WWUTT 2107 Judas Betrays Jesus (Matthew 26:17-25)

Jesus shared the Passover meal with his disciples, and in that meal he said, one of you will betray me, referring to Judas.

But how much did Judas actually know what he was doing? When we understand the text.

This is When We Understand The Text, a daily Bible study in the word of Christ, that men and women of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

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Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky, and greetings, everyone. My voice is still a little on the weak side, but I should be able to make it through the full lesson today.

We're back to Matthew 26, and we read here about Jesus eating the

Passover meal with his disciples and instituting the Lord's Supper, which we'll look at today and tomorrow.

So let me begin by reading here in verses 17 to 35 out of the

Legacy Standard Bible. Hear the word of the Lord. Now on the first day of unleavened bread, the disciples came to Jesus saying,

Where do you want us to prepare for you to eat the Passover? And he said, Go into the city to a certain man and say to him,

The teacher says, My time is near. I am keeping the Passover at your house with my disciples.

And the disciples did as Jesus had directed them, and they prepared the Passover. Now when evening came,

Jesus was reclining at the table with the twelve disciples. And as they were eating, he said,

Truly I say to you that one of you will betray me. And being deeply grieved, they each one began to say to him,

Surely not I, Lord. And he answered and said, He who dipped his hand with me in the bowl is the one who will betray me.

The Son of Man is going just as it is written of him. But woe to that man by whom the

Son of Man is betrayed. It would have been good for that man if he had not been born.

And Judas, who was betraying him, answered and said, Surely not

I, Rabbi. Jesus said to him, You yourself said it. Now while they were eating,

Jesus took some bread, and after a blessing, he broke it. And giving it to the disciples, he said,

Take, eat, this is my body. And when he had taken a cup and given thanks, he gave it to them, saying,

Drink from it, all of you. For this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins.

But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when

I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom. And after singing a hymn, they went out to the

Mount of Olives. Then Jesus said to them, You will all fall away because of me this night.

For it is written, I will strike down the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered.

But after I have been raised, I will go ahead of you to Galilee. But Peter answered and said to him,

Even though all may fall away because of you, I will never fall away. Jesus said to him,

Truly I say to you, that this very night before a rooster crows, you will deny me three times.

Peter said to him, Even if I have to die with you, I will not deny you.

All the disciples said the same thing too. So as we look here in this section, broken up into three parts, we have the

Passover meal, which Jesus eats with his disciples. Then you have the institution of the

Lord's table, verses 26 to 30. And then you have

Jesus warning his disciples about what is going to become of them. Jesus has spoken to all of his disciples about them abandoning him in some way.

Judas is going to straight up betray him. Peter is going to deny him three times. And the rest of the disciples will be scattered in fulfillment of the prophecy.

So let's come back to the very beginning of this interaction between Jesus and his disciples, and that is at the

Passover meal. So beginning in verse 17, on the first day of unleavened bread, the disciples came to Jesus saying,

Where do you want us to prepare for you to eat the Passover? Now, when it comes to laying out a timeline of these things that are happening leading up to Jesus' crucifixion, which is almost universally believed to be on Friday.

I say almost because, yeah, there are some strange factions, including the Hebrew Roots movement, that will say it was on Wednesday was when

Jesus was crucified or something to that degree. So it isn't exactly universal, but largely throughout church history, it has been believed by the church, by Christians, who are just plainly reading what

Scripture lays out, that Jesus was crucified on Friday. So this interaction with his disciples, his eating with them the

Passover meal, this happens on Thursday. Now, there was a specific day that the

Passover lamb was to be sacrificed and this meal was to be eaten. It was a specific day of a specific month.

It was not a day of the week. So it was always supposed to be on the 14th day of Nisan, which was the first month of the year.

Now, of course, we're following the Gregorian calendar, which is much different than the

Jewish calendar, the Hebrew calendar. Not a whole lot different, but somewhat different. So where would the 14th day of Nisan fall in the

Gregorian calendar, in the calendar that you and I are using? It would fall somewhere around the middle of March.

And it used to be that March was the first month of the year. It wasn't January.

It was March, which is why October, oct meaning eight, is the eighth month of the year or is named as the eighth month of the year, but it occurs in the, it's the 10th month of the year or September, which means seven is actually the ninth month of the year.

Well, those months were named that way because originally March was the first month of the year. I think that was, that might've been,

I know that was before the Gregorian calendar. I can't remember how far back that goes when March was originally the first month of the year.

But anyway, so this is where Nisan would line up with our present Gregorian calendar. We're actually about the time right now that would be pretty close to when all of these things would have been taking place.

I think the earliest that Passover can be, because it's based on lunar cycles.

That's how the Hebrews chart their calendar. But I think the earliest that Passover can be is

March 21st, which is actually the first day of spring. So based on the lunar cycles, we could have a

Passover in this month, but this year it actually doesn't happen until April. But anyway, so all of this, we're in the season now, at least pretty close to the season in which these things would have taken place between Jesus and his disciples.

It's in Numbers chapter nine, where we read about the Passover being instituted and practiced on the 14th day of Nisan.

So Numbers nine, beginning in verse one, thus Yahweh spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai in the first month of the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt.

So remember the first Passover was when that 10th plague came upon Egypt. This is now a year later.

And when they had practiced Passover, or when they had sacrificed the lamb and covered the doorpost with the lamb's blood, and then they were to eat it together as the household with the men having their sandals on, their staff at the ready, because as soon as the word was given, they needed to be ready to go.

And it was called Passover because those who had the blood of the lamb on the doorposts of their house, when

God came through the land of Egypt to strike down the firstborn, he would pass over the houses that had the blood on the doorposts.

And all the firstborn in the homes, the firstborn sons in the homes that did not have the blood of the lamb would be struck down and killed.

And that included Pharaoh's son. Even his house was afflicted by the

Passover. And after this plague, then Pharaoh finally let the

Israelites go. And when the instructions were given as to how the lamb was to be prepared and the blood was supposed to be put on the doorposts, the

Lord said that this is going to be a continual remembrance for you. You will keep the

Passover like this. And so then in the second year, it is reminded of the

Hebrews, remember to keep the Passover. And this is what God said. Yahweh speaking through Moses said, now let the sons of Israel observe the

Passover at its appointed time on the 14th day of this month at twilight.

You shall observe it at its appointed time. You shall observe it according to all its statutes and according to all its judgments.

So Moses told the sons of Israel to celebrate the Passover. And they celebrated the Passover in the first month on the 14th day of the month at twilight in the wilderness of Sinai.

So here you have at twilight, Jesus eating with his disciples. So this would have been in the evening.

Hang on, let me, let me skip ahead to that. Verse 20. Now when evening came, Jesus was reclining at the table.

So that was when they ate it. The preparation was before, but then actually eating the meal would have happened at the time that God had appointed for them to partake of the

Passover lamb. So we know that this is on a Thursday and it's the 14th day of Nisan.

And so we can actually even get an idea of when it was exactly and what year

Jesus would have been crucified because in what year does Passover fall on a

Thursday? The Feast of Unleavened Bread would happen on a Thursday in which the Passover lamb would be sacrificed.

And there are two years that we have pinpointed had to have been the year that Jesus was crucified.

Either A .D. 30 or A .D. 33. So if it was

A .D. 30, Jesus was about 33 years old when he was crucified. That means he was born just before what would have been 1

B .C. or 1 A .D. There's not a zero. There's not a zero B .C. So somewhere around there where Jesus was born and he was crucified in 30.

And that's the date that I generally fall on because it was exactly 40 years later in A .D.

70 when the temple fell. A generation. And that seems exactly right to what

Jesus was telling his disciples would happen in what we had just read in the

Olivet Discourse in chapters 24 and 25. So then the other possibility is

A .D. 33. And that means Jesus was born around 1 B .C. or 1

A .D. And then he was crucified at 33. Either one of those dates would be acceptable.

But I tend to fall on A .D. 30. That would have been the year in which Jesus was crucified which happened on a

Friday the day after the first day of unleavened bread. So Jesus tells his disciples this is verse 18.

Go into the city to a certain man and say to him the teacher says my time is near.

I am keeping the Passover at your house with my disciples. Now in the other gospel accounts

Jesus is even more specific about the man that they are going to encounter. In Mark 14 .13

he sent two of his disciples and said to them go into the city and a man will meet you carrying a pitcher of water.

Follow him. And wherever he enters say to the owner of the house the teacher says where is my guest room in which

I may eat the Passover with my disciples. It's always been funny to me when you have those certain skeptics who will claim that there was like this you know developing mythology that was happening as the gospels were being written.

And things just become more and more impossible to believe with every succeeding gospel.

Now these same skeptics will say that Mark was the first gospel that was written. I don't believe that. I think it was

Matthew. But that's what they tend to believe. Mark was first then Matthew then

Luke and then John. And as you go through those gospels Jesus becomes like more and more divine.

They start to say things of him and give greater details. It's like they're perfecting the story as they go.

This is what the skeptics say. And I've always found that absurd because especially considering that Mark will be really specific about certain things that Matthew won't be as specific about.

And then there are other things that Matthew is more detailed about. But all I'm saying there is you don't see a story beginning to develop.

If Matthew was developing the story that Mark had written down then why would he exclude the detail about the fact that Jesus had said exactly what man they would encounter and then know that's the house where we're going to be enjoying the

Passover. Mark says you're going to find a man who's carrying a jar of water. Follow him.

Whatever house he goes into speak to the owner of the house. That's where we're going to have the Passover. Matthew just skips that entirely.

And he just says you're going to find a certain man. That's how Matthew summarizes it. So there are some stories

Mark is way wordier on than Matthew is. And here he's just very general.

Go into the city. Do a certain man. Mark says which is the certain man.

Matthew just says it's a certain man. My time is near. I am keeping the Passover with you at your house with my disciples.

And the disciples did as Jesus had directed them. And they prepared the

Passover. Now when evening came. So here we are verse 20. This is twilight now.

Where they are partaking in the Passover meal. The Passover lamb has been sacrificed.

They've got unleavened bread that they are eating at this meal. And there's probably some other things that are part of this meal as well.

So Jesus was reclining at table with the 12 disciples. And as they were eating he said truly

I say to you that one of you will betray me. And being deeply grieved each one began to say to him surely not

I Lord. And he answered and said he who dipped his hand with me in the bowl is the one who will betray me.

The son of man is going just as it is written of him. But woe to that man by whom the son of man is betrayed.

It would have been good for that man if he had not been born. And Judas who was betraying him answered and said surely not

I Rabbi. And Jesus said to him you yourself said it. And I go back and forth on what

Judas understood that he was doing. Did he actually think that he was not betraying

Jesus? Was he just lying here? Thinking that he could pull one over on the son of man because he didn't actually believe

Jesus was the Messiah and so therefore there's no way that Jesus knows that I am the one betraying him.

And so he lies and says surely it's not me. And Jesus says you yourself have said it and exposes him that he is the one who is going to betray

Jesus. Now the other disciples didn't hear that exchange. They don't get that. In John's account

Jesus tells Judas what you are going to do do it quickly.

And it says in John 13 28 now no one of those reclining at the table knew for what purpose that Jesus had said this to him.

For some were thinking because Judas had the money box that Jesus was saying to him buy the things that we have need of for the feast or else that he should give something to the poor.

So the disciples didn't understand the exchange that Jesus and Judas were having here. They didn't pick up on the fact that Judas was the one that dipped his hand into the bowl with Jesus.

Because surely they would have been sitting there going Judas is the guy. You know they knew that later of course because when you get to the garden of Gethsemane and it's

Judas that's leading the mob and kisses Jesus and betrays Jesus into the hands of his enemies.

Judas would later hang himself. In Acts chapter 1 the disciples are gathered in the upper room.

This is after Jesus ascension into heaven and they are discussing who we need to get to replace

Judas so that there remains 12 apostles. And it's described there about Judas this man is evil he is wicked he did he committed the most reprehensible sin in the history of mankind.

That's really the way that the disciples looked at it as they were discussing these things in Acts. And of course all of this was prophesied.

Now I'm going to wait to show the prophecies made about Judas that were fulfilled through him because it's a little bit later on in chapter 27 where Matthew makes a reference to this was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet

Jeremiah. And when I get there then we'll we'll consider that there. But but all this to say all these things were spoken of beforehand.

Psalm 41 9 Even my close friend in whom I trusted who ate my bread has lifted up his heel against me.

Now David is talking about how he was betrayed by those who were close to him by Saul by Absalom his own son.

But this is prophetically even talking about how Judas would betray Christ.

And so Judas is the one who is betraying Jesus. We had read yesterday about how these pieces are being put into place.

Judas betraying Jesus for a certain sum of money. And like I said how much of this did he know?

How did he know what he was doing? Did he really think that he was doing something right?

I've heard this theory proposed before that he did believe that Jesus was the Messiah.

But he was he was tired of meddling around in all this petty stuff that they were doing at least the way that Judas considered it.

Like we're here we are dabbling with the poor. And this woman with this fine perfume that she just anointed

Jesus with that Judas had a problem with. And he's tired of all of this. Let's get to the part where Jesus is going to jump on the throne and get rid of all of our enemies.

And so if that's Judas' motivation then maybe he thinks he's speeding up that process.

I'm going to bring some enemies against Christ and he's going to show his power against them and then boom we're going to advance this thing.

We're going to roll it out. So Judas doesn't think that he's actually betraying

Jesus. Even though we read yesterday in Matthew 26 16 from then on he began looking for a good opportunity to betray

Jesus. Was that actually what Judas had in mind? Is that just the narrative that's speaking of Judas?

He was betraying Jesus but did Judas think that's what he was doing? Or did he think he was actually doing something right?

Like you look at you look at the false teachers that are around us today. Do they actually think they're false teachers?

Of course they don't. They think they're speaking the truth and they may think that they have other people's best intentions in mind.

Even the ones who are the prosperity preachers that are hoarding up wealth for themselves they may have actually considered in their conscience that they're helping other people.

They may really think that they're doing good for others. Some of them probably are charlatans like they know they're fakes but they're continuing to put on the show.

They're continuing to do the act. Joseph Smith the founder of Mormonism was like that. He knew he was lying.

He knew it was all a lie yet he continued to keep it up to the day of his death.

He was he was a charlatan through and through. Somebody who knows they're lying but they continue to to play the people to you know make themselves powerful or rich or for whatever reason but did

Judas when he was doing what he was doing did he actually think that he was doing something right?

Was he aware that he was betraying Jesus? It was a betrayal but did he know that?

So he thinks he's trying to advance the cause. Like I said I go back and forth in this in my mind. There's there are things about the narrative that the scripture doesn't tell us here but at least for this exchange that we have at the

Passover Judas tries to play like it's not him.

Is it is it me rabbi? And Jesus says you yourself have said it.

But the devil had already entered Judas Iscariot. So there was no turning back from what he was doing.

I mean this was his destiny. He's referred to as the son of perdition. So from the time he was born it was it was his destiny that he was going to do this lest the word of God be proven wrong.

If Judas could have stopped himself if he could have rejected this direction if he could have repented and not betrayed

Jesus well then all the prophecies that were said about him would have been wrong. God's word would have been null and void.

So this is what God had foreordained was going to happen. And yet when

Judas stands before that throne in judgment he's not going to be able to say you predetermined me to do this.

This was your fault. For that's the very argument that Paul raises by the skeptic in Romans 9.

Who are you oh man to answer back to God? Well what is molded? Say to its creator why have you made me this way?

Indeed God has predestined certain people to go to hell. He did with Judas. That's why he's called the son of destruction or the son of perdition.

He was born to be destroyed. And it's said further in Romans 9.

What if God wanting to demonstrate his wrath and to make his power known endured with much patience vessels of wrath having been prepared for destruction in order that he might make known the riches of his glory upon vessels of mercy which he prepared beforehand for glory even us whom he also called not from among the

Jews only but also from among the Gentiles. So there are people among Jews and Gentiles.

God is predestined for glory as objects of his mercy and there are those that he has prepared for destruction and Judas being one of those that God had prepared for destruction.

Now how do you know if you are a vessel that will receive

God's mercy or you are a vessel that will be destroyed? How do you know? The answer is simply this believe in the

Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. If you have put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins you won't be destroyed.

You will be saved and you can be absolutely confident in that.

John said in 1st John 5 I have written these things to you that you may know that you are saved that you have eternal life.

God doesn't mean for us to be in mystery he our loving father in heaven doesn't leave us to be wondering

I wonder if my dad loves me or not. Does God love me? Of course he does.

You want to know if he loves you? Look at the cross. Do you believe in Jesus? You are in God's love you are not under his wrath.

It would be terrible of me as a father to leave in the morning to walk out of my house and to say to my kids maybe daddy will be home today maybe you will never see me again maybe

I will go off and live somewhere else. Never know. I guess you will find out today at 5 o 'clock if I come home.

That would be a terrible thing for me as a dad to do that. Constantly leading my children in doubt wondering if daddy really loves me and will he come home to me.

And our father in heaven loves us more than our earthly fathers.

And he does not want us to be in mystery. So you can know for sure that you are a son or daughter of his love and mercy and grace through Jesus Christ our

Savior. Our confidence is not in ourselves or in our ability to believe it is in Christ.

And if you are in Christ Jesus then you are sons and daughters of God.

First John 3 1. See how great a love the father has given to us that we would be called children of God and we are.

So rest comfortably and confidently in that truth. In Christ.

Heavenly father we thank you for what we have read here. How in your sovereign plan you providentially put these things in place that would lead

Jesus to the cross. He who is our Passover lamb who was crucified at exactly this time of year on the day in which he died that he would show himself as the fulfillment of all of these things that had been prophesied about him in the scriptures before.

What an incredible thing to witness to be reading about as we go through this again in the scriptures and may it cause us to love you and draw near to Christ all the more.

Give us hope and confidence in these days that we need not worry or be in despair for our

God loves us and as said in Romans 8 if God is for us then who can be against us.

The Father in heaven sent his son to die for us as an atoning sacrifice so that whoever believes in him our sins are forgiven and we have the promise of everlasting life in your eternal kingdom.

Bring us into your kingdom Lord. It is in Jesus name we pray. Amen. You can find a complete list of videos, books, devotionals and other resources online at www .tt