JUDAS ISCARIOT

     At the Last Supper in the Upper Room of the night before Jesus was crucified in Jerusalem, the Lord calmly said one of the twelve disciples was a traitor.  This created a murmur among the disciples for they were surprised and even shocked that Jesus said one of them was a traitor.  Jesus never pointed a finger at anyone, but his words went forth and found the guilty.  Judas never denied that it was him and he left the room.
    Judas Iscariot was like a church member, as a person who associates himself with Jesus.  By hanging out with Jesus and as a member of the Twelve Disciples, it was easy for others to assume that Judas believed in the person he was following, just as it is easy for us to believe that a person believes in Jesus because he goes to church.   Judas was with the Lord for three and half years, he heard Jesus teach and preach, and he saw the miracles of the Lord just like the others.  Judas had head knowledge of the Lord, but there is no evidence that any of the words that Jesus spoke lodged in his heart.  He was also the most trustworthy of the disciples because he carried their money pouch, which also made him to appear unlikely to be a spy.  His behavior, however, is the evidence of the condition of his heart.
     Judas was a deceiver and he had the perfect cover for a devious plan.  Knowing that there were people who wanted Jesus eliminated, Judas met with them and they were like a secret society:  meeting in darkness, forming an evil plan from the mind of Satan to destroy Jesus, but out in the daylight Judas appeared to be as normal any other man of his community.  Spies can do this:  they can appear to be everything they are not. 
    In his heart, Judas was sneaky, sly, and a spy.  He never said much, for the less people knew about him was better for his cover-up, and he certainly did not want to draw attention or suspicion to himself.  Even when he was among others, he was a loner, and nobody noticed him missing when he attended secret meetings.  Thirty pieces of silver was an attracive contract, a tidy sum that would provide him with financial independence and prominence in his community, and he had everybody who knew him hoodwinked:  except Jesus.  Jesus knew the evil that was in his heart and the Lord exposed him for what he was at the Last Supper.
     While Jerusalem slept in the early morning hours on the day Jesus was crucified, Judas and his band of conspirators arrived in the garden under the cover of darkness to arrest Jesus.  They were quiet and sneaky, just like Judas, for they did not want others to know of their deviant behavior as officers from the chief priests and Pharisees, which were the religious people from the local assembly.  The others would not be able to recognize Jesus in the darkness, but they knew Judas could, which he did, and Judas Iscariot kissed the face of the Son of God in his final act of defiance, turned his back on the Lord---and never went to heaven.  And after the crucifixion of the Lord, Judas committed suicide, dying an ugly and brutal death:    he plunged:  falling headlong, he burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out.  (Book of Acts 1:18).
     Like Judas, we also have opportunity to be saved from our sins by the Lord.  We can hear about Jesus, we can believe in our minds that He is the Son of God, then, like Judas, we can turn our backs to him.  We can have head knowledge of Jesus just like Judas did, but it is the heart that must be converted to Christ. By his action, however, it is doubful that Judas never had a desire to go to a place like heaven, or if he ever believed the words that Jesus spoke.  Judas was interested in Judas, looking for a way to advance himself.
     Beyond this, the best place for Satan to hide is in churches and religions, for these are the least likely places people expect the devil to be---surely not in the house of God!?  So one of Satan's spies can be in churches and religions, too, for the spy is empowered with all the deceptiveness of Satan. 
    We should not be surprised, then, that the devil had infiltrated the camp of Jesus and His disciples.  Jesus knew it.  But for Judas (as for all of us) to have freewill and make his own choice, Jesus had to allow the devil to tempt Judas for him to make his choice when two choices are available.  Judas chose fruit from the wrong tree and went with the devil.  This is the same picture of what happened in the Garden of Eden:  God saw what was going on between the serpent and Adam and Eve, but God left them alone to make their choice.
     What then, will you do about Jesus, whom is called Christ?  The Holy Spirit reveals to your mind that Jesus is the Son of God and you believe that.  Now, if you will receive Christ from your mind to your heart, you will be saved from your sin.  For Judas also believed that Jesus was the Son of God, but Judas never accepted Jesus in his own heart, therefore he became the son of perdition.