Why Judas Betrayed Jesus
Why did Judas betray Jesus? Despite many conjectures, the Bible gives only one explanation.
Judas had walked with Rabbi Jesus for three years. Judas had heard Jesus’ teachings and witnessed His miracles. With the other apostles, Jesus had granted Judas power and authority to proclaim the kingdom was near, to expel demons, and to cure diseases (Mat. 10:7-8).
Why would Judas forsake all this? It makes no sense. To satisfy their curiosity regarding Judas, people have devised several explanations. Some are political in nature, some are psychological, and some are of other stripes, but they are all mere conjectures.
Meanwhile, the only explanation the Bible gives us is the influence of the devil.
“The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus.” (John 13:2 NIV)
“As soon as Judas took the bread, Satan entered into him.” (John 13:27 NIV)
When Judas exits the Last Supper, “it was night” (John 13:30 NIV), perhaps this is more than a celestial observation. Judas was no longer walking in the Light.
Similarly, when people act so vilely that it makes no sense at all, the devil is influencing them, as he did Judas. When “good Christians” are acting and speaking in a manner blatantly contrary to the will of God, they have left the Light (despite all their claims) and are walking in darkness brewed by Satan, the enemy of our souls.
Consider the implications of this principle.
- When have you seen interactions among Christians that led you to say, “This makes no sense! What is happening?” Did you consider that Satan could have a role in it?
- When people fail to recognize the activity of Satan, they try to remedy interpersonal disputes with common sense, conflict resolution skills, or other counseling methods drawn from the social sciences. While these tools may help with some symptoms, they fail to address the root cause.
- When we detect the influence of Satan in an interpersonal brawl, victory can only come by fighting with God’s weapons, as Paul advises in 2 Cor. 10:3-5. “For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” (NIV)
There are many ways use to use God’s arsenal of spiritual weapons. Let me suggest one simple way and then a more detailed way.
- Wield the name of Jesus, for it is the mightiest of weapons. As you think of a situation in which Satan is at work, call on the Lord Jesus Christ to break Satan’s power by singing and praying “Jesus, Your Name Is Power”.
- Learn the tactics of spiritual warfare. The Three Battlegrounds by Francis Frangipane provides an in-depth view of the three arenas of spiritual warfare: the mind, the church, and the heavenly realms. (172 pp.)
This is post #23 in an ongoing dialog about the Gospel of John occurring online at www.philbickel.com, Facebook, and Youtube. You’re invited to join the conversation.
A catalyst for the dialogue is a free 97-page ebook, Fullness or Fraction in the Gospel of John, which introduces readers to 10 essential building blocks of life in Christ.
Art credit: Painting by James Tissot (1836-1902), hosted in the Brooklyn Museum, New York. Scans of these images have been released into the public domain and digitally enhanced and resized for projection by FreeBibleimages.org.