Judas Iscariot

[BellonaFlayreRiver]

Everyones favorite topic!! JUDAS ISCARIOT!!!

ok, so here are my questions:
1. Judas was known as the "right hand" of Jesus.
2. Judas "betrayed" Jesus with a kiss. A kiss has always (as far as i know) been associated with love. And also, why would you kiss your enemies? you dont love them either.
3. After Judas "betrayed" him, Judas hung himself. You dont hang yourself after defeating an enemy. You hang yourself when you are utterly depressed.
4. Judas grows more and more evil from the first Gospel in the Bible, to the Last. So, he isnt always betrayed as an ultimate villain.
5. If Jesus had not been handed over to the Romans, he may never have died on the cross. If he had not died on the cross, he might never have died for our sins. so was his betrayal necessary?

What if Judas did exactly what Jesus asked him to? What if Jesus asked Judas to betray him?

ok, so my main question is this: if Jesus had never been betrayed, how would he have died (would he have died)? and if he didnt die, how would we be saved by the ultimate sacrifice (since if he didnt die, there wouldnt have been an ultimate sacrifice)?

and if Jesus had to die, then was judas acting through his personal free will, or was he just a pawn (for lack of better phrasing, sorry) in the big scheme God needed? and if he was a pawn, then how can we condemn him for doing something he had no choice but to do (in other words, that God had made him do)?

ive been thinking of this for a long time, so any help you could offer would be splendid!

[Faithful]

1. Which verse makes you think Judas is the right hand of Jesus? I don't think Judas is a favorite topic for Christians at all! How silly.

2. Fake people kiss people all the time; does it mean they are being good or putting on a show? Don't people pretend to be good to gain something? The Messiah was to be sold for thirty pieces of silver (Zech. 11.12; Luke 22.47,48) with a kiss. "But Jesus said unto him, Judas, betrayest thou the Son of man with a kiss?" (Luke 22.48). Judas himself admits when the Bible says, "Now he that betrayed him had given them a token, saying, Whomsoever I shall kiss, that is he; take him, and lead him away safely" (Mark 14.44). That you would suggest any other possible scenario shows how corrupted your heart and mind and spirit are.

3. No matter how depressed you are, murder is murder, whether you have hand in killing Jesus or murdering yourself. That's not love.


The First Way to Hell: Suicide


Suicide is a shortcut to hell. There is no way which leads to hell more quickly than this. Note this brief Bible passage: "He [Judas] might go to his own place" (Acts 1.25). Judas had never believed in Jesus Christ. Though outwardly he pretended to be one of His disciples, he was "a son of perdition" (John 17.12) who had never experienced salvation. After he died, he went "to his own place." What was his own place? It was destruction or perdition. After he died, he went to hell. How did he go to hell? He killed himself by hanging.

If anyone wants to go to hell, suicide is the most convenient method of doing so. A razor, a rope, or a cup of poison will quickly send the soul to the place of eternal suffering. Hell may be quite distant from you in this life; it might, in fact, take many years for you to end up there. But if you commit suicide, you shorten the days of your life on earth and speed yourself to the place of eternal perdition.
Once an unbelieving master asked his believing chauffeur what the shortest road to hell was. At that time his car was speeding along the highway. The chauffeur opened the car door and said to his master: "If you jump out of the car, you will immediately arrive at that place. Since you do not believe in the Lord, you will go to hell as soon as you fall to your death."
The easiest and quickest way to hell is indeed suicide. If you want to arrive at hell in a few hours, swallow a large dosage of cocaine and you will be at your destination. If you wish to arrive in hell in a few minutes, take some cyanide and you will surely be there. And if you consider these ways far too slow, and you want to descend to hell in less than a minute, blow your brains out with gunshot and you will certainly be there. There are many other ways to commit suicide. For example, you may starve yourself to death or you may leap into the sea. Or you may lie on the railroad track and let the train break you in two.
By committing suicide, a person deprives himself of the hope of salvation. But if he continues to live on earth, he may hear the gospel of the substitutionary death of the Lord Jesus and believe for salvation. But if he kills himself he destroys forever the opportunity to hear the gospel. Please take note of this observation: whether one is saved or perishes is a matter decided in this life. If you refuse and do not believe in the Lord Jesus in this life, you will have no further opportunity to hear the gospel and be saved after death. In killing yourself you end your life and forfeit any chance of salvation. Hence the suicide victim will go straight to hell. His very blood is the stamp on his ticket to hell.
People have believed in the Lord Jesus Christ. Not only did they dare not kill themselves, they also did not need to kill themselves if they ever thought to do so; for they now have Christ—they are saved! Christ has so comforted their hearts and transformed their lives that they no longer nurse the thought of taking their lives. I have no idea how many people meditate such a thought. But I do know this, that Christ can satisfy every heart. So why any longer contemplate suicide and head for hell?
Why do you seek for death? I know you are dissatisfied with life. I know you often feel lonely and miserable. I know your life is monotonous. I know you frequently sigh. You sense the vexation of life. And you are no stranger to tears. Though you possess many things of this world, these cannot satisfy your heart. In the depth of your being you sense a need, a longing for something which you do not know but which you hope will fill that void.
It is true that besides sorrow and vexation, life has no other taste. And hence you sometimes think of suicide. But why should you take that route? Jesus Christ has come to save suffering people. He has comforted many hearts, satisfied many souls, transformed many lives, and wiped away many tears. He is willing to help you turn your vexatious life into a joyful one. He can be the sun in your cloudy days, and He can be the song in your dark nights. With Him your soul can be comforted and made joyous. Why then must you die? Why commit suicide and end in hell? Today you must heed the gospel. The Lord is able and He cares for you. Accept Him as your Savior and Lord, and your life’s problems will be solved.

4. Judas is the False Prophet reanimated for the Tribulation. Take a closer look at him...
There are many evidences to link the first beast with the revitalization of Nero. This second beast may very well be the return from the dead of the betrayer Judas. Acts 1.20, Psalm 69.25 and Psalm 109.8 all point to Judas, for Acts 1.20 quotes from Psalms 69 and 109. Psalm 109.6 declares: "Let Satan stand at his right hand" (mg.)—This is yet to be fulfilled. At the time of Christ, Satan entered into the heart of Judas; but not until the time of Revelation 13.12 will Satan stand at his right hand. We are also told in Acts 1: "that he might go to his own place" (v.25). Concerning other individuals the Scriptures always say he is "gathered to his own people" or that "he is gone down into sheol"; but in the case of Judas we are told that "he might go to his own place"—as though he has a special place set aside for his use. In the entire New Testament the term "son of perdition" is only used twice: one is found in John 17.12 which distinctly points to Judas, and the other is found in 2 Thessalonians 2.3 which alludes to Antichrist. If the first beast is Antichrist, the son of perdition, who else can be the second beast except Judas who also is called the son of perdition? In John 6 the Lord is recorded as calling Judas "a devil" (v.70). So then, who but Judas can rank among the trio of evil? "Jesus answered them, Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil?"
5. There is only one gospel: the gospel of salvation and the kingdom of heaven. It is one and the same gospel. If you are just more evil than you were the day before, you are still the one who is "a devil". We are all babies at one year old, so does that mean Judas is not a devil because he was a baby once?


6. Murdering Jesus and betrayal is recorded by God; those who had a hand in this are going to hell. Those who commend such murder as effecting Jesus death for atonement are going to hell because they place murder as the key to salvation. Since murder is never right, then it is never right. God has infinite foreknowledge and knows all things. So giving His Son for atonement in no way justifies those who do the killing, for they are murderers. Isn't it amazing God places His Son in this context, that those who murder are unsaved, but those who believe in His sinless sacrifice are saved? God looks at all events in the future and is able to splice them all according to what is good and what is bad. He knows your heart more than you know yourself.


7. Jesus never told Judas to betray him, only that he can do as he likes, and if that is what he wanted to do, then he may go do it. God coerces no one.


8. Nothing was going to stop Judas' betrayal. And even if somehow he was stopped, someone would easily do the same anyway. So it is mute point. Never think God forced him or that it wasn't a free-choice of Judas.


9. Before the foundations of the world, God could foresee the free-will choice of Judas and so God places His Son in this place of atonement around AD 33. God has to place His Son somewhere in creation because man is fallen and needs redemption.


One of the worse things you can do is introspect upon these things, because to think upon something with a mind that is darkened and a spirit dead to God as an unregenerate is like stirring the pot. That's why you got to put your eye on Christ to see the answers. Read His Word, but first receive new birth by coming to the cross to receive Jesus as Lord and Savior.


May this help lead you to Christ.

[Nottheworld]

Rev. 13.11-12 “ANOTHER BEAST COMING UP OUT OF EARTH”


"And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon. And he [Judas reanimated] exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed."13.11 This beast is also a wild beast. Because he is to come up out of the earth he must also be a re-vitalized person, since Hades is beneath the earth. On the other hand, “earth” may have reference to the Jewish nation. The Scriptures often classify the earth as being symbolic of the nation of Israel.

This beast is the false prophet. He is a person since (1) three times the Bible calls him the false prophet (16.13, 19.20, 20.10), (2) the Lord has clearly stated that there will be false prophets (Matt. 24.24), and (3) there are three evil spirits: Satan, the beast (Antichrist), and another beast (the false prophet). Each has his mission to fulfill. Thus this beast cannot be a system but a person. At the time of evil, we have the counterfeit of the triune God.

“Two horns”—Since this beast is a person and not a kingdom, his two horns should signify two spirits; for the horns of the Lamb are referred to as being the Spirit of God (5.6), and the horns of the beast are like to those of the Lamb. “To give breath to it” (13.15) may be translated “to give spirit to it”; this is one spirit, and 16.13 tells of another spirit.

“And he spake as a dragon”—His speech is both deceitful and atrocious. Just as the first beast sits on the throne of the dragon, so this beast speaks the word of the dragon.

13.12 This second beast works by means of the authority of the first beast. As the Holy Spirit is the executor as well as the power in the Godhead, so the false prophet is the executor and the power of the trio of evil. “To worship” here is compulsory, unlike that mentioned in 13.4 which is voluntary.