What About Judas?

Recently, I watched a reel and one sentence of that 30 second video had my mind in a tizz. After watching it, I couldn't believe what I heard and I couldn't stop pondering if maybe I got things wrong (🤨Eish, that sounds like whatever I believe is rather flimsy if a few seconds of an Instagram reel can turn my views upside down. #ragebait)

But yes, a 30 second clip got me thinking, it got me questioning things and it got me frustrated at how easily people can be deceived.

As I aimlessly scrolled through my Instagram feed, I came across this video that said, “What if? What if Judas was walking in the will of God?” to say shock and disbelief overcame me, was an understatement. I was utterly flabbergasted.

I mean, was I the drama? (As the cool kids now say…) but really, was I right to be taken aback or surprised by what I heard? Considering the huge platform from which these words were being repeated. What do you mean, big time Pastor that Judas was in the will of God?

So, being convinced that there is no way a famed preacher could even utter such, I immediately clicked on the comments. Only to be greeted with 100’s of Amens and Hallelujahs. However, thankfully I was not going insane, because very sparsely sprinkled in-between the hundreds of comments was a few voices of reason whose comments aligned with my thoughts.  These comments were like angels of light shouting out in the darkness that this message was misleading people. And unfortunately, not a single soul was taking any heed.

One particular comment summed up my thoughts precisely. “What about Judas? Why did he have to go to a lost eternity if he was in the will of God?”

I could not understand how, in order to make a point for a message, something that the Bible is very clear on, can be misconstrued to such a severe degree. To say that Judas was in God’s will, because the betrayal was something that had to happen. Had to be the most ludicrous thing I ever heard.

So, in the most simplest of terms, I can muster up, I do believe that Judas had a choice. And, irrespective of what Judas did or did not do, Jesus would have still gone to the cross. Because that was the will of God..

I believe the Will of God was for Jesus to die, for His blood to be shed and for His ultimate resurrection. God's will was for our salvation. It was for ALL of us to be restored back to Him. And the only way for that to be done was for Jesus to go to the cross.

Judas, like everyone else in the world had a little something called, ‘free will’. And mind you, even, Jesus, Himself could have said 'no'. Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane even asked God to take this cup away from Him, but because it was God’s will for His life, Jesus went ahead.

Luke 22:42
“Father, if You are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but Yours be done.”

It would be incorrect and misleading to say that Judas’ betrayal was what God allowed or planned to happen. Or that God put Judas in Jesus’s inner circle because Judas had to betray Jesus. Because if that was true. It begs the question, ‘What about Judas? Did God not care for Judas? Did God want so badly for Jesus to save us. That the salvation of the world, would ultimately cost Judas his soul?

Because I cannot believe that to be true. Just the sound of that seems wrong to me. The God that I know, will never allow that. God does not force His Will upon anyone. 

Judas could not have been a mere and simple pawn, someone who is so easily disposable. And neither was Judas an instrument used to elevate Jesus to greatness.  What this kind of thinking does, is it takes away from the fact that Jesus willing gave up his life for our salvation. This kind of thinking and preaching is reckless and dangerous and can easily lead people astray. Putting a greater importance on Judas' betrayal than Jesus' willing sacrifice.

There is nothing that any human being, angel, or demon could have done that would have stopped or assisted Jesus going to the cross. That is what makes it a willing sacrifice.

I feel that Christianity today, has become all about motivating the masses. That we have forgotten about the commission we are actually on, which is the salvation of souls.

You cannot turn Judas' story into a motivational speech.  We can not twist the word to make it all about us or to make ourselves feel better about our bad decisions. To me, all a statement like this does, is waters down Jesus's ultimate willing sacrifice. Remember, all things are supposed be done to bring glory to God.

You see, the problem with us is that we all want to be identified as Jesus, or Joseph or as a Daniel as an Esther or Deborah, we all want to identify as people who are walking in the perfect will of God.

But we forget amongst us and including us, walk the Judas’s, the Jezebels and Pharisee’s and Pharoah’s. And if we are saying that people like Judas or Jezebel for that matter, were correct in their actions because God allowed it, as it was all part of the bigger plan, then something about our message is drastically wrong. Because all these people, including us have a free will, but they chose to turn away from God.

DID GOD EVEN LOVE JUDAS? AND DID GOD ALLOW JUDAS TO BETRAY JESUS?

The answer is found in Jesus’ actions just prior to the crucifixion.

If you remember the story, just before the Passover, realising that His time has come and how deeply He loved his disciples, Jesus displayed His love for them by washing the feet of the disciples, including Judas. During the last supper, Jesus sat and ate with the disciples and with Judas. And Jesus did these things, knowing full well what Judas was about to do. Jesus at the table even said that one of them was about to betray him, indirectly warning Judas and guiding him not to do what he was about to do. So, Jesus knew about Judas' plan. 

John 13:1
“It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew the hour had come for Him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.”

There is no mistaking it, God loved Judas. God loved Judas, even up until the end. Jesus did everything possible to help Judas change his mind. But Judas, was the one, who never truly loved, accepted or believed in Jesus. Judas was just in it for his own personal gain. 

If anything, we have to wonder, if Jesus knew what Judas was about to do, why did Jesus even allow Judas to be around Him? From what I’ve been watching online, these preachers would say, because Jesus needed to have someone around to betray Him? 👀

No, Jesus kept Judas around because He loved Judas. Because everyone ultimately has to be given a chance to change. Every single person out there, has to have an encounter with God, and be able to make up their minds for themselves. Every person has to have a saving grace moment with God. 

And God reveals His love for us time after time. Never will He leave us nor forsake us. He gives us right up until our last possible moments to change our minds. But sometimes we get so caught up in our own schemes and plans and misery that we completely miss Him.

God didn’t allow Judas to be amongst Jesus’s closest so Judas could betray Jesus. No! Judas was there because God wanted Judas to see and experience His love. God wanted to give Judas a choice between life, and life in abundance or death. God gave Judas the best possible chance and wanted to equip him to resist Satan. But we all know which choice Judas eventually went with.

Hebrews 13:5
“Never will I leave you nor forsake you”

Do you know what was the saddest part about Judas’s story? It was that when Judas heard that Jesus was condemned to be crucified, he went back to the Priests to return the money (which the Priests refused) and being overcome, Judas hung himself. So, Judas felt enough remorse to give the money back, but it was not enough. Because he was still without repentance, so chose to end his life.

Had Judas just waited 3 more days, he would have the greatest opportunity ever, to make things right with Jesus. You see, Peter also denied Jesus as well prior to the crucifixion. And he did it 3 times! But look at how good God is, because when Jesus arose, Jesus actually went looking for Peter despite Peter's betrayal. Mark, Luke and John all confirm that Jesus sort Peter out after the resurrection.

I truly believe, that nothing would have been different for Judas. Had Judas still been there to ask for forgiveness, Jesus would have redeemed him too, like He did Peter.

Friends, I know this sounds like a very shouty message, but we cannot be accepting every word and message out there as the truth. We need to spend time reading the Word and be able to discern for ourselves what is wrong and what is right. And the truth is that Jesus willing gave up His life and would have went to the cross no matter what. 

Judas cannot be given any credit for getting Jesus to the cross. Jesus and Jesus alone gets the glory for the finished work of the cross. Judas' story was a tragedy and the truth is the will of God for Judas' life was salvation, and not a lost eternity. 

IN DEFENCE OF THE POSTER

In defence of the poster, I want to note that my thoughts have been written solely based on that one sentence. I did not listen to the whole message or series, so I’m praying this Pastor corrected this thought pattern at some point.

Personally, I didn’t want to listen to anymore because, I don’t believe that I could have even benefited from anything else, no matter how great the message was. Considering how distressed I was from what I had heard, in those mere 30 seconds. #clickbait

But I guess that is the point of a reel. To get the juiciest, attention-grabbing bit of info out there, to get the clicks and score some sales?

But let’s be 'real', (lol, excuse the pun 🤭) Not all people out there are clicking on the link to listen to the whole message. What they are watching, listening, and absorbing is in that 30 seconds of the video only. And if you are preaching a very dicey message, the least you can do is get it right in those few seconds you do have influence over.

Rather than putting out only controversial bits that you know people will disagree with, or worse, deliberately put out a false narrative just to get the clicks and views.

But if am wrong in any way, please feel free to correct me. If I somehow misconstrued it, if I missed something. By all means, please let me know. Explain it to me Sheila, please explain, cos I am at a loss to the posters 'real' message was… 🤷

‍All my Love...

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