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Wednesday, September 8, 2010

The Betrayal of Jesus

In 1Co 11:23 we read, “For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread.”  The word “betrayed” literally means to hand over and is translated both ways.  Rom. 8:32 is an example of it being translated to hand over, “He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?”  Here the word delivered is more appropriate than betrayed.  Obviously the Father did betray Jesus in that he deceitfully turned him over to his enemies.  Yet the same word is used for both what the Father did and what Judas did concerning Christ and there is a good reason why.
What we learn as we put all the scriptures together that speak of this is that when Judas was handing over Jesus to his enemies, it was actually the Father handing him over to death to deliver us from death!  Judas acting wickedly by betrayal is the way God hands his Son over for us.  This is explained more fully in Acts 4:25-28, “Who by the mouth of thy servant David hast said, Why did the heathen rage, and the people imagine vain things?  The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ.  For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together, For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done.” 
The wicked Judas hands Jesus over to them to kill him because he hated him but notice vs. 28.  The hand of the Father was controlling it all from start to finish. Judas was trying to remove God’s Anointed from the throne by handing him over and this was the way the Father hands him over to the same men in order to redeem his people and enthrone him as Savior and King!  Is it not the ultimate humiliation for all who oppose God and his kingdom to serve and to glorify the very One you are trying to dethrone and destroy and for God to use the very plans they make to do so?  Even as sinners sin, all they ultimately can end up doing is only what God has determined they can do for his glory.  As Judas hands over Jesus it is actually the Father handing him over for us.
What great comfort we can take from this.  Not only did this “betrayal” lead to sin’s atonement but this same sovereign God continues to work all thing, both good and evil, for our good and his glory.  These things are recorded in his Word not just to astound us but to give us the faith to live godly amid all the circumstances of life because this same God never changes.

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