Articles
Judas: A Downward Spiral
I have a friend who is a Bypass Profusionist. He's the one who stops and starts the heart during open heart surgery. I once asked him about the hardest part of his job. He said, "The hardest thing to me is when our patient is a little child. I sometimes play with them before surgery and then they don't make it off the table."
As a preacher, in my realm, I suffer the same pain. I get close to people. I laugh with them, recreate with them and worship with them. But sometimes we lose them. We lose them to the devil and should they die, their destiny is not the same as a little child. All is not well. It's very personal to me because in my mind's eye I can see the faces of people I have known that are lost. It’s people who are on a downward spiral; people I still pray for.
That's the nature of sin. It tends downward. James 1:14-15 says, “But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full grown brings forth death." It's downhill all the way.
The spiral of sin is clearly seen in the life of Judas, the betrayer of Jesus. There are some who believe Judas is not responsible for his sin since Jesus death' was planned by God from the foundation of the world. Yet, God was not pushing the buttons in his life. Judas was making choices; bad ones. He was chosen by the Lord, just like the other apostles, with every advantage and opportunity to become like His teacher. Sadly, he made choices that put him on a spiral that kept going deeper and deeper. Let's examine them.
The first loop of the spiral was covetousness. Six days before the Passover with Jesus' death approaching, we see something about Judas. Mary pours costly oil on Jesus and Judas comes apart and says the oil should have been sold and given to the poor. John, guided by the spirit, says "This he said, not that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief, and had the money box; and he used to take what was put in it" (John 12:6). Well, that's news to us. We didn't know he loved money. Yet, Satan knew it and he gladly exploited that weakness to entice him down to the next rung.
The second loop was to make a thief of him which he became in taking from the money box.
The third loop was deception. Judas had to live a deceptive life. He looked the part of a devoted disciple but he wasn't. He hid it beneath some good spiritual talk. What he said about the poor sounded really spiritual didn't it? But he didn't care for the poor. Sadly, I too have witnessed on occasion some who taught Bible classes and used it for a cloak. It hid what they were becoming. It can be done. Judas hid it so well that when Jesus told the apostles, one of them would betray him, none of them expected Judas. They had less trust in themselves than they did Judas. They asked, "Lord, is it I?" (Matthew 26:22; Psalms 41:9).
The fourth loop was betrayal. Judas' love for money led him to accept thirty pieces of silver for turning in Jesus to the mob. He began to look for the time and the place. That place could have been the place where Jesus ate the last supper with the apostles. But it seems that Jesus may have kept that place secret from Judas. He sent only Peter and John to find the room. The supper would not be interrupted. However, the garden of Gethsemane was a common place for Jesus to go and after the supper, Judas led Jesus' enemies there and betrayed him with a kiss (Matthew 26:46-50).
The fifth loop was remorse (Matthew 27:1-5). Judas saw that the Lord was condemned and was filled with remorse. His sorrow led him lower.
The sixth loop was suicide. Judas hanged himself (Matthew 27:5). The book of Acts presents a more gruesome picture. It seems that whatever he was hanging by, in time gave way, and his decaying body hit the ground and his entrails gushed out (Acts 1:16-18). How awful! Yet even this is not the worst end for Judas.
The seventh loop leads to hell. Acts 2:24-25 says that Judas "by transgression fell that he might go to his own place."
The safest road to hell is a gradual one. Judas' destiny did not come in one great leap. I'm certain that Judas didn't see all of this in the beginning. Where was the place to stop it? At the top! At the first covetous thought. Here's a major lesson for all of us. We need to red flag our weaknesses. We need to mark some places, people and situations as dangerous! There is always a place to turn around (1 Corinthians 10:13).
It is interesting the Peter met Judas halfway down the spiral, for he too was guilty of betrayal when he denied knowing Jesus. But Peter truly repented, turned it around and later preached with force on the day of Pentecost after Jesus' resurrection.
We choose our spirals and we need to know there is an upward one; an upward calling (Philippians 3:14). It is a beautiful journey where God calls us, justifies us through the blood of His Son and then ultimately glorifies us in heaven (2 Corinthians 3:18). Each rung in the journey is glorious to us (2 Corinthians 3:18). In the words of an old song, "I'm pressing on the upward way. New heights I'm gaining every day. But still I'll pray till heaven I've found. Lord, lead me on to higher ground. Lord, lift me up and let me stand by faith on heaven's table land. A higher plane than I have found. Lord, lead me on to higher ground."
Which spiral are you on?
