judas had seen Jesus maligned, spat upon, beaten and mocked.  Now he watched in bewilderment as his condemned Teacher was taken to Pilate.”

 

            Now as Judas watched Jesus being carried away to Pilate, the full enormity of his treachery finally began to dawn on him, or you could say that the “light” came on in his mind as he realized the Jewish leaders did intend to put Jesus to death.  All they had to do now was get permission from the compromised Pilate, which Judas had no reason to believe that Pilate would deny their request, even though that too would take some time to persuade him.  As mentioned the Jews had something on Pilate and they were using that to manipulate him to get what they wanted, and that was to have Jesus crucified. 

 

            This sight was surely devastating to Judas, more than even his money-hungry mind, his disgusting soul, and also his seared conscience could deal with, after all when he left the upper room Satan had entered into him to accomplish what Satan wanted done to Jesus, and so after he did Satan’s bidding Satan had no more use for him, and because Satan likes death that was his plan for Judas as he would fill Judas with great guilt and the only thing that would cure that guilt as far as Satan was concerned was suicide.

 

            MacArthur writes “No man could be more evil than Judas Iscariot.  Only eleven other men in all of history had had the intimate, personal relationship he had with the incarnate Son of God.  No man has ever been more exposed to God’s perfect truth, both in precept and example.  No man has been more exposed firsthand to God’s love, compassion, power, kindness, forgiveness, and grace.  No man has had more evidence of Jesus’ divinity or more firsthand knowledge of the way of salvation.  Yet in all of those three indescribably blessed years with Jesus, Judas did not take some much as the first step of faith.

 

            “In a way that defies comprehension, Judas persistently resisted and rejected God’s truth, God’s grace, and even God’s own Son.  Also in a way that defies understanding, he managed to completely conceal his wicked rebellion from everyone but Jesus.  His hypocrisy was so complete and deceptive that even when Jesus predicted that one of the disciples would betray Him, Judas was not suspected.

 

            “Judas was so totally trapped in the darkness and corruption of sin that he became a willing instrument of Satan.  Because this false disciple had totally renounced Christ, ‘Satan entered into Judas who was called Iscariot’ (Luke 22:3), and it was then a simple matter to persuade him to betray Jesus (John 13:2).  Judas’s heart was so utterly hardened to the things of God that long before he consciously considered betraying Him, Jesus called him a devil (John 6:70).

 

            “Even so, Judas could not escape the divinely designed signal of guilt that reminds men of their sin and warns them of its consequences.  Just as pain is an intrinsic and automatic warning of physical danger, guilt is an intrinsic and automatic warning of spiritual danger.  It was not that Judas suddenly became afraid of God, else he would have turned in desperation to the One he knew could forgive him.  Nor was he afraid of men.  Although he was now discarded and despised by the Jewish leaders, they had no reason to harm him.  It was rather that Judas suddenly realized the horrible wrongness of what he had done.  An innate awareness of right and wrong is divinely built into every human being and cannot be totally erased, no matter how deep a person may fall into depravity or how consciously and rebelliously he may turn against God.  This is intensified by the convicting pressure of the Spirit of God.”   

 

            I have to say that there is much more to the commentary on these verses, and so Lord willing I will continue it in the next SD, as I want to talk about Judas’s remorse.

 

7/12/2024 10:29 AM

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