Welcome to the 4th Month of 2024

Embracing Divine Access and Opportunity Dear My Brothers and Sisters, As we step into the fourth month of 2024, known symbolically as the month of Dalet in Hebrew, I am inspired to share with you a message of hope and encouragement centered around the theme of divine access and opportunity. In Hebrew mysticism, the letter Dalet (ד) represents a gate or doorway, symbolizing transition and opportunity. Just as a door opens to reveal new paths and possibilities, so too does the month of Dalet invite us to embrace the doors that are opening in our lives. Throughout the Bible, doors and gates serve as powerful symbols of access and opportunity. In Revelation 3:8, Jesus declares, "I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut." This assurance reminds us that God is continually opening doors of opportunity for us, leading us into new seasons of blessing and favor. Furthermore, Psalm 24:7 calls upon the gates to lift up their heads, allowing the King of glory to come in.

Is Judas in Heaven or Hell?

 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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