“His (Judas) Betrayal”

 

EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/7/2026 7:49 PM

My Worship Time                                                                           Focus:  “His (Judas) Betrayal”

            I will attempt to finish our look at these twelve apostles in  my SD for this evening.

            “After leaving the upper room, Judas evidently went straight to the Sanhedrin to set his evil plans in motion.  He informed them of the final, irreparable breach between himself and Jesus.  More significantly, he told them that Jesus would be in Gethsemane later that evening (cf. Luke 22:39; John 18:2)—a secluded place where they could seize Jesus without fear of provoking a riot (cf. Matt. 26:3-5; Luke 22:6).

            “Judas did not betray Jesus in a moment of passion; he could not have pleaded temporary insanity.  How long he had plotted in his wretched heart to betray the Savior is not revealed.  But he had made his bargain with the Jewish leaders almost a week earlier, and had been looking for an opportunity to deliver Him into their hands ever since (Luke 22:6).  His evil act was thus fully premediated.

            “Judas next appears in John’s narrative at the head of the large contingent of Roman soldiers and Jewish officials that arrived at Gethsemane to arrest Jesus.  The Lord did not attempt to hide or escape, nor did He wait for Judas to single Him out.  Completely in control of the situation, He went to meet the arresting party and calmly asked them who they were seeking (John 18:4).  After they replied, ‘Jesus the Nazarene’ (v. 5), Jesus identified Himself using the divine name ‘I am’ (cf. Ex. 3:14).  In response the entire detachment—including Judas—was slammed to the ground (vv. 5-6).”  “5  They answered him, “Jesus of Nazareth.” Jesus said to them, “I am he.” Judas, who betrayed him, was standing with them. 6  When Jesus said to them, “I am he,” they drew back and fell to the ground.”  “Incredibly, despite that stunning display of Christ’s divine power, Judas proceeded with his diabolical plan.  Using the prearranged signal (Matt. 26:48), Judas brazenly ‘went to Jesus and said ‘Hail, Rabbi!’ and kissed Him’ (v. 49.  To betray the Son of Man with a kiss of affection was the act of Judas’s devious hypocrisy; it was a cynical attempt to feign innocence and conceal his treachery.  Judas used the symbol of love, respect, and homage to attempt to mask the evil in his heart.  He profaned the Passover, Gethsemane, where Jesus had poured out His heart to the Father and been ministered to by and angel (Luke 22:41-44), and most of all the sinless Son of God.

            “The monumental sin of betraying Jesus produced unbearable guilt, Judas’s conscience immediately came alive and began tormenting him.  He was overwhelmed with remorse (but not genuine repentance).  In a desperate but faithless and futile bid to gain relief from his tormenting conscience, he attempted to return to the Jewish leaders the paltry sum (thirty pieces of silver, the price of a slave [Ex. 12:32]) he had received from them (Matt. 27:3).  Judas had been a useful tool to them, but now that they had Jesus in custody, the Jewish authorities had no further use for him.  They contemptuously dismissed him, callously responding to his plaintive cry, “ I have sinned by betraying innocent blood’ by telling him, ‘What is that to us?  See to that yourself!’ (v. 4).

            “This was the end of the line for Judas.  After throwing the thirty pieces of silver into the temple  sanctuary, he went out and hanged himself (v. 5).  In a fitting end to the tragic story of his life, he could not even do that successfully.  Either the knot came undone, or the rope or the branch to which it was tied broke, and Judas plunged to his death in a gory fashion (Acts 1:18). Acts 1:25 records the chilling epitaph to the life of Judas, noting that that son of perdition (John 17:12), went to his own place—hell (Acts 1:25).  In that place of unspeakable torment, his guilt-ridden conscience will refuse to be silenced for all eternity. Truly, as Jesus declared of him, ‘It would have been good for that man if he hand not been born’ (Mark 14:21)

            “Several compelling lessons may be drawn from the life of Judas:

            “First, Judas is history’s greatest example of lost opportunity and wasted privilege.  He heard Jesus teach day in and day out, and he personally interacted with Him.  He saw firsthand the miracles Jesus performed, which proved that He was God in human flesh.  But Judas refused Christ’s invitation to exchange the oppressive burden of sin for the easy yoke of submission to Him (Matt. 11:28-30).

            “Second, Judas is the foremost illustration of the danger of loving money (1 Tim. 6:10).  Riches meant more to him than the salvation of his soul (cf. Mark 8:36).

            “Third, Judas exemplifies the vileness and danger of spiritual betrayal.  In every age there have been Judases, who professed to follow Christ but turned against Him.  Judas’s life is also a sobering reminder of the need for self-exemption (2 Cor. 13:5).

            “Fourth, Judas was living proof of Christ’s patience, mercy, and loving-kindness.  Even when he arrived with the detachment to arrest Him, Jesus still courteously addressed Judas as ‘friend’ (Matt. 26:50).

            “Fifth, the example of Judas is a sobering reminder that the devil will always be at work in the midst of God’s people.  Jesus illustrated that truth in the parable of the wheat and the tares (Matt. 13:24-30, 36-43).

            “Sixth, Judas proves the deadliness of hypocrisy.  He was a fruitless branch, cut off and cast into the eternal fire of hell (John 15:6).

            “Finally, Judas demonstrated that there is nothing sinful men can do to thwart the sovereign will of God.  Out of the seeming tragedy of the cross came the triumph of redemption; Satan’s apparent victory was in reality his ultimate defeat (Heb. 2:14; 1 John 3:8; cf. Gen. 3:15).  God used Judas’s treachery for His own glory (cf. Gen. 50:20).

            “When Judas sold Jesus to His enemies, he was in effect selling his own soul to the devil.  In the words of the nineteenth-century poet Hester H. Cholmondeley,

“Still as of old

Men by themselves are priced—

For thirty pieces Judas sold

Himself, not Christ.”

 

Now I am going to post a song by Michael Card entitled “Traitor’s Look” which came out in 1984, and he tells his story about Judas.  If you want to listen to the song you can search for it on Youtube.

Verse 1]
How did it feel to take the place
Of honor at the meal
To take the sup from His own hand
A prophecy to seal
Was it because He washed your feet
That you sold Him as a slave?
The Son of Man, the Lamb of God
Who'd only come to save

[Verse 2]
The silver that they paid to you
From out their precious till
Was meant to buy a spotless lamb
A sacrifice to kill
How heavy was the money bag
That couldn't set you free?
It became a heavy millstone
As you fell into the sea

[Verse 3]
Now, Judas, don't you come too close
I fear that I might see
That traitor's look upon your face
Might look too much like me
Cause just like you I've sold the Lord
And often for much less
And like a retched traitor
I betrayed Him with a kiss.

7/7/2026 9:29 PM