Word for Wednesday
When Jesus had thus said, He was troubled in spirit, and testified, and said, Verily, verily, I say into you, that one of you shall betray Me. John 13:21
A traitor’s greatest fear is getting caught in his treachery. Nobody had followed Judas when he went to make his cursed bargain with the counsel. He had told nobody about his plans. He had covered his tracks perfectly and was confident of pulling off his little scheme with nobody in a position to interfere or stop him. How shocked he must have been at these words from the Lord Jesus! ‘He can’t know about me,’ he must have thought. He might have wondered if one of the other disciples was also thinking of betrayal. But his own guilty conscience would surely smite him as he accompanied the band to the Passover supper, and his mind would swirl with the knowledge that Jesus knew about his treachery.
For Judas to plot to betray Jesus was proof that he failed to grasp Who Jesus was. If he understood or believed that Jesus was God, he would know that Jesus was aware of the thoughts and intents of his heart. This is why today we hear so much blasphemy as people fail to grasp that the very Name they take on their tongue in vain will condemn them for doing so. We read of crimes of violence and greed that must surely occur because people are unaware that God has declared that their sins will find them out. The mockery and ridicule of God and His Word by the deniers and atheists is proof that those folks refuse to acknowledge that their very breath and heartbeat is in God’s hand. Even with his prolonged and intimate association with Jesus Christ, Judas committed the unpardonable sin of unbelief, and perished. Can a Christian fall into such a pit?
The short answer is no. We are saved because we have accepted Who Jesus is and what He has done for us. Our salvation is sure, our souls are sealed, praise God! But the effectiveness of our testimony and witness for Christ will depend on our grasp of His deity and lordship, our understanding of His intimate knowledge of our thoughts and plans, and our grasp of His desire that we might serve Him and enter into His reward. We all know saints who are bright and effective in their Christian walk. If we were to examine these saints, we would find they are those with the deepest appreciation of the holy character of Christ.
Praise God, the Holy Spirit will preserve us from a betrayal of our Lord. But He will also, if we let Him, help us proclaim our Lord. – Jim MacIntosh