What if Judas didn't Betray Jesus - Leke Alder

What if…Judas didn’t betray Jesus?
Judas has to be the most reviled person in human history.
His name is synonymous with infamy though it actually
means Praise. It’s from Loudas, the Greek form of Judah.
Another variant is Jude. The meaning of his surname
“Iscariot” is the subject of conjecture however. Probably a
derivative of Ish Kerioth i.e. man of Kerioth, a town in the
tribe of Judah. (Joshua 15:25)
Judas’ principal accomplishment in life was that he
betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. Judas loved money.
He exemplified the saying the love of money is the root of
all evil. (1 Timothy 6:10) He was a crook, an embezzler of
funds. John outrightly called him a thief. (John 12:6) But
what if he didn’t betray Jesus, would history have changed?
Would things have turned out differently for humanity?
Would Jesus have gone to the cross?
Well, unknown to many, if Judas didn’t betray Jesus two
people in particular would have lost credibility as prophets.
The two men are Zechariah and David. They were the ones
who prophesied the treachery of Judas. Those prophecies
were hyper-realistic. It was as if they were watching a
video. They captured Judas in reflections and
conversations. One of the tests of the credibility of a
prophet is fulfillment: “But you may wonder, ‘How will we
know whether or not a prophecy is from the Lord?’ Here’s
how: If what the prophet spoke in God’s name doesn’t
happen, then obviously God wasn’t behind it; the prophet
made it up. Forget about him.” (Deuteronomy 18:21-22
NLT, MSG) If Judas didn’t act according to prophecy the
credibility of both Zechariah and David was at stake.
Zechariah’s prophecy came 500 years before the event! He
literally “saw” Judas bargaining with the high priests – saw
a raw video feed. In that video feed Judas was talking to
someone: “Then I addressed them: ‘Pay me what you think
I’m worth.’ They paid me an insulting sum, counting out
thirty silver coins.” (Zechariah 11:12) It’s obvious from this
prophetic video feed Judas felt underappreciated, even felt
insulted by the amount paid for his treachery.
But according to Mathew Judas was the one who
approached the religious leaders with the proposal to
betray Jesus: “What are you willing to give me if I hand him
over to you?” (Matthew 26:15 AMP) That in itself points to
an exaggerated sense of self-importance. As prophesied by
Zechariah they did pay him thirty pieces of silver. Mathew
says from that time on Judas began to look for an
opportunity to betray Jesus.
However Judas suffered a murderer’s remorse and decided
to return the money. This was Mathew’s account: “Judas,
the one who betrayed him realized that Jesus was doomed.
Overcome with remorse, he gave back the thirty silver coins
to the high priests, saying, ‘I’ve sinned. I’ve betrayed an
innocent man.’ They said, ‘What do we care? That’s your
problem!’ Judas threw the silver coins into the temple and
left. Then he went out and hung himself.” (Matthew 27:3-5)
Amazingly, Zechariah recorded this same scene. He even
captured Judas’ thoughts. (He must have hung himself
right after this): “Throw it into the poor box. This stingy
wage was all they thought of me and my work!” So I took
the thirty silver coins and threw them into the poor box in
God’s Temple.” (Zechariah 11:13)
How did Jesus feel about the whole thing? Well, David tells
us in his prophecy: “Even my close friend, in whom I
trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted his heel against
me.” (Psalm 41:9) And we see eerie fulfillment of that
prophecy in the Book of John. Jesus used those exact
words: “He who eats my bread with me has raised up his
heel against me.” (John 13:18) And when the disciples
wondered about the identity of this betrayer Jesus replied
and acted out the words of the prophecy: ‘“It is the one to
whom I give the bread I dip in the bowl.” And when he had
dipped it, he gave it to Judas, son of Simon Iscariot. When
Judas had eaten the bread, Satan entered him…”’ (John
13:26)
Now, here’s the implication of the failure of the prophecies
about Judas: if the prophetic credibility of David and
Zechariah fail we must call their other writings into
question. Which goes to the credibility of the Christian faith
and the Bible. The books of Psalms and Zechariah must
necessarily lose potency. At best they’d be history
textbooks, though Psalms will double as a collection of
poems and rap songs.
Prophecy-events concerning Jesus extended from his
conception to his crucifixion and resurrection, as well as his
ascension and session in heaven. (Psalm 110:1) The
betrayal of Judas actually constituted a tiny detail in the
string of events. At least the religious leaders thought so.
Which was why they blackballed him. They knew they
couldn’t arrest Jesus in the open for fear of the people.
They needed a mole in his organization to inform them on
his whereabouts. Judas fit the bill. (Acts 1:16) He on the
other hand felt he DELIVERED a major political prize.
With or without Judas Jesus would still have gone to the
cross. Why? Because it had been prophesied he would. And
the prophecies were independent of Judas. Indeed it had
been decided before the foundation of the world. (1 Peter
1:20) It’s why Jesus came. Isaiah had already prophesied
his death. It was a whole narrative. Isaiah 50:6 for example
talks about his physical ordeal leading up to the crucifixion:
“I offered my back to those who beat me and my cheeks to
those who pulled my beard. I did not hide my face from
mockery and spitting.” He prophesied his silence before his
accusers – “He was oppressed and treated harshly, yet he
never said a word… As a sheep is silent before the
shearers, he did not open his mouth. Unjustly condemned
he was led away.” (Isaiah 53:7-8, Mark 14:60-61, 15:3-5)
And David weighed in as well. He told us in advance the
soldiers would wager for his clothes at the crucifixion:
“They divide my garments among themselves and throw
dice for my clothing.” (Psalm 22:18, Matthew 27:35) And
that famous statement made by Jesus on the cross – “My
God my God why have you forsaken me?”… Well, David
prophesied it verbatim 1000 years before the event.
(Matthew 27:46, Psalm 22:1) When Jesus said he could
have been arrested in the temple he minimized the value of
Judas. (Luke 22:53) In essence, both Jesus and the
religious leaders felt Judas played no more than a bit role
in the scheme of things. The religious leaders felt they
deserved all the credit. They arranged the midnight trial,
they assembled the mob, arranged subornation of perjury,
scaled things up to Pilate, and whipped up the crowd to get
Barabbas the murderer and insurrectionist released in the
place of Jesus… (Luke 23:17-25) Incidentally, Barabbas
was also named Jesus. Indeed Barabbas means “son of
the father.” So this was a Jesus for Jesus deal, the Son of
the Father for a son of the father. It foreshadows the
Christ/Antichrist confrontation. Our friend Judas Iscariot
was therefore a nobody in the grand scheme. This makes
nonsense of the heretic doctrine of the gnostic Gospel of
Judas (which wasn’t written by Judas by the way) that
Judas made the salvation of mankind possible. What arrant
nonsense! The chief promoter of the text is National
Geographic.
So here’s the summary. If Judas hadn’t betrayed Jesus a
tiny bit in the prophecy chain concerning Jesus would have
failed. But it’s details like that that make the Bible
incredible. God obsesses over details. Look at nature. Our
faith is reinforced by those tiny little details. And oh, by the
way if Judas hadn’t betrayed Jesus Mathias would not
have become an apostle. (Acts 1:26) He was the
replacement apostle. David had prophesied, “Let someone
else take his position.” (Psalm 109:.
Now, Jesus had said, “For the Son of Man must die, as the
scriptures declared long ago. But how terrible it will be for
the one who betrays him. It would be far better for that man
if he had not been born!” (Matthew 26:23-24) Well, if you
want to know the full ramification of that statement read
Psalm 109:8-15. It contains the curses on Judas. It was
prophesied he would die very young, his children will be
fatherless, his wife a widow, his children will become
beggars, his home will be ruined, creditors will seize his
estate, he will lose all his earnings and assets, no one will
show kindness to his children, all his offspring will die, his
family name will be blotted out in the next generation, the
sins of his parents will never be forgiven and his name will
disappear from human memory. Judas would have
escaped this fate if he had not betrayed Jesus.
If you’ll like to give your life to Jesus, please pray this
prayer: Father I acknowledge that I am a sinner, that Jesus
Christ died for me, that you raised him from the dead.
Please forgive me. I accept Jesus today as my Lord and my
Saviour. Amen.
© #Illuminare Leke Alder | talk2me@lekealder.com

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Join date : 2017-01-31