Judas, like the other disciples, was with Jesus at his side, learning and experiencing firsthand. Jesus already knew who would betray him but loved him to the end. But there came a time, at the end of a season, when his time had run out and when Jesus told Judas to “Go!”
At the supper table, Jesus did not try to convince Judas to turn and stay but instead told him to “Go!” When Judas was with Jesus during Jesus’ time on the earth, that was the grace given for Judas to change. When it is time for people to go, do not think we are going to beg people to stay. It is they who will need to repent and humble themselves.
How can there be a union between two different types of spirits?
But why did Judas betray Jesus? Basically, Judas experiencing God’s power, authority, given the power to heal and deliver people, and learning first hand from God Himself, Judas had the mistake so many Christians do today including many in our own ministry. Judas had his own agenda. Judas was following Jesus to use Him. Judas failed to realize he was a sinner needing a Savior. He was driven by geopolitics, thinking the greater good was to save the nation of Israel from Rome. He already presumed he was good to go with God since he was an Israeli or, in today’s terms, “a professing Christian.” But Israel was under Roman oppression due to their sin. But for God to save His people from physical oppression, we need to be delivered from our sin.
Whether the other disciples or Judas, even before the Holy Spirit came upon and into them and even before their rebirth, they were able to perform God’s power. The Bible does not say our power is confirmation of our salvation but rather the characteristic of overcoming the world and the fruit we bear in and of the Holy Spirit. Do not equate your gifts to the assurance of your salvation. The gifts are there to help our faith, and the Bible says they are given without repentance.
As we move forward and into the unity of the Holy Spirit, there will be physical pruning of individuals or families if they prove to not belong to us. The Bible says if they did belong to us, they would humble themselves, submit, and stay. But we must know when moving from glory to glory, as an individual, you will look and be different as the years pass, and even as a church, the face and body will be changed more into His likeness, and one day, we shall see Him and as HE is so are we on this earth.
Mark 10:29-30 NLT Yes,” Jesus replied, “and I assure you that everyone who has given up house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or property, for my sake and for the Good News,
30 will receive now in return a hundred times as many houses, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and property—along with persecution. And in the world to come, that person will have eternal life.”
It is time to grow up and follow Jesus because HE is God and not because HE is your sugar daddy.
Pastor Steve Kim