The coldest words ever spoken by our Lord were those He spake concerning Judas Iscariot, the traitor. It has often come to my mind why so many think Judas is alone in this unenviable role!! What did Judas do that many are not doing, now?? Judas traded his good fellowship with Jesus Christ for $30.00. Not a good trade you say—some trade Jesus Christ and His fellowship for a bottle of whiskey that only cost $4.95. Some will; “that is cost of only ONE bottle.” To that I answer: “It only takes ONE!!” Some trade Christ for a love affair, for a plot of ground, a job, their wife’s good graces, to satisfy their mother, and others for treasonous reasons too many to mention!! Some set home while the church is worshipping the Lord, feeling no remorse, some out of outright defiance, some ignorance and have the audacity to complain about Judas! They rationalize; “I am sick” never thinking they may be making the Lord SICK at heart because of their traitorous rejection of His Kingdom.
Christ was eating the Passover the night before He was sacrificed, there seemed to be no apprehension of trouble coming, everything seemed to be in order EXCEPT one of His disciples was missing, he had left the holy day a little early. The disciples seemed to be pleasing themselves with the company of their master when Christ cast a doubt and an air of coldness overwhelmed the room. He had announced that one of them were to betray Him. “And they began to be sorrowful, and to say unto Him, ‘Is it I’? And He answered and said unto them, “It is one of the twelve, that dips with Me in the dish. The Son of man indeed goeth, as it is written of Him: but woe to that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! Good were it for that man had he never been born.” Mark 14:16-21
One would think Judas would have been extremely nervous when the Master said, “he that dips his finger in the bowl will betray Me”. It didn’t seem to bother him! So sure and depraved with his own wishes, he never felt remorse until he knew for sure they were going to kill the Lord. It is very probable that Judas encouraged himself in his selfish thoughts. After all, Judas had often of late heard the Master tell how He must be betrayed, surely God would not find fault with him that does the deed! Christ told him that this will be no shelter or excuse to him; “the Son of man indeed goes, as it is written of Him”, but “woe to that man by whom He is betrayed.” It was true that Christ was to be “delivered up by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God”; but, notwithstanding that, it is “with wicked hands that He is crucified and slain.” Acts 2:23 Judas was bold in his pursuits of denying the only friend that ever loved him and never stopped to see the end of his works. So is the demeanor of the saint who despises the Lord who loved them!! They fly into a rage when anybody tries to call them to repentance. How much does God despise the individual of whom He makes the assertion “it would have been better for them had they never been born”?? What awaits they who the Lord sees in this light?? It was better for them to have never known the way of righteousness, the fire-escape from Hell, the road that leads to eternal life than to have known it and turned from it, to have put their hands to the plow and looked back, to have become a Christian and then mock God before His face by rebelling against His commandments and ordinances, to have refused the life-jacket thrown to the man while drowning!! It would have been better for that man to have never been. It would have been better to have never been born. “The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished” 2 Peter 2:9
