Prayer for Strength
Heavenly Father, today please strengthen your children. Pour your spirit into us, uplift the weak, and scatter their enemies.
Mighty Healer, continue to remove sickness and heal our minds. We know that with You all things are possible. Victory is at hand for your children.
I pray, in the Name of Jesus... Amen
Is Judas in Heaven or Hell?
Judas Disciple order in the scriptures.
Matthew 10:4 (ESV)
4 Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.
Mark 3:19 (ESV)
19 and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.
Mark 3:19 (ESV)
19 and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.
Judas’s role in the Discipleship:
John 13:29
English Standard Version
29 Some thought that, because Judas had the moneybag, Jesus was telling him, “Buy what we need for the feast,” or that he should give something to the poor.
First mention of the twelve
John 6:67 “Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away?"
Here is the first mention of the twelve in John’s gospel. Only five of them have been named thus far: John, Andrew, Peter, Philip and Nathanael. Perhaps this is John’s account of the confession of Simon Peter at Caesarea Philippi.
John 6:68 “Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou has the words of eternal life."
John 6:69 “And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God."
John 6:70 “Jesus answered them, Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil?"
In response to Peter’s words that the disciples had come to believe in Jesus, He reminds them that He sovereignly chose them. Jesus would not allow even a whisper of human pretension in God’s sovereign selection.
In Matthew 22:14 we read “For many are called, but few are chosen."
Out of the great number called as Jesus' followers, Jesus had chosen twelve.
Judas first Mentioned in the Bible
In Luke 6:12-13 we read “And it came to pass in those days, that he went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God." "And when it was day, he called unto him his disciples: and of them he chose twelve, whom also he named apostles;"
You see, Jesus Christ had many followers He called disciples (disciplined ones who follow Him), but there were twelve (a representative number) He set aside to be apostles.
Judas Iscariot (the betrayer), was among the twelve. This really is no different than it is today. Many proclaim to be Christians, but few really know Jesus as Savior and Lord. Even of those the world thinks to be close followers of the Lord, there is always a Judas.
“Devil” means adversary, slanderer or false accuser. The idea perhaps is better rendered “one of you is the devil”. This meaning is clear from (13:2 and 27). The supreme adversary of God so operates behind failing human beings, that his malice becomes theirs.
Jesus supernaturally knew the source and identified it precisely. This clearly fixes the character of Judas, not as a well-intentioned but misguided man trying to force Jesus to exert His power and set up His kingdom, as some suggest. But as a tool of Satan doing unmitigated wickedness.
John 6:71 “He spake of Judas Iscariot the son of Simon: for he it was that should betray him, being one of the twelve."
This is the first occasion in John where Peter and Judas appear in contrast (see also chapters 13 and 18).
Many people believe that Judas did not have a choice, because of this Scripture. As we have said so many times before, Judas had a choice, but Jesus could look ahead in time and know what Judas would do.
“Iscariot”: The word most likely is from a Hebrew word meaning “man of Kerioth,” the name of a village in Judah. As with the other three gospels, as soon as he was named, he became identified as the betrayer.
Matthew 26:14-16 New International Version
Judas Agrees to Betray Jesus
14 Then one of the Twelve—the one called Judas Iscariot—went to the chief priests 15 and asked, “What are you willing to give me if I deliver him over to you?” So they counted out for him thirty pieces of silver. 16 From then on Judas watched for an opportunity to hand him over.
Judas Returns the Silver
Matthew 27:3-10
New International Version
3 When Judas, who had betrayed him, saw that Jesus was condemned, he was seized with remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders. 4 “I have sinned,” he said, “for I have betrayed innocent blood.”
“What is that to us?” they replied. “That’s your responsibility.”
5 So Judas threw the money into the temple and left. Then he went away and hanged himself.
6 The chief priests picked up the coins and said, “It is against the law to put this into the treasury, since it is blood money.” 7 So they decided to use the money to buy the potter’s field as a burial place for foreigners. 8 That is why it has been called the Field of Blood to this day. 9 Then what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled: “They took the thirty pieces of silver, the price set on him by the people of Israel, 10 and they used them to buy the potter’s field, as the Lord commanded me.”
Peter Tells how Judas Died
Acts 1:18
New International Version
18 (With the payment he received for his wickedness, Judas bought a field; there he fell headlong, his body burst open and all his intestines spilled out.
A potter’s field is a burying ground for indigent people, it is a graveyard for paupers. Contrary to what many may think, the word potter in potter’s field is not a proper name and it is not capitalized, according to the Oxford English Dictionary. The original potter’s field takes its name from the Bible, specifically the book of Matthew in the New Testament. In chapter twenty-seven, Judas Isacariot returns the thirty pieces of silver the high priests gave him in exchange for betraying Jesus. The priests did not return the silver to the temple coffers, as it was blood money. They used that money to buy a field to bury paupers in. As the story goes, the field they bought was the area in which potters dug their clay. On an interesting side note, during the 1500s the word potter was used to mean an itinerant peddler or a vagrant.
What does legally indigent mean?
1) n. a person so poor and needy that he/she cannot provide the necessities of life (food, clothing, decent shelter) for himself/herself.
Definition of pauper. : a very poor person who has no money to pay for food, clothing, etc.
potter = peroverty
Did Judas Repent?
Was Judas a believer?
To give a summary answer: Judas had no repentance, but only a remorse, in the light of the reasons provided above.
Judas’s remorse was not repentance of sin, as the King James version suggests. Matthew did not use metanoeo, which means a genuine change of mind and will, but metamelomai, which merely connotes regret or sorrow. He did not experience spiritual penitence but only emotional remorse. Although he would not repent of his sin, he could not escape the reality of his guilt. Genuine sorrow for sin (metamelomai) can be prompted by God in order to produce repentance (metanoeo), as Paul declares in 2 Corinthians 7:10. But Judas’s remorse was not prompted by God to lead to repentance but only to guilt and despair.
2 Corinthians 7:10
New International Version
10 Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.
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Sight
God’s Foresight
provides, Us with Clear Hindsight… Which
delivers New Insight.
God’s Foresight:
Isaiah 43:19
New International Version
19 See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness
and streams in the wasteland.
Clear Hindsight:
Psalm 23:4
New International Version
4 Even though I walk
through the darkest valley,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.
New Insight:
John 5:30 - By myself I can do
nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to
please myself but him who sent me.
"Hear, O sons, a father's
instruction, be attentive, that you may gain insight, for I give you
good precepts; do not forsake my teachings." (Proverbs 4:1-2)
Adam and Eve lost the Covering
Genesis
2:17 "But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not
eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die."
To “die” has
the basic idea of separation. It can mean spiritual separation, physical
separation, and/or eternal separation. At the moment of their sin, Adam and Eve
died spiritually, but because God was merciful they did not die physically
until later (5:5). There is no reason given for this prohibition, other than it
was a test (see note on verse 9).
There was
nothing magical about that tree, but eating from it after it had been forbidden
by God would indeed give man the knowledge of evil, since evil can be defined
as disobeying God. Man already had the knowledge of good.
“Thou shalt
not eat” is in strongest Hebrew form of prohibition.
“Surely
die”: The construction emphasizes in the strongest way the certainty of death
upon eating. (Note 3:4 and Satan’s “Ye shall not surely die.”)
In the Bible
there are three deaths:
(1) Physical death, separation of body and spirit;
(2) Spiritual death, separation of
the individual from God; and
(3) Eternal
death, the final estate of the lost person in the “lake of fire” (Rev. 20:10,
14; termed the “second death,” separation from God forever).
So many
false religions base their belief on the few words above. Adam truly brought
physical death upon all of mankind when he ate of this Tree of Knowledge of
Good and Evil. Adam's peace died, Adam's hopes died, and Adam's innocence died.
His mind was troubled because he now knew that his body would return to the
dust.
The error is
in believing that the spirit of Adam died. The spirit never died. The spirit
never dies. It is eternal. It will live either in heaven or hell. It is
eternal. It did not mean that our bodies in their present condition will live
forever. It meant Jesus had purchased our eternity for us.
This day,
then, that you shall surely die just means that Adam brought physical death to
all mankind, and Jesus brought life eternal. The wages of sin is death. Jesus
paid the wages and bought everlasting life for each of us if we believe.
Read 1
Corinthians chapter 15 from verse 44 on.
Some people
do not believe that God ever threatens punishment, but that is exactly what He
did in the Scripture above.
Genesis
2:25 "And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not
ashamed."
(Adam and Eve were covered)
“Both naked
… not ashamed”: With no knowledge of evil before the Fall, even nakedness was
shameless and innocent. They found their complete gratification in the joy of
their one union and their service to God. With no inward principle of evil to
work on, the solicitation to sin had to come from without, and it did.
Their
outward nakedness was a sign of their integrity. They lived and moved without
guilt, shame, or fear of exploitation or threat. Naked in the Hebrew sounds
like the word subtile (in 3:1), thus tying the two chapters together. Satan
will concentrate his shrewdness on their integrity.
So many
problems in young marriages today are caused by interference from parents who
are not willing to cut the apron strings and let their children form families
of their own. I believe this happened a lot because the parents are
disappointed in the lives they have made for themselves, and are trying to live
again in their children.
The order we
should put our lives in is: God first, husband or wife next, and then other
members of the family.
This
"nakedness" spoken of here was probably literal and figurative. Adam
and Eve were bathed in innocence. They were not aware that they were naked,
because they had not eaten of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and
evil. Husbands and wives even today should be so close that there will be no
secrets. We should truly try to walk without deceit.
Genesis
3:4 "And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:"
(Not a Physical
death, separation of body and spirit; It was a Spiritual death, separation of the
individual from God)
Here Satan
blatantly denies God with the same strong Hebrew expression God used (in 2:17).
Once the
serpent had her listening, then he called God a liar (indirectly of course).
The devil is the liar, and always has been. God is truth.
Genesis
3:7 "And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they [were] naked;
and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons."
(Adam and
Eve lost the Covering)
“Opened …
knew …sewed”: The innocence noted in 2:25 had been replaced by guilt and shame
(verses 8-10), and from then on, they had to rely on their conscience to
distinguish between good and their newly acquired capacity to see and know
evil.
The sense of
guilt is immediate (2:25), and they attempt to make themselves presentable, to
cover up their nakedness (verse 21).
As I said
before, (part of what the serpent said was true) their eyes were opened to
realize the terrible sin they had committed. They suddenly were not innocent
(they had sinned). The first awful thing that they discovered, was that they
were naked. They sewed fig leaves to cover their nakedness, as we are about to
see.
Genesis
3:8 "And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the
cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD
God amongst the trees of the garden."
(Adam and
Eve ran from the Presence of the Lord.
Sin cannot exist in the Lord’s Presence)
“Voice”:
Better translated “sound” as it appears in theophanies (a visible manifestation
to humankind of God), in the Old Testament (Psalm 18:13; 29:3-9; Jeremiah
25:30; Ezekiel 1:24; Joel 3:16).
God
appeared, as before, in tones of goodness and kindness, walking in some visible
form (perhaps Shekinah light as He later appeared in Exodus 33:18-23; 34:5-8,
29; 40:34-38). He came not in fury, but in the same condescending way He had
walked with Adam and Eve before.
“Cool of the
day” may be understood as the “spirit of the day,” as the Hebrew word for cool
is the same for spirit. The day is a judgment day in the context. No small
wonder that as the sound of the Lord God was traversing back and forth in the
garden seeking out Adam and Eve, they actively “hid themselves” from His
“presence,” acknowledging that their intimate fellowship was broken (4:14;
Psalm 139:7).
This is the
first specific time it is mentioned that Eve heard God's voice. God had come
for fellowship. Guilt and shame entered, and man and woman hid from God. Just
as it is today, there is no place to hide from God. Be sure, your sin will find
you out.
Genesis
3:9 "And the LORD God
called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where [art] thou?"
(The
Calling on each of our Lives from the Almighty)
“Where art
thou”: The question was God’s way of bringing man to explain why he was hiding,
rather than expressing ignorance about man’s location. Shame, remorse,
confusion, guilt, and fear all led to their clandestine behavior. There was no
place to hide; there never is (see Psalm 139:1-12).
God always
seeks out man, in the sense that He solicits a response from His Creation now
separated from Him by sin. Thus, God comes asking questions, not making
accusations.
Genesis 3:10
"And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I [was] naked;
and I hid myself."
(No
Covering)
“Heard thy
voice”: The sound of 3:8, which probably was God calling for Adam and Eve. Adam
responded with the language of fear and sorrow, but not confession.
Adam heard
the “sound” of the Lord God and “was afraid” (as most men are afraid of God
today), and began the age long process of “hiding himself” from his Maker.
So many
times, guilt of sins
causes us not to come to God. We feel we have done something so
bad, that God will not listen and forgive.
You see, in verse 10, Adam's guilt and
sin had caused a separation from God.
