SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR
1/22/2013 9:26 AM
My Worship Time Focus: Judas the
Betrayer
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Mark
14:43-52
Message of the
verses: As we look at these verses I
want to follow an outline that I learned from John MacArthur’s sermon on these
verses. First we will look at the “Ugly
Crowd,” and then we will look at “Judas the Betrayer”, Next we will look at
“Impulsive Peter,” and finally we look at the “Cowardly Disciples.” A point that I want to make right at the
beginning of this SD is that I don’t think that many people look at Judas in
the way that he should be looked at.
Judas will probably be the most tormented person in hell because he was
with the Lord Jesus Christ for three years on this earth, living with Him,
talking to Him, learning from Him, and yet he was such a phony, such a
hypocrite, the best hypocrite that ever lived.
Yes the Scriptures prophesied that there would come a man, who would
betray the Lord, but this was Judas’ plan to do this deed and thus he would
have to deal with the punishment that was due him.
“43 Immediately while He was still speaking, Judas, one
of the twelve, came up accompanied by a crowd with swords and clubs, who were
from the chief priests and the scribes and the elders. 44 Now he who was
betraying Him had given them a signal, saying, "Whomever I kiss, He is the
one; seize Him and lead Him away under guard." 45 After coming, Judas
immediately went to Him, saying, "Rabbi!" and kissed Him. 46 They
laid hands on Him and seized Him. 47 But one of those who stood by drew his
sword, and struck the slave of the high priest and cut off his ear. 48 And
Jesus said to them, "Have you come out with swords and clubs to arrest Me,
as you would against a robber? 49 “Every day I was with you in the temple
teaching, and you did not seize Me; but this has taken place to fulfill the
Scriptures." 50 And they all left Him and fled. 51 A young man was following
Him, wearing nothing but a linen sheet over his naked body; and they seized
him. 52 But he pulled free of the linen sheet and escaped naked.” (Mark 14:43-52)
In verse 43 we see the ugly crowd that comes to arrest
Jesus. As mentioned in yesterday’s SD
Jesus did not walk away from the crowd, but walked towards them, and as you
look at what happens here you see that Jesus was in total control of the
situation. Jesus had said on different
occasions that it was not His time to die, but now it was and Luke states, “Lu
22:53 "While I was with you daily
in the temple, you did not lay hands on Me; but this hour and the power of darkness are yours." The power of darkness is speaking of Satan
and his demons, and those he empowers, and at this time he empowered Judas.
Judas the betrayer is next seen as he leads this crowd
and comes up and gives Jesus a kiss to identify him. Jesus told the story of the prodigal son in
Luke fifteen and when the son returned we see in the text that the father
kissed his son. The way the Greek states
this event in the father kissing his son is the same way that Judas kissed
Jesus. Luke states that Jesus said
“Judas do you betray the son of Man with a kiss.” I wrote earlier about Judas and how awful he
was and how awful his betrayal of Christ was.
We see that Judas must have hung around the trials of Jesus for when he
found out that Jesus was condemned to die he was remorseful, but not the kind
of remorse and repentance that Peter had, for Judas hung himself after throwing
the money down on the temple floor. Let
us look at some verses that told about what Judas would do from the OT and then
the fulfillment from the NT. Jesus was
betrayed for thirty pieces of silver: “Zec.
11:12 I said to them, "If it is good in your sight, give me my wages; but
if not, never mind!" So they weighed out thirty shekels of silver as my
wages.” Matthew 26:14-15 “14 Then one of the twelve, named Judas Iscariot,
went to the chief priests 15 and said,
"What are you willing to give me to betray Him to you?" And they
weighed out thirty pieces of silver to him.”
The silver was cast down in the Temple:
“Zec. 11:13 Then the LORD said to me, "Throw it to the potter, that
magnificent price at which I was valued by them." So I took the thirty
shekels of silver and threw them to the potter in the house of the LORD.” Matthew 27:3-7 “3 Then when Judas, who had betrayed Him, saw
that He had been condemned, he felt remorse and returned the thirty pieces of
silver to the chief priests and elders, 4
saying, "I have sinned by betraying innocent blood." But they
said, "What is that to us? See to that yourself!" 5 And he threw the
pieces of silver into the temple sanctuary and departed; and he went away and
hanged himself. 6 The chief priests took the pieces of silver and said,
"It is not lawful to put them into the temple treasury, since it is the
price of blood." 7 And they conferred together and with the money bought
the Potter’s Field as a burial place for strangers.”
Let us look now at the “Impulsive Peter.” I will quote from Dr. Wiersbe’s commentary
for this section: “Peter did a foolish
thing by attacking Malchus (John 18:10), for we do not fight spiritual battles
with physical weapons (2 Cor. 10:3-5).
He used the wrong weapon, at the wrong time, for the wrong purpose, with
the wrong motive. Had Jesus not healed
Malchus, Peter would have been arrested as well; and there might have been four
crosses on Calvary.”
The last thing we look from these verses is the cowardice
of the disciples. Jesus told them that
they would all run away earlier and this was the time that they did all run
away, but we see that there is a person in this Gospel that is not seen in the
other gospels and that person is identified as a young man who ran away naked,
but John MacArthur states that he did have his underclothing on. There is much speculation that this young man
is none other than John Mark, the author of this Gospel. The speculation goes like this: Many believe that the upper room was owned by
the parents of John Mark and so perhaps Judas would have brought the mob there
first and then he followed the mob to the scene at the garden. If that is true then the upper room that is
seen in the book of Acts may have been the same room where the Passover and
Communion meals were served.
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: I too want to
speculate as to whether or not this was John Mark who was the young man that
fled from the scene in the garden. Let’s
say that it was John Mark and also the meal was served in the room that his
parents owned. Probably Jesus would have
met him at one time or another. Jesus
would have known all the things that Mark was going to do, the mistakes that he
would make earlier in his life which caused dissention between Paul and
Barnabus. He would have also seen that
later on in his life that he would have been useful to both Paul and Peter and
eventually write one of the Gospels about His life. The question to me is what Jesus sees in my
life, the good, the bad and the things that I do for Christ that will
last. I pray that there will be a lot of
things that will last. It is good for me
to know and worship a God who knows all of these things and will never leave me
nor forsake me.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Continue to be taught contentment. Continue to learn from the Word of God by the
Spirit of God so that my mind can be transformed and so I can accomplish the
things that God called me to perform in eternity past.
Memory verses for the
week: Psalm 121:1-8
1 I will lift up my eyes to the mountains: from where
shall my help come? 2 My help comes from
the LORD, who made heaven and earth. 3
He will not allow your foot to slip; He who keep you will not slumber. 4 Behold He who keeps Israel will neither
slumber nor sleep. 5 The LORD is your keeper; the LORD is your shade on
your right hand. 6 The sun will not
smite you by day, nor the moon by night.
7 The LORD will protect you from all evil; He will keep your soul. 8 The LORD will guard your coming out and
your going in from this time forth and forever.
Turning Points Wisdom for
Today: “Glory not in wealth if you have
it, nor in friends because they are powerful, but in God who give all things,
and above all desire to give you Himself.”
(Thomas A. Kempis) “Every good
and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of Lights,
with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.” (James 1:17)
1/22/2013 11:29 AM
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