Judas Iscariot and the 'betreason'

You're probably wondering what a "betrayal" might be. For we know about the betrayal of Judas, but a 'betreason'? Well, it's not a real word, nor is it made up to attract attention. But the point is that the disciples didn't understand what happened to Judas (John 13:28); it was a mystery to them, so to speak. The betrayal was a mystery and then you soon come to the combination of the two words to the word 'betrayal'.

While I was working on the blog about 'the charismatic supper' I also read John 13. I noticed that something special happened the moment Judas took the bread:And with [taking] the piece of bread Satan entered into him” (John 13:27). It prompted a bit of digging and led to the considerations below. With the hope that we will understand a little more about what happened then than the disciples did.

The 'religious' man

On this site we have already said a lot about idolatry and its consequences in the soul of man. Before we discuss the history of Judas further, let's go into that here.

Here have we seen what 'the other gospel' is that is being preached and Ann Voskamp we have seen how the search for the inner experience eventually leads to the mystical 'unification with God'. Furthermore, we have recently an article made about the inner experiences of the higher consciousness, from which we take the following.

People who 'straying from the way of reason' and going down the path of the "God experiences" thereby come under the influence of demons - without their noticing it, which changes their views. These new ideas become so deeply ingrained in the soul that they are almost impossible to get out. After all, for this person they are ideas that come from God, they are, as it were, 'sacred' to him because they are linked to deep inner experiences, which he believes are the work of God in his soul. He is therefore not aware of any harm, believes that he leads a life pleasing to God and continues 'calmly' on the chosen path.

The Old Testament also testifies that the people of Israel constantly fell into idolatry, but were conscious of no evil and had no idea what the prophets of the Lord were talking about. For example, for years Jeremiah prophesied against idolatry and called for repentance, but they did not listen (see, for example, Jeremiah 2:23, 35; 4:22; 5:12; 6:10, 15; 7:24). That is not played, they really think they are doing the will of the Lord, for they bring their incense and their sacrifices, don't they? (Jeremiah 6:20). But according to the Lord it is:

“There is no one who repents of his wickedness by saying, What have I done? Everyone turns and trots on, like a horse plunged into battle. (…) They are not in the least ashamed, yes, they do not know blushing.” (Jeremiah 8:6, 12)

Now, with these things in mind, let's see what is especially written in the Gospel of John about Judas Iscariot.

Where did it start?

In the thirteenth chapter of the Gospel of John are the following texts.

• “(…) then when the supper took place, and the devil Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, al had put into the heart to betray Him (…)” (13:2)
• “And in taking the piece of bread, Satan entered into him. Then Jesus said to him: Whatever you want to do, do it quickly. And none of those who sat at the reclining table understood the purpose of what He said to him. “ (13:27,28)

When you read this, you wonder: could this happen to me – a disciple of the Lord Jesus – too? That suddenly the devil takes hold of me so directly that I am used by him? That would be an extremely disturbing thought. Because what or who can save you from such a danger? And why was Judas not spared from that?

Let us first establish that nowhere in the Bible is it taught that satan and his angels can 'just' use/abuse a person. There is always something that precedes it. This can be seen even in these two texts: first the heart of Judas is worked by the devil and then Satan himself enters him. But even 13:2 must have preceded it, and that can be nothing but that Jude did not follow the warnings in the Scriptures. against idolatry has taken to heart. He has disregarded the warnings of Moses and the prophets, leading him to take the path of "God experiences" like so many of the Jewish people.

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The Jews

Judas was not the only one to go down the path of idolatry. When we see in the Gospel of John (I will limit myself to that Gospel for a moment) what is written of the Jewish leaders, we get the following picture.

• They were religious; good Jews, so to speak. “You search the scriptures, for through them you think you have eternal life . . .” (John 5:39).
• What they did not accept, however, was that the Lord Jesus spoke to them about His relationship with God the Father, thus making it clear that He Himself was God (5:18).
• This led them – religious Jews – to a hatred that drove them to want to kill the Lord Jesus. We can read that in several places in the gospel; for example in 5:16; 7:19; 8:37, 40; 10:33; and 11:53.
• In John 8 (from verse 30) there is a conversation (or discussion) between the Lord Jesus and the Jews about the fact that they rejected the truth that the Lord Jesus brought them and that they therefore wanted to kill Him. It is striking that the Lord plainly accuses the Jews of having the devil as a father. “You are from your father the devil[1], and do the lusts of your father; he was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, for there is no truth in him” (8:44).
• They knew exactly what the Lord meant by this, for in a devilish way they turn it around and the accused becomes the accuser. That is why they say to the Lord Jesus that He Himself'possessed by a demon' (8:48,49; likewise 7:20 and 10:20).
• Later the Lord tells the disciples that “(…) the time will come when whoever kills you thinks they are doing God a favor.” (16:2). The Jews who betrayed and killed the Lord sincerely thought they were doing God a service. They supposedly had 'a good feeling about it' while not realizing that they were being deceived very directly by satan and his demons.

Judas Iscariot

Let's return to Judas. Most likely it was with Judas as it was with 'the Jews'. A religious, pious Jew who, however, was on the trail of idolatry, which allowed him to be directly influenced by the demons. The Lord Jesus says a few important things about him.

• The Lord Jesus calls Judas 'a devil'. “And one of you is a devil. And he was referring to Judas Iscariot the son of Simon, for he would betray him, one of the twelve.” (6:70,71). He uses the same word (“diabolos”) as to the Jews “you are of your father the devil” (8:44). Implicitly, He thus says that the Jews are also devils. We have already seen above that the Jews knew exactly what the Lord meant by it: possessed by a demon.
• The Lord knew that Judas did not believe in Him, just as the Jews did not. “But there are some of you who don't believe. For Jesus knew from the beginning who it was who did not believe, and who it was who would betray Him.” (6:64).
  Judas' and the Jews' 'disbelieving' not only meant that they rejected that the Lord Jesus “is the Christ, the Son of the living God” (John 6:69), but also implied that they wanted to get Him out of the way somehow. Because of that combination, their disbelief is immediately demonic in nature[2].
• In His prayer to the Father, the Lord Jesus calls Judas Iscariot 'the son of perdition' (17:12). Paul uses the same designation 'son of the destruction' later for the antichrist, the man of satan (2 Thessalonians 2:3). Judas is therefore a prototype of the future antichrist to whom the dragon, Satan, gives all his power (Revelation 13:2, 4, 5, 7).

From all these statements of the Lord you may safely conclude that Judas Iscariot was influenced by the same spirit as the pious Jews. The difference between them, by the way, is that the Jews constantly made this known in discussions with the Lord and the disciples and tried to act accordingly. While Judas kept that under wraps; he didn't talk about it. But inwardly he must have had the conviction that the Lord Jesus was not the Messiah, not the Son of God. In fact, at one point he even believed that the Lord Jesus was standing in God's way and that it would be better if he, Judas, cooperated in removing the Lord Jesus from the public domain. That would be doing God a favor, he thought.

Judas apparently did not apply himself as a disciple to the Lord, but the Lord in His grace chose him and appointed him as a disciple to follow Him, as He says:Have I not chosen you, the twelve? ” (6:70,71). The Lord knew that Judas did not believe in Him, would not, and would eventually betray Him. Yet He has asked to follow Him. So great was His offer of grace, that He wanted Judas to witness all that He would do. That was so incredible that the world would not be able to contain the books if it were all written down (John 21:25). Normally that should convince a man of the truth of the Lord's claim to be the Christ, the Son of the living God. But Judas was no longer open to it.

Confusion

The Naarden Bible translates the 21^th verse from John 13 as

“When Jesus says this, His mind is confused and openly testifies and says, Surely it is, I say to you, that one of you will abandon Me!”

Other translations have, for example, that “His spirit was troubled” (ESV) or “He was troubled in spirit” (Telos). I suspect that the last translation is too weak and that 'confusion' comes closest to what happened to the Lord.

When He told the disciples what would happen (verse 18), a mixture of deep emotions and intense sadness overwhelmed Him, depriving Him of His inner orientation, as it were, for that moment. It was the same "confusion" He experienced on two previous occasions. First confronting the death of Lazarus (John 11:33) and later, when He reflected on the terrible suffering He would suffer on the cross of Calvary and He said, “Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ” (John 12:27).

The disciples probably did not notice that the Lord was very 'disturbed'; at least the Bible says nothing about it. They did wonder what His words meant when He said that one of them would betray Him. “The disciples looked at each other in doubt as to who He was saying(13:22). Then Peter consulted with John, who was closest to the Lord, and he asked the Lord Jesus about whom He had spoken. Then the Lord gives a precise description from which they can deduce who it is who would betray Him. They understand that it is Judas Iscariot. But it says very explicitly that "none of those who sat at a table understood the meaning of what He said to him."

So they knew that Judas Iscariot would 'betray' the Lord, and that he would have to 'go away' for that, but none of the disciples had any idea what that meant. Some thought he should buy something for the poor or buy something for the feast. But 'betraying' the Lord was not an option for them. They couldn't imagine that. It was a mystery to her, so to speak.

Peter, John and the riddle

The Bible does not state whether Peter and John later discussed with each other what it really was about Judas. But no doubt it later became clear to them what was the matter with Judas. Peter has some references and warns, for example, to be “sober”, against idolatry and false teachers. But it is especially striking with John. When you read what he writes in his letters, it is more than remarkable how it fits the person and actions of Judas Iscariot. For him the riddle has certainly been solved and he must have had to think about it when writing it. I quote from his letters below without commenting.

• “If we say we have fellowship with Him and yet we walk in darkness, we are lying and not doing the truth.” (1 John 1:6)
• “Whoever says, I know Him, and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.” (1 John 2:4)
• “But whoever hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.” (1 John 2:11)
• “Children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, from which we know that it is the last hour. They went out from among us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us. But it had to be made public that they are not all of us.” (1 John 2:18,19)
• “Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? That is the antichrist, who denies the Father and the Son. Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either.” (1 John 2:22,23)
• “Everyone who commits sin commits lawlessness; for sin is lawlessness. (…) He who commits sin is of the devil; for the devil sins from the beginning.” (1 John 3:4,8)
• “By this the children of God and the children of the devil can be recognized. Whosoever does not do righteousness is not of God, neither is he who does not love his brother.” (1 John 3:10)
• “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but test the spirits whether they are of God; for many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you come to know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God; and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God; but this is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming, and who is already in the world.” (1 John 4:1-3)
• “If anyone should say, I love God, and he hates his brother, he is a liar. For whoever does not love his brother whom he sees, how can he love God whom he has not seen? And this commandment we have from Him, That whoever loves God must love his brother also.” (1 John 4:20,21)
• “There is a sin unto death; for that I do not say that he must pray. Every iniquity is sin; and there is sin that does not lead to death. We know that whoever is born of God does not sin; but he who is born of God keeps himself, and the evil one has no hold over him.” (1 John 5:16b-18)
• “But we know that the Son of God has come and has given us the understanding that we may know the True One; (…) Dear children, beware of idols.” (1 John 5:20,21)
• “For many deceivers have come into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. That is the deceiver and the antichrist. Watch yourselves, (…) Whosoever transgresses, and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, God has not (…).” (2 John 1:7-9)

With what John wrote in his first letter,
is also the drama of Judas Iscariot highly topical education
for Christians in these last days.
John challenges us to understand his letters
and wonder if we are true disciples
be of the Lord Jesus.

“Let what you have heard from the beginning remain in you. If what you have heard from the beginning abide in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father. And this is the promise He has promised us: eternal life. (…) so you must abide in Him. And now, little children, abide in him, that we may have boldness when he shall be revealed, and not be put to shame by him at his coming..”
(1 John 2:24-28)

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[1] KJV translation: "You have the devil for your father" 

[2] This is in contrast to the disbelief of, for example, the brothers of the Lord Jesus (John 7:5), of which the Bible does not report that this was connected with violence towards the Lord Jesus. Also see Christipedia.