Was Jesus really tested by Satan? - Part #3. Double Devil, Double Impact!

Friends,

It is said in the Bible that God has set limits for the seas and oceans ordered seas not to cross those limits. It is a sad fact that many Christians think that God has set some limits for their brains and expect them not to breach those limits. God has given us gray matter within our skulls and expects us to use them. In fact God challenges us to use our reasoning power:

Isa 1:18 Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD:

Isa 41:21 Produce your case, says the LORD; bring forth your strong reasons,...

God doesn't expect us to shift our brain cells to neutral before studying the scriptures.

I am sure that everyone has read the following passages, over and over again, but most of them without understanding the implications.

Joh 6:70 Jesus answered them, Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil [G1228]?

Joh 6:71 He spake of Judas Iscariot ...

Jesus didn't say 'one of you is like devil', instead He said: 'one of you is a devil. The Greek word used here is diabolos (G1228 in Strong's) which Jesus equated to Satan in Mat 4:10 and Luk 4:8. See also: Rev 12:9; 20:2.

So, as per the words of Jesus, Judas Iscariot is a devil or Satan. Now, read this:

Luk 22:3 Then entered Satan into Judas surnamed Iscariot, being of the number of the twelve.

Judas was already a devil, now, Satan has entered into him.

• Does Satan entering into Devil make Devil more Devilish? OR more Satanic?
• If Satan is an entity, how will it enter into itself?
• If a human being like Judas could be a devil, what warrants that devil or Satan is a celestial being?

Friends, God wants us to reason passages like this. We are asked to discern.

The character of Judas Iscariot.

You are familiar with the narrative of a woman named Mary anointing the feet of Jesus with expensive perfumes and Judas protesting about it, asking why it was not sold and given to the poor? In that context we are told:

Joh 12:6 This he said, not that he cared for the poor; but because he was a thief, and had the bag, and bare what was put therein.

Judas was after money, though his master's teaching was:

Luk 16:13 No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

Needless to say whom Judas served.

Was Judas politically disillusioned?

That's what scholars say. Do we have any evidence of such claims? If he were having political ambitions and was in fact disillusioned, he should have aligned himself with some political formulation that lines up with his political views. We do not see any such move from Judas. What we see is Judas going to the Jewish priests - who had already determined to kill Jesus - and talking about money.

Mat 26:14 Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went unto the chief priests,

Mat 26:15 And said unto them, What will ye give me, and I will deliver him unto you? And they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver.

Mat 26:16 And from that time he sought opportunity to betray him. (See also: Mar 14:10, 11; Luk 22:3-6)

Why "Satan" had to enter during the time of Passover?

As per Christian traditions, Jesus and the disciples were together for at least 3½ years. There could have been 2-3 Passovers within that period. Why this Satan character decided to enter Judas during Jesus' last Passover? Why it could not decide on some other, earlier occasion?

We are told of Jesus' celebrating only the last Passover. Before proceeding to Jerusalem, Jesus intimated His disciples that He would be killed there.

Mat 16:21 From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day.

It is obvious from Mat 16:21 that Jesus used to repeatedly tell his disciples about what was then to befall him. In fact, Jesus gave the precise date on which he was to be killed:

Mat 26:2 Ye know that after two days is the feast of the passover, and the Son of man is betrayed to be crucified.

As the keeper of the money bag (Joh 12:6), Judas is sure to know what would be left in the bag after the Passover celebrations are over. Obviously, Judas was keen on garnering as much money as possible within the short period of time available. So, Judas knew where the money is.

Friends, greed, love of money, can bring the worst out of a man.

1Ti 6:10 For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

As regards money, Jesus was a stark contrast to Judas. Jesus cared the least about money. He solely relied on divine provision. I am sure that you remember the incident where Jesus asks Peter to go to sea, catch a fish and take out the coin in its mouth and use it to pay taxes. (Mat 17:27)

End of greed: a story with multiple ends.

There are two endings to the story of Judas.

Story #1:

Mat 27:5 And he [Judas] cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself.

Mat 27:6 And the chief priests took the silver pieces, and said, It is not lawful for to put them into the treasury, because it is the price of blood.

Mat 27:7 And they took counsel, and [chief priests] bought with them the potter's field, to bury strangers in.

Mat 27:8 Wherefore that field was called, The field of blood, unto this day.

Alternate Ending:

Act 1:18 Now this man [Judas] purchased a field with the reward of iniquity; and falling headlong, he burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out.

Commentators are at great pains to explain away evident discrepancies in these two passages. They say Luke's account in Acts 1 is less accurate. Their explanation of how the body of a man who committed suicide by hanging can fall headlong (with the head foremost) amounts to absurdity. The body of someone who has hung himself to death can fall downward, but not headlong.

Mat 27	Acts 1
Judas threw the money in the temple and priests took it.	Judas did not throw the money in the temple.
Chief priests bought a field.	Judas bought a field. (a person who is remorseful and about to commit suicide by hanging won't wait for purchasing a piece of land.)
Judas hanged himself.	Judas fell headlong and died. (Even if the body of a person who committed suicide by hanging has to fall and burst its belly, it has to be decomposed. But, Jews won't allow a dead body to be hanging beyond sunset. So, there is no possibility of the body decomposing. Another explanation is that there may have been some javelin or spear onto which the body fell. You have a dead body hanging from a tree. There is a spear planted in front of it. How probable it is that the decomposed body will fall exactly on the spear? Frankly, the theory does not add up!)

It does not take a celestial monster called Satan to do what Judas did. Whatever stands against the mind of God is adversarial to God. The story of Judas is a very good lesson on what greed can do to a child of God!

May all the glory be to God and His Christ.

In Christ,

Tomsan Kattackal