Was God so vindictive that he planned to send Judas to hell?

Transcription

1 Was God so vindictive that he planned to send Judas to hell? Brendan Mc Crossan

2 Was God so vindictive that he planned to send Judas to hell? Brendan Mc Crossan Was God so vindictive that he planned to send Judas to hell?

3 Brendan Mc Crossan One A question often asked by Christians and non Christians alike, where is Judas In hell, or somewhere else. This is not a subject that I intended to write about, because it is so controversial among people, and especially among Christians. But the more I didn t want to write on this subject the more that scripture entered my mind and I seen something new in this subject. To me Judas was a betrayer and deserved all he got, he deserved to be hanged because he betrayed Jesus the saviour of the world; but I was reminded by the spirit of God, that God even used the very devil to do the work of having Jesus crucified, and so set in motion the salvation of the world. Not only that but I cannot judge anyone, not with my track record and I have been forgiven. Seriously, look at whom God used to bring about his own destruction; he was so ingenious that he used the devil to have Jesus crucified, and in doing so he brought about the devils own defeat and finished his own power forever. The devil persuaded the scribes and Pharisees to have Jesus killed, and when he seen Jesus on that cross, he saw Jesus filled with sin, and he probably danced with Joy. Here was the only Son of the infinite awesome God, dwelling as a human being on earth, and subjected to every temptation as man, and never giving in until now he thought; here he was filled with sin, for he could see in the spiritual world that the son of God was now sin filled, and sin was the only way that the devil was legally allowed to put the Son of God to death. And so he was intricately {Never was any human misunderstanding more intricately complete than the misunderstanding which had now established itself. Dictionary meaning} delighted, his evil heart must have almost have burst; he was so engrossed in his delight, that it never occurred to him, how did Jesus get filled with sin and, ~sin is such a way as to be filled with every sin that man could ever commit and every sin since the beginning of man till the end ~. He missed it; he thought that he got the better of God for once. Such was his delight he never gave thought as to how or why this happened. Then the plot became clearer to him

4 as Jesus died; and in horror, he realised that his plan to have Jesus crucified backfired onto him as the revelation of what Jesus done sunk into his mind; for when he seen the spirit of Jesus leaving his body, at Jesus command it must have struck him something has gone wrong with his plan. For when Jesus said, it is finished and dismissed his spirit, he knew Jesus commanded his own spirit to leave his physical body, something a human being cannot do. He realised that Jesus was still in control over all that concerned him, then as he watched, he was drawn down into his own kingdom by the power of Jesus spiritual resurrection, and there in shock and horror he realised that Jesus was now Spirit God again and living in the fullness of the Godhead and having all the power to create universes and the power to destroy him, he surrendered to Jesus, he was instantly defeated. Jesus never fought the devil, he just took everything off of him, as the devil submitted to his glorious form as Spirit in the awesome living God, he knew he was defeated forever; and then Jesus spent three earthly days in the kingdom of darkness and there he preached to the spirits imprisoned there by the devil and among them was Judas for Judas died, before Jesus saved the world. 1 Peter 3:19Living Bible (TLB) 19 and it was in the spirit that he visited the spirits in prison and preached to them And so Judas I presume would have taken this second chance to receive eternal life as Jesus offered it again to him and others, they received forgiveness and eternal life if they accepted the messages Jesus preached to those spirits imprisoned from the beginning, until the time of Moses, because there was no law to break and so in effect they didn t commit sin, because God didn t give instructions on how to please him and keep oneself from sin. If there is no law given; no one can break it, can they? The law wasn t given till the time of Moses, for in Exodus. Exodus 20 New King James Version (NKJV)

5 The Ten Commandments 20 And God spoke all these words, saying: 2 I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. 3 You shall have no other gods before Me. That was the first commandment of the new law. Now the law wasn t given until the lord gave it to Moses, and it was only from then onwards that man knew he sinned when he disobeyed. Did you know the mercy of God says, Jesus fulfilled the whole law and became the law for us by fulfilling it, and so no law exists now? Romans 10-2Living Bible (TLB) Dear brothers, the longing of my heart and my prayer is that the Jewish people might be saved. 2 I know what enthusiasm they have for the honour of God, but it is misdirected zeal. 3 For they don t understand that Christ has died to make them right with God. Instead ~ they are trying to make themselves good enough to gain God s favour by keeping the Jewish laws and customs, but that is not God s way of salvation ~. 4 They don t understand that Christ gives to those who trust in him everything they are trying to get by keeping his laws. He ends all of that. Man has tried to be good but has never succeeded for God s word says, all have sinned, all fall short of God s glorious plan. No one could be good enough to get into heaven by their own right. Do you think that Judas committed the worse crime in living history or do you think there are people in today s world, or in history, that have done far worse than Judas? Romans 5-9-Living Bible (TLB) 9 And since by his blood he did all this for us as sinners, how much more will he do for us now that he has declared us not guilty? Now he will save us from all of God s wrath to come. 10 And since, when we were his enemies, we were brought back to God by the death of his Son, what blessings he must have for us now that we are his friends and he is living within us! 11 Now we rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God all because of what our Lord Jesus Christ has done in dying for our sins making us friends of God.

6 12 When Adam sinned, sin entered the entire human race. His sin spread death throughout the entire world, so everything began to grow old and die, for all sinned. 13 We know that it was Adam s sin that caused this because although, of course, people were sinning from the time of Adam until Moses, God did not in those days judge them guilty of death for breaking his laws because he had not yet given his laws to them nor told them what he wanted them to do. 14 So when their bodies died it was not for their own sins since they themselves had never disobeyed God s special law against eating the forbidden fruit, as Adam had. Did Judas die before or after Jesus fulfilled the law? It was before of course, it was while Jesus was being tortured by the Romans that he went and repented and hanged himself. So Judas was under the law and then when Jesus died on the cross for all and that meant all, those who sinned before the law was given and after the law was fulfilled and now free through faith. Then the first thing he did after defeating the devil, was go and preach to those spirits imprisoned in Satan s domain, imprisoned in dark caves, and the devil was their jailer, for the earth belonged to him after Adam and Eve sold out their inheritance to him by being disobedient to God s command not to eat the fruit from the tree. The most important thing in this little book is to realise the structure of the law, Judas lived under the curse of the law; for scripture says, cursed is anyone hanged on a tree. Deuteronomy 21:23- Cursed is Anyone Hung on a Tree 22"If a man has committed a sin worthy of death and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, 23-his corpse shall not hang all night on the tree, but you shall surely bury him on the same day (for he who is hanged is accursed of God), Remember that Jesus was hanged on a tree, the cross and it was on that cross,{tree} that he took the curse of the law upon himself; for he knew scripture for he was the author of it, and he fulfilled that curse. Chapter two God s promise to the twelve apostles

7 Matthew 19:28-NIV And Jesus said to them, "Truly I say to you, that you who have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of Man will sit on His glorious throne, you also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. I will repeat this later on; Remember scripture says that Jesus called his disciples of whom Judas was one, and said, you twelve will sit on twelve thrones in the kingdom of heaven. Jesus never told a lie, his word is forever and it was out of his own mouth that Jesus declared that Judas and all his disciples were to sit and judge the twelve tribes of Israel, at the end times. When Jesus spoke those words, he bound himself with a heavenly oath, and he could never break his oath no matter what the twelve apostles would do, and scripture tells us he knew who would run away and who would betray him; for they all deserted him when the soldiers and Judas came to take him prisoner, in the garden of Gethsemane, Peter denied him and betrayed him just as Judas did and the rest fled in terror, they also betrayed him. No matter what we think about things we have to realise that God does not think the same was as us, he had his plans worked out from before time even began, as to what was going to happen in our lives and how he would turn everything to good for those who loved him and were fitting into his plans God does not think like man his thoughts are above ours. Keep in mind what I have written here and the scripture used for I will be repeating it later on. Isaiah 55:98"NIV Bible For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways," declares the LORD. 9"For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. We look at things and see them from one side, God looks at things and sees them from every angle, he is the one who planned for man to come to him; and he is the one who wanted to bless mankind, and that included Judas and

8 pharaoh, and all those who seemed to persecute the Jews throughout time. God did not create man for destruction; he loved man with an infallible love. If you look at things from God s perspective you will see that God used people to bring his chosen people into obedience. He couldn t force them to love him but he did let them see what it was like to be without him. Do you think that those kings and their armies were created for destruction, No! For scripture declares we are gifts he delight in. God chose all his children to be holy in his eyes, without a single fault, this is how God sees us even when we do worse than Judas, he sees through eyes of unconditional love. Ephesians 1Living Bible (TLB) 1 Dear Christian friend s at Ephesus, ever loyal to the Lord: This is Paul writing to you, chosen by God to be Jesus Christ s messenger. 2 May his blessings and peace be yours, sent to you from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. 3 How we praise God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every blessing in heaven because we belong to Christ. 4 Long ago, even before he made the world, God chose us to be his very own through what Christ would do for us; he decided then to make us holy in his eyes, without a single fault we who stand before him covered with his love. 5 His unchanging plan has always been to adopt us into his own family by sending Jesus Christ to die for us. And he did this because he wanted to! 9 God has told us his secret reason for sending Christ, a plan he decided on in mercy long ago; 10 and this was his purpose: that when the time is ripe he will gather us all together from wherever we are in heaven or on earth to be with him in Christ forever. 11 Moreover, because of what Christ has done, we have become gifts to God that he delights in, for as part of God s sovereign plan we were chosen from the beginning to be his, and all things happen just as he decided long ago God had a plan from the very beginning to bring us all to him, those who wanted him, and no matter what you may think Judas was with him for three years, and must have seen with his own eyes, the love he had for mankind. And anyone being with Jesus for so long must have grown to love him for he himself was and is love. For as part of God s sovereign plan we were chosen from the beginning to be his, and all things happen just as he decided long ago No matter what you may think God planned for things to happen, he knew his own mercy and goodness, he knew man to the core, he knew that those he had chosen from the beginning would be tempted by the devil to do what they

9 would allow him to do and he knew that he would come and change things for his glory later on, don t underestimate God and what his ability to think is. All things happened just as he decided long ago, so Judas, Peter and the rest were chosen for a purpose, and this was to bring salvation to man; and to show the mercy of God to even those who betrayed him. You can argue that God could not do this for people would say this is unfair of God to do this or that, but as God reminded us in scripture in the Old Testament, that he is the potter and we are the clay, and he can do with us whatever he desires, because the end result will be for his glory and for your eternal life in him. Human beings would say this is unfair of God to do these things but can we say to the potter, how dare you, make me a pot for holding garbage in. Pots are needed to hold whatever the potter decides for them to hold, you can t decide for yourself what you should be. Judas Loved Jesus, but the devil twisted his thinking, to think that if the Roman government arrested him, the Jews would arise and overthrown them. Unfortunately that is not the way things turned out, for when he seen the Pharisees had really intended to kill him, he repented. The devil did what the lord allowed him to, and that was to have Jesus arrested and tried. The devil continued tormenting Judas with wrong thoughts, thoughts that anguished him into taking his own life Paul thought he was serving God to have the Christians tortured and killed, he was no better than Judas was he? He delighted in murdering men women and little children by arresting them, and having them fed to the lions and by other means of cruel deaths. He was like the modern day Islamic Isis, who murder and torture and behead little children and women and men, they serve the devil believing he is their god. God s thoughts are way above mans thoughts, for when you begin to consider all the evidence gathered in scripture you begin to think differently. The Jews were his chosen people, and they constantly turned away from him, and done evil things which broke God s heart. And so he allowed them to be taken into captivity. God gave man free will and the Jews misused that free will just as the devil misused his free will and all his followers.

10 It was God s plan to bless his children not to destroy them, it is and always has been the devils plan to corrupt man and turn him away from God. Did God create Pharaoh just so he could destroy him and his soldiers? Most of who had no choice but to enslave the Jews, and then go after them when God took them out of captivity, and when Pharaoh ordered them to follow the Jews into the sea that parted for them, it was either death by the water or death by pharaoh s orders? Those men must have been terrified; they had little or no choice in the matter. I don t truly think so, for the most important thing about mankind is God s plans for welfare for them, and the greatest plan was not how long man spends on this planet, but in spending eternity with him in heaven; so even though it may have looked like God deliberately chose Pharaoh just to destroy him was not the equation; but he chose an already wicked leader to fulfil his plans in setting the Jews free. Those poor soldiers had to obey Pharaoh or die a painful death; so those poor soldiers may have loved the Jews, {I doubt that} and maybe they didn t wish to go after them and bring them back, for who knows each mans thoughts. When they chased the Jews, we know from scripture that God took the Jews through the red sea safely, and when Pharaohs army chased after them the waters closed in after them and they all drowned. Here is a wee thought; would you, if given a choice, go after the Jews as that water backed up supernaturally? I know I would be terrified; and only under fear of death from the king did they go after them into the separated water, and of course they drowned as Moses lowered his arms. Chapter three God s plans are for welfare not for calamity All this is to show you that God has plans for all of us and that included Judas now I want you to see what God said about his plans.

11 Jeremiah 29:11- NIV Bible 'For I know the plans that I have for you,' declares the LORD. 'Plans for welfare and not for calamity; to give you a future and a hope 12'Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. If God says he had plans us plans for us and not to give you calamity then did that apply to Judas or did his plans just mean us now today? Did you know that God had plans not just a plan, just one thing for you in your life? so when one plan is attacked successfully by the enemy, God has a way out of defeat by turning it to victory, for he says future victory for you is sure. The word calamity means, disaster, catastrophe, mishap, misfortune, tragedy, blow, and the word welfare means, wellbeing, happiness, good, safety. Did God promise Judas calamity or welfare? He promised his plans were for Judas wellbeing, just as his word means the same for us. But the thing we have to remember is this, life is only a very short time on this earth for us, we are planned for eternity to live with God in unbelievable happiness. God never designed us for hell; hell was created for the demons and the devil it was not meant for human beings God s own children, unless we refuse to be saved. Now here is something to also consider, God s plans are meant for eventual good for all. For all have sinned without exception. Isaiah-14:24-NIV-Bible the LORD Almighty has sworn, "Surely, as I have planned, so it will be, and as I have purposed, so it will happen. It was in the good plans of God to have Judas betray Jesus, just as it was in his plan to have Peter to betray him also, by denying him three times. He used Peter s arrogance to bring humility to him, and then as a humbled man he was better equipped to be the leader of the church. The difference between Peter s betrayal and Judas betrayal was the devil possessed Judas but he did not possess Peter. If he had, God alone knows what Peter would have done; perhaps he would have committed suicide also, only God knows the answer to that question.

12 Judas served God s plans, but thanks be to God he does not just have one plan for us, he has many plans; for in Jeremiah, God said, I know the plans I have for you; plans for good and not for evil. It was God s plans to have his divine son Jesus sacrificed as a perfect sacrifice that could eliminate mans sins from his children, and for Jesus to be a pleasing sacrifice worthy enough to satisfy him, and nothing was going to come between God s plans and him. Isaiah-14:24-NIV-Bible the LORD Almighty has sworn, "Surely, as I have planned, so it will be, and as I have purposed, so it will happen. And God himself had sworn an oath to himself, for there is none greater than him, that what he already planned would happen just as he predicted it. All through the Old Testament he prophesied through the prophets that all these things would happen to his divine son, even down to the very last detail, like the soldiers gambling for his clothes. Judas and Jesus fulfilled everything God had planned and both took their respective places in God s plans, each doing what God set out beforehand for them to do, God had all the components of his plan in place, and he exercised it when the timing was perfectly in his perfect will. Maybe sometime you went through a very rough time and you thought that God had deserted you, and left you to the anger of Satan the devil, and he kicked your ass all over the place, until finally God intervened, and took you out of that place, and maybe you somehow knew then, that you were now victorious, or maybe you didn t realise it just then, but you were now somehow different, you had changed from glory to glory; to become more and more into the divine image that God created to be. For remember that even Jesus had to be tried and tested. He was tempted in every way we are! He also through free will had to choose what he would do in every temptation or trial; he could have fallen as a human being, and he could have sinned, but he didn t give in to any of these things; but scripture says he suffered temptation, even to giving up in the garden of Gethsemane, where he sweated great drops of blood going through his terrible decision; knowing he would be tortured by the Romans, and they were experts in exerting pain to their victims. He even said, Father if there is any other way to do this; but not my will but yours be done.

13 God s plans versus the devils plans Jeremiah 29:11- NIV Bible 'For I know the plans that I have for you,' declares the LORD. 'Plans for welfare and not for calamity; to give you a future and a hope 12- then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. God s plan for Judas was not for his complete downfall but to fulfil his destiny. We know the devil prompted Judas at the last supper. John 13 New King James Version (NKJV) Jesus Washes the Disciples Feet 13 Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour had come that He should depart from this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end. 2 And supper being ended, the devil having already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon s son, to betray Him, Jesus having loved them to the very end; Jesus loved Judas even to the very end; Jesus loved Peter even to the very end; Jesus loved his apostles who fled, leaving him to be taken away to the very end of his life on earth. Jesus in talking about his betrayal said, it is the one I serve first, and the disciples didn t even realise that it was Judas he was talking about, who would betray him, but did not Peter also betray him? The words betray means, to let down, be disloyal to, give up. There were two apostles who were destined to betray Jesus and this was all in God s plans, in fact if you look at what happened in the Garden of Gethsemane, the whole lot deserted him and ran away, they let him down, and to let someone down means to betray them, so poor Judas was destined to be the one who would sell Jesus out to the Pharisees, for thirty pieces of silver of which he tried to give back so that Jesus would be freed again.

14 In the word of God Judas repented first, then he admitted that he sinned and tried to undo what he had done; is that not what God is looking for in his children. All this was in God s plans; it wasn t just something that happened; for how could God save mankind if Jesus wasn t put to death as a sacrifice for man s sins. The ball had to start rolling somewhere, and it did with Judas, for Jesus knowing he would be betrayed said to Judas go now do it. John 13-1 Living Bible (TLB) Jesus knew on the evening of Passover Day that it would be his last night on earth before returning to his Father. During supper the devil had already suggested to Judas Iscariot, Simon s son, that this was the night to carry out his plan to betray Jesus. Jesus knew that the Father had given him everything and that he had come from God and would return to God. And how he loved his disciples! 4 So he got up from the supper table, took off his robe, wrapped a towel around his loins, 5 poured water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples feet and to wipe them with the towel he had around him. 6 When he came to Simon Peter, Peter said to him, Master, you shouldn t be washing our feet like this! 7 Jesus replied, You don t understand now why I am doing it; some day you will. 8 No, Peter protested, you shall never wash my feet! But if I don t, you can t be my partner, Jesus replied. 9 Simon Peter exclaimed Then wash my hands and head as well not just my feet! 10 Jesus replied, One who has bathed all over needs only to have his feet washed to be entirely clean. Now you are clean but that isn t true of everyone here. 11 For Jesus knew who would betray him. That is what he meant when he said, Not all of you are clean. 12 After washing their feet he put on his robe again and sat down and asked, Do you understand what I was doing? 13 You call me Master and Lord, and you do well to say it, for it is true. 14 And since I, the Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash each other s feet. 15 I have given you an example to follow: do as I have done to you. 16 How true it is that a servant is not greater than his master. Nor is the messenger more important than the one who sends him. 17 You know these things now do them! That is the path of blessing. 18 I am not saying these things to all of you; I know so well each one of you I chose. The Scripture declares, One who eats supper with me will betray me, and this will soon come true. 19 I tell you this now so that when it happens, you will believe on me. 20 Truly, anyone welcoming my messenger is welcoming me. And to welcome me is to welcome the Father who sent me.

15 21 Now Jesus was in great anguish of spirit and exclaimed, Yes, it is true one of you will betray me. 22 The disciples looked at each other, wondering whom he could mean. 23 Since I was sitting next to Jesus* at the table, being his closest friend, 24 Simon Peter motioned to me to ask him who it was who would do this terrible deed. 25 So I turned and asked him, Lord, who is it? 26 He told me, It is the one I honour by giving the bread dipped in the sauce. And when he had dipped it, he gave it to Judas, son of Simon Iscariot. 27 As soon as Judas had eaten it, Satan entered into him. Then Jesus told him, Hurry do it now. 28 None of the others at the table knew what Jesus meant. If you have read through this scripture you will see that as Jesus chose his disciples and it says, he loved them, even Judas, he knew in advance, that as he chose Judas, he would be the one that the father ordained to betray him, and later on he fulfilled that role and betrayed Jesus with a kiss. Jesus wasn t stupid, for he knew the fathers will. He knew he had to suffer and it had to be someone that would betray him and it fell to Judas that awful task. You will have noticed also that the devil entered Judas, and that is possession when that happens to someone, then they are not in their right mind for the devil now controls them. Then Jesus gave permission to Judas whom he knew the devil possessed to Hurry do it now. Jesus knew full well what was going to happen now, for he knew the prophecies concerning him and what was going to happen to him, and he freely chose to follow the father s plans for him and mankind. Jesus knew there was no other way for mankind to be saved than through his sacrifice, his awful terrible suffering and pain; he knew every sin that was committed in this world by mankind would be placed upon his holy body and he knew that the worlds sickness and diseases caused by the devil, was also going to placed on his body, when he would be scourged at the pillar. He knew the word of God and he knew that Isaiah 53 - said he would be tortured beyond recognition for our sake. Isaiah 53Living Bible (TLB) 53 but, oh, how few believe it! Who will listen? To whom will God reveal his saving power? 2 In God s eyes he was like a tender green shoot, sprouting from a root in dry and sterile ground. But in our eyes there was no attractiveness at all, nothing to make us want him. 3 We despised him and rejected him a man of sorrows, acquainted with bitterest

16 grief. We turned our backs on him and looked the other way when he went by. He was despised, and we didn t care. 4 Yet it was our grief he bore, our sorrows that weighed him down. And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God, for his own sins! 5 But he was wounded and bruised for our sins. He was beaten that we might have peace; he was lashed and we were healed! 6 We every one of us have strayed away like sheep! We, who left God s paths to follow our own, yet God, laid on him the guilt and sins of every one of us! 7 He was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he never said a word. He was brought as a lamb to the slaughter; and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he stood silent before the ones condemning him. 8 From prison and trial they led him away to his death. But who among the people of that day realized it was their sins that he was dying for that he was suffering their punishment? 9 He was buried like a criminal, but in a rich man s grave; but he had done no wrong and had never spoken an evil word. 10 But it was the Lord s good plan to bruise him and fill him with grief. However, when his soul has been made an offering for sin, then he shall have a multitude of children, many heirs. He shall live again, and God s program shall prosper in his hands. 11 And when he sees all that is accomplished by the anguish of his soul, he shall be satisfied; and because of what he has experienced, my righteous Servant shall make many to be counted righteous before God, for he shall bear all their sins. 12 Therefore, I will give him the honours of one who is mighty and great because he has poured out his soul unto death. He was counted as a sinner, and he bore the sins of many, and he pled with God for sinners. God laid on him the guilt and sins of every one of us, including Judas sin against him! Judas was a part of the perfect plan of God for the salvation of mankind; he used him as his instrument to bring about his own divine plan to have him betray Jesus. God used Judas to help bring salvation to man, to me this is an honour not a disgrace, to be used by God to bring salvation to billions of people is wonderful, and it would have been even more wonderful, if Judas had known beforehand why he felt like betraying Jesus his lord and his God and friend. But if you have read carefully what I have written from scripture, you will see it was God s perfect will to use Judas, he was instrumental in bringing about the perfect plan of God. If you have read the scripture you will see once again that God allowed the devil to bring about his own defeat for the devil entered into Judas, and God knowing that, used him to begin his own destruction.

17 Unknown to the devil God used him like a puppet, in his own self destruction; to bring about his own defeat, there he was thinking he was going to get rid of Jesus and so have total dominion over this world and the universes, and get his own back on God for throwing him out of heaven in shame and defeat. Greater are my thoughts than yours and those thoughts included knowing the devils thoughts. For from the very beginning God had planned to bring to nothing the devil by using him to bring about his own defeat, again and again, and he uses us still today to demonstrate the devils defeat and humiliation. The devils plan for Jesus death on the cross, was in humiliating him by dying naked on that cross; Jesus did not have the modesty cloth you see in pictures or statues; the Romans did not worry about a man s modesty, they knew how to break a man s soul because being naked before everyone is humiliating and so embarrassing. If God had to choose someone why did he chose Judas? Why not John or even Matthew; it does not matter whom God chose or why, for God s thought are higher than our thoughts, so who can know the mind of God to persuade him to change it. God knew from before time that the devil would work in poor Judas heart, telling him this will bring about the end Roman rule, and he believed that the Messiah was sent from heaven to set them free from the Romans, and so he was an easy target for the devil; like Simon the zealot, Judas wished for freedom from Rome s cruel rule, and it was him that the devil focused his power on, and on this special night he coaxed Judas to betray Jesus into the hands of the Romans, and the people would rise up in rebellion or so he thought. But the devil did not know that God was allowing him to bring about salvation and we need to remember that. Everything was worked out by God to allow the devil to destroy himself. God had already planned, before the devil even thought of Judas, that he planned to use Judas to do the work he had prepared beforehand, God chose Judas, the devil didn t chose him, God persuaded the devil that Judas was just perfect for this mission of his, to kill the son of Almighty God. The devil still hasn t learned that God is still using him to help his children grow in dependency on God, and to make people turn to God for help

18 when he attacks them. God uses him to help strengthen us, he uses him for our sake, for in every spiritual battle whether we win or lose, the lord turns EVERYTHING to good for us who love him and are fitting into his plans. The devil can never win if you don t give up and turn away. We are the ones who give the devil the opening to attack us by the things we either say or think or do, and he zooms in to us like a V2 bomber. Then God knowing our weaknesses turns everything to good for us later on; he didn t use the devil to attack us; we did, through unbelief, or lack of faith, or as I said by what we spoke out of our mouths. This means no matter what, you will eventually have tremendous victory over him. The devil is not doing something against you that the lord allows; because some way or another you allowed the devil the right to attack you by something you either said or done; but God is still using him in every way to help you grow in grace and in dependency of God he uses him to help us grow spiritually, for when he attacks we learn from the word of God that we have victory over him in all things through Jesus. So still, after all this time, he hasn t learned that those whom God calls are his Children and that God blesses his children anyway. When I say that the lord God is using the devil to do his will, I do not mean that literally, all I mean is that when you give the devil access to you through either lack of faith, or by something you confessed or done, then he has the right to access your space and God seeing this turns what he is about to do or did to good for you later on. I m not saying that God allowed the devil to do what he wanted, but because of something you done or said the devil is given the right by you to do on you what you allowed him to do, and God knowing this helps you and turns to good all that the devil meant for evil. Keep a close watch on what you speak out of your mouth; for by your words you will either be justified or condemned; be careful what you say, guard your tongue always even if you are going through awful times. God knew that Judas would be filled with remorse and repentance and would confess that he sinned, and he tried to make amends by giving back the thirty pieces of silver; for scripture already foretold that Jesus life would be weighed out in thirty pieces of silver thus fulfilling God s plans.

19 God has everything already decided as he decided, to bring Jesus to his suffering and to his death on the cross for the sins of fallen man, and thus reconciling them back together again as a sacrifice to redeem man. Judas was the means of fulfilling the plans of God, and God loved Judas as much as he loved everyone else, and he knew that Judas would die before Jesus and would be given another chance to be redeemed in the devils prison. Chapter four Those who repent and turned from their sin will be forgiven; We know that murders and criminals of all sorts have turned to Jesus and received salvation and been forgiven, remember Jesus ministry in this world was to tell people of God s forgiveness to all the world, and was it not a terrible letdown for poor Judas to be un-forgiven even though we know he repented and had remorse as one scripture says, and tried to undo what he done. Why would it be just poor Judas who would never receive salvation; why could every mass murderer be forgiven and not Judas, why could every child molester be forgiven but not Judas? What kind of God would he be to hold Unforgiveness against just one man who betrayed his Son Jesus when all of us have betrayed him at some point in our lives? Matthew 26Living Bible (TLB) 23 He replied, It is the one I served first. 24 For I must die just as was prophesied, but woe to the man by whom I am betrayed. Far better for that one if he had never been born. Jesus never said Judas would be sent to hell for what he done. Isn t it strange that most people presume that when Jesus said, woe to the man by whom I am betrayed, he meant that he would spend eternity in hell; but Jesus never said that, all he said, it would be better that he had never been born. Did Judas suffer from woe? Yes!

20 What does woe mean exactly? To understand what it was that Jesus meant let s check out the meaning in the dictionary. Woe means to be filled with anguish, affliction, sadness, despair, misery, wretchedness. Judas was filled with despair, anguish and wretchedness, misery and sadness. So much so, that he knew that he had betrayed the Son of the living God for thirty pieces of silver, and to him there was no way out, so in despair, sadness and wretchedness, misery and anguish, he wished he had never been born for he was the man who betrayed his best friend the Son of God, so he took his own life. It does not say that Judas was going to be sent to hell because he betrayed the son of God, no Jesus said woe to the man, and it is known that Judas suffered woe. Jesus knows the full meaning behind every word that exists and in any language. Many a person going through terrible things in their lives wished they had never been born. Jesus wasn t condemning Judas to hell as most people believe, he was just saying what a terrible time this man would have after he betrayed his friend. It is hard to imagine that if I had betrayed the Son of God after knowing him as saviour lord and friend that I could cope after betraying him. Romans 8:29-Living Bible For from the very beginning God decided that those who came to him and all along he knew who would should become like his Son, so that his Son would be the First, with many brothers. God had chosen Judas to serve his divine son and he made all the apostles a divine promise, to become like his own Son Jesus; Judas was one of those chosen to become like Jesus, and a brother of Jesus. Did you notice in that previous scripture, that God, from the very beginning, decided; God decided, man did not decide to do anything, except obey or to disobey what God s plans were for them, and he says all along, he knew who would and should become like his Son. Long ago before we were even a thought in our parents mind God decided that he would make you and that

21 you would enter this earth on a specified time and date, your parents did not decide this and you didn t decide this it was God alone who decided that your life would begin at that moment of his divine plan, using your parents lovemaking to create you, and he said you and many others would become like his Son Jesus and have many brothers and sisters, it was God alone who decided all of this without your help at all. In life God gave us his plans for our lives; he had plans for good for us, to give us a future and a hope, to give us wellbeing not disaster. You cannot fault a God like that can you? These plans of God included Judas and what his life would be like; he specifically chose him for one particular Job that none else would ever want. When you read the book of Job, you see a man of God brought down to sitting in the dirt, by the devil asking God, could he test him to see if he would still trust God after what he would do to him. God gave him permission, because Job had given the devil an opening by saying, the thing I feared has happened; so God had to allow the devil his rights, but he forbid him to kill Job, so the devil went about destroying all Job had. He had his sons and daughters killed he had all his possessions taken away from him; he lost all his friends, they deserted him except for three who accused him of doing something wrong for the devil to attack him and by God allowing this to happen to him, even today they are still called Job s comforters and this is usually used in sarcasm. What were God s plans in this scenario; one, he established Job; who did not curse him as the devil expected, but Job said, the lord gives and the lord takes away, blessed be the lord. This implies it was God s will for him to suffer but it was not God s will at all, but Job left a hole in the hedge around him. And out of Job s seemingly disasters God turned everything he went through for good and gave him three times as much as he had before and this included sons and daughters who were the most beautiful in the land. {Book of Job} Why did God allow the devil to do these things to Job, God knew Job s heart and he knew that Job would still trust him? Would you still trust God, if he allowed all these things to happen to you?

22 God s plans are greater than anything the devil could ever think of. God has used even the devil as I have previously stated, for thousands of years, and the devil has never caught on to this and never will because God has blinded him to the things he as God does. God allows things to happen to us, because of the gift of free will; and these things are meant to help us see where we are going wrong and to bring us closer to God and allow us to be changed from glory to glory, this is God s plans in everything concerning us his children, and Judas was a child of God also. In writing this book, which as I said before, it was not something I ever wanted to study; but in studying it my eyes have been opened to the great mind of our living God who knows the plans he has for us. I have learned never to judge anyone for who knows what God s plans are behind what they do; and I believe that I am learning to trust God in every part of my life more and more. I also went through terrible times and afterwards I knew that the devil cannot ever defeat me, for because of what I went through, I learned that God turns everything to good for those who love him and are fitting into his plans. Romans 8:28Living Bible (TLB) 28 And we know that all that happens to us is working for our good if we love God and are fitting into his plans. How do we fit into God s plans? Simply by doing our best to ask him what he wants us to do, and submitting our lives to him, and following love for love never fails to lead us into God s plans. Another man who done wrong was Zacchaeus Sadly most Christians have judged Judas and have taken it to heart that Judas could never be forgiven as he betrayed the Son of the living God, Jesus. But that is not true, if you look at the scripture, you will see Judas done something called for by God for all of us, repentance; Judas repented, and he took back the money he got for betraying Jesus, and said, I have sinned. Is this not what we are called to do, repent by acknowledging what we did as sinful? Repentance calls for paying back to those whom we stole something from, or cheated. Look at Zacchaeus for an example. This man was

23 a thief, he stole from the poor, charging them extra taxes, and he stole from everyone, in fact everyone in his tax region; as all had to pay their taxes to him for the Roman Government. Luke 19 Living Bible (TLB) As Jesus was passing through Jericho, a man named Zacchaeus, one of the most influential Jews in the Roman tax-collecting business (and, of course, a very rich man), **8 Meanwhile, Zacchaeus stood before the Lord and said, Sir, from now on I will give half my wealth to the poor, and if I find I have overcharged anyone on his taxes, I will penalize myself by giving him back four times as much! 9-10 Jesus told him, This shows that salvation has come to this home today. ** Did you notice something in this scripture, Zacchaeus said, from now on! He didn t say, I ll pay back what I stole from people. He had found salvation and he became a new creature from this moment, the old man had died and the new man lived. Judas repented just like this man, and from God s word about forgiveness we can take it that he received forgiveness, even though poor Judas felt so much despair thinking he had done the unpardonable sin, by betraying the Holy Son of God and had him killed, and so in despair he hung himself, and ended up in the devils prison, where Jesus now having died came to his rescue. Judas unknowingly played his part of God s plan and God forgave him and I believe he was accepted into heaven through the grace and mercy of Jesus and God the father This man Zacchaeus was a fraud, and cheated people ever since he became a tax collector, and he told Jesus he will repay three times what he took off of people, from now on, he didn t say, I ll pay back everyone I stole from? This man repented, but didn t offer to pay back all he stole, but Judas did by returning the money back to the priests and Pharisees. Now a question I would ask for those who believe that Judas is in hell still, who died first-jesus or Judas? And the answer to that one is Judas, he had repented as soon as he realised that the priests were going to have Jesus killed. When

24 Judas died where did he go? Did he go to hell itself? Or did he go somewhere else? Again the answer to that is, he went to the prison where Satan the devil had him, along with countless other souls, for hell is not in existence yet, it will come into being as soon as the time of tribulation at the end of the age is over, and it is there where the devil and all who followed him will be thrown into the lake of fire. Hell is already in existence and the new heaven and earth are in existence but neither are occupied, they are there waiting the end time, then those who rejected the lord will find themselves judged and condemned to the predetermined hell, while those who accepted Jesus as lord and saviour will be given their place in the new heaven and earth. They are being held in eternity waiting until the time allotted by God to manifest. We know from the word of God that both exist and what both look like, but they are not in use so Judas could not be sent to hell; he was probably kept in Hades, the prison of the Devil where Jesus went and preached the gospel to the spirit prisoners there. 1 Peter 4 Living Bible (TLB) 6 That is why the Good News {the Gospel as another translation tells us} was preached even to those who were dead killed by the flood so that although their bodies were punished with death, they could still live in their spirits as God lives. I read in someone s website that they believed it was demons that Jesus preached to, I don t believe that, because this scripture quite clearly and directly proclaims that Jesus preached the gospel to their spirit, the spirits of the dead, not to demons. After Jesus died where did he go? He descended into the devils kingdom Hades? where he defeated the devil and all his hoards, and after that what did he do, he released all those who were kept in the devils prison. And he paraded a great host before the father defeated and submitted to him Ephesians-4:8-King-James-2000-Bible Therefore he says, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.

25 The thing about that scripture that touched me most was that after he paraded those captives which were the devil and his hoards along with those who had accepted Jesus as their lord and saviour. He gave gifts to men, that was his first thought after demonstrating the devils defeat to his father and to all in heaven sitting watching, he thought about us, That shows us the immense love that God holds in his heart for us, he gave gifts to men to celebrate his defeat over the devil and all his army. ====================== I believe that he went to all those who died without salvation, and were imprisoned by the devil, for he was the one in control on earth, and in the lower heavens, to those not knowing about Jesus, and what he did for mankind, for God says, from the beginning he did not count men s sins against them, until the time of the Law, telling mankind what to do and what not to do. Man had no conditions to follow except that they knew instinctively; don t break the law of man, or his tribal leaders. Scripture also tells us, is it right for God to let criminals go free? God actually lets criminals go free? If God decides to let criminals go free after they did terrible things to others why would he make a distinction between them and Judas? Romans 3Living Bible (TLB) But isn t this unfair for God to let criminals go free, and say that they are innocent? No, for he does it on the basis of their trust in Jesus who took away their sins. There is something most Christians do not realise, that everything has already been done; they have for instance been forgiven even before they ask, they have been saved even before they ask, they have been healed before they even ask, for scripture tells us that Jesus said, it is finished; he paid for the lot and then offered all to mankind, and all man has to do is to accept it, to receive it in faith. If you study your bible you will see that God has already given us everything pertaining to life. 2 Peter 1:3 His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that