Truth and Confusion

Truth and Confusion
Matt. 26:23-25

23 And [de] he answered [apokrinomai] and said [epo] , He that dippeth [embapto] his hand [cheir] with [meta] me [emou] in [en] the dish [trublion] , the same [houtos] shall betray [paradidomi] me [me] .
24 [men] The Son [huios] of man [anthropos] goeth [hupago] as [kathos] it is written [grapho] of [peri] him [autos] : but [de] woe [ouai] unto that [ekeinos] man [anthropos] by [dia] whom [hos] the Son [huios] of man [anthropos] is betrayed [paradidomi] ! it had been [en] good [kalos] for that [ekeinos] man [autos] if [ei] he [anthropos] had [gennao] not [ou] been born [gennao] .
25 Then [de] Judas [Ioudas] , which [ho] betrayed [paradidomi] him [autos] , answered [apokrinomai] and said [epo] , Master [rhabbi] , is [eimi] it [meti] I [ego] ? He said [lego] unto him [autos] , Thou [su] hast said [epo] . KJV-Interlinear

23 And He answered and said, 'He who dipped his hand with Me in the bowl is the one who will betray Me. 24 'The Son of Man is to go, 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.' 25 And Judas, who was betraying Him, answered and said, 'Surely it is not I, Rabbi?' He said to him, 'You have said it yourself.' NASB

It is one thing for an enemy or someone who makes outright public notice of hating you, but when someone eats at your table while plotting your destruction, then that is the lowest form of treachery. This prophecy is noted in both Psa. 41:9 and Psa. 55:12-14 both describing events in David's life and also referring to the Messiah.

Judas entered into his treachery with his eyes wide open. He was nothing more than a deceitful small time thief, disillusioned by his lusts for wealth or quick money, and he was a selfish and self centered mercenary who would sell out anyone for some easy money.

No one forced him into the arrangement which he himself initiated. No one pressured him into the decisions he made. And as Jesus stated of Judas, which also applies to all unbelievers, it would have been better if they had never been born. That is to say it would have been better if they had never come into existence. Because a person who has never existed would never see the Lake of Fire. Anyone who springs to life and rejects Christ has a destiny in the Lake of Fire. No destiny, is far better than the Lake of Fire.

Now note that Jesus did not say 'conceived.' He said born. Human life begins at the point of physical birth when the fetus springs forth 'out from' the womb, is cut off from the life line to the mother via the umbilical cord, and a new life line is imputed into a generated soul into the physical body of the fetus. This is the process of being born. That human life which is imputed into the soul is referred to as the 'spark of life' by the Hebrew word 'neshamah.' The link to the mother is severed and has to be replaced by some other form of life support otherwise the physical body would not survive. It, the potential baby, would be still born, or it simply would never have come to life. Never knowing life, then means never facing the Lake of Fire.

Biological life, which begins at conception is not human life. The biological part of us does not face a destiny other than biological death. Biological death comes when human life leaves the body. Examine any dead body and you'll find that this is so. With no life in it, the body decays rapidly.

Now Judas is given a face to face warning. His treachery will end up with an even greater loss for him, than he intends for Christ. Christ did not fall into the plans of Judas, but Judas fell into the plans of God, Acts 2:23. God did not force the actions of Judas. God did however turn the ill intent of Judas into the salvation of the world. What Judas, the Pharisees, and others intended against Jesus was turned around by God to become the single most important event of all of history - human and angelic. This resulted in the strategic victory of the angelic conflict, for Christ over Satan, sealing the promise of a great future to all who believe in Christ, and sealing the eternal doom of all who reject Him.

Judas asks the same question as everyone else was asking, or rather states his opposition, 'Not I!' But both Jesus and Judas knew of his evil deal with the elders of Judea. And even in the face of confrontation, Judas still denied his own participation in the betrayal, and when he left the dinner table to carry out his deed, he continued to deny anything wrong with what he did. That is until it all came down on him in a huge wave of guilt. But that story is a little way off yet.

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