Why did Jesus choose Judas?

The Coming Betrayal. — Astonished as all must have been at what they had just seen, amazement seized each one of the Eleven, when the next announcement came from the lips of the Lord. "I speak not of you all: I know whom I have chosen: but that the scripture may be fulfilled, He that eats bread with Me [or, My bread] has lifted up his heel against Me. Now I tell you before it come to pass, that, when it is come to pass, ye may believe that I am He. Verily, verily, I say to you, He that receives whomsoever I send receives Me; and he that receives Me receives Him that sent Me" (18-20). A traitor in the company of the Twelve! Which of them could believe it? And so taken aback were they at such an announcement, that in the Gospel of Matthew (26:22) each one of them asked, "Lord, is it I?" No one of the Eleven could suppose, that any other could be guilty of such an act. The treachery of Judas was undreamt of by the rest; and as yet the traitor was not marked out. The Lord at this stage told them of that which was before Him; and foretold it, that, when it came to pass, their faith in Him should not be shaken. How the enemy would have used the fact of the Lord's apprehension and death to shake their faith in the truth of His person! He, well knowing — for all hearts, even the devil's, are open to Him — here foretold His betrayal, that, instead of their faith in Him being weakened, it would only be strengthened. What care did He evince for His own! How true that He loved them to the end!

But why was such an one admitted into the ranks of the Apostles? If the Lord could foresee what Judas would do, why was he chosen? Would such a question raise a doubt about the Master in any one of the Eleven? At an earlier date in His ministry He had signified, there was one of them whom He then termed a devil (6:70). Of that same one, still unnamed, He now spoke, intimating, however, why he had been numbered among the Twelve — viz, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. The treachery about to be manifested had been foreknown, and predicted too. So nothing predicted in connection with the humiliation of Christ should remain unfulfilled, thus leaving no loophole for the injecting of doubts about the Lord Jesus in the minds of any one of the Apostles.

But who had foretold what Judas would do? That, which might hitherto have been viewed as an incident in David's history, is found to have been prophetic of Judas, son of Simon Iscariot. "He that eats bread with Me [or as some authorities read, My bread] has lifted up his heel against Me" (Ps. 41:9), is found to be the scripture applicable to the case; whilst Ps. 109 referred also to Judas, as Peter in Acts 1 so applies it. The dastardly nature of the crime Ps. 41 exposed. The result to the traitor Ps. 109 foretold. Forewarned now of the Lord's betrayal, a word was needed, that none should discredit any service in the past, in which Judas with the rest had been engaged. The Twelve went out two and two, Judas being in company with Simon the Canaanite (Matt. 10:4); for Matthew marks them off in couples. They were all empowered to heal the sick, to raise the dead, and to cast out demons, as well as to preach the Gospel of the kingdom, which was the Gospel for that day. Doubtless Judas had worked miracles, had effected cures, as the rest, and had preached, too, the Gospel of the kingdom. A worker, therefore, had he appeared in the past — an authorised worker, really commissioned by Christ. Was all he had done as an Apostle to be discredited, when his real character became known? An important principle the Lord here states applicable to his case. "He that receives whomsoever I send receives Me; and he that receives Me receives Him that sent Me" (John 13:20). A principle this is for Christians to remember. If a labourer breaks down in testimony, how apt are men to discredit all that he has done! Let these wholesome words of Christ have their place and effect. If that principle could be applied in the case of Judas, how much more when a Christian labourer breaks down! Let us look beyond the instrument to the One who sent Him. That will keep us clear in a matter of this kind.

The Traitor Marked. — As yet Judas was at the Supper. Had he heard what had been said? Now the Lord proceeded to point out the individual — not publicly, it would seem, but privately. And troubled in spirit, as John tells us, He said first to them all, "Verily, verily, I say to you, that one of you shall betray Me" (21). If Judas was unconcerned, the Lord was not. Unattracted to Christ by all he had heard and seen during years of intercourse with Him, utterly unaffected too by His grace, caring for nothing but paltry temporal gain, self dominating him, and the rebuke he had received in Simon the leper's house rankling in his bosom, he turned against the Master, and arranged to betray Him to His enemies. Such conduct none of the rest could understand, for the Lord had become precious to them. No wonder the Lord was troubled in spirit, as He thought of Judas' deceit, treachery, and cupidity. But surely He thought, too, of the awful future that unhappy man was preparing for himself. No wonder, then, that He was troubled in spirit, when announcing the presence of the traitor in the room. "One of you shall betray Me." Which of the Eleven could be indifferent to that?" They looked one on another, doubting of whom He spake." A sign from Peter to John, who was reclining on Jesus' bosom, and a request, probably preferred in an undertone, elicited from the Lord that He would point the man out. "He it is, for whom I shall dip the sop, and give it him." The sop was dipped in the dish. John and Peter could see that. Surely with bated breath they must have watched for the next movement on the part of the Master. He handed the sop to Judas, son of Simon Iscariot. Then the devil took possession of the traitor. To halt and to change his course was now impossible. That miserable one, the son of perdition (how rightly named!), was henceforth wholly under Satanic power. A few words to him from the Lord, "That thou doest, do quickly," and the traitor went out, never again to be found in the company of the Lord's disciples. The door, that closed on him, severed his connection from the company left behind for ever. But, oh what an awfully solemn thought! he, who had been so much in the company of Christ, must meet Him as his Judge on the great white throne. Evidently what had passed between the Lord and John was unknown to the rest, save probably to Peter. The Lord's last words to Judas all, however, heard. And still unsuspecting, they supposed that he had gone to buy needful things for the feast which followed the Passover, and lasted a week, or that he should give something to the poor (29). For he carried the bag, thus filling the place of collector and treasurer. It was night when he went out, John tells us. The 14th of Nisan was over; the 15th of Nisan had begun. Judas went out, not to give, but to get. He went to earn the price of blood and appeared again but once more — viz. in the garden, guiding the company sent to arrest the Lord.

Further, Judas' history is instructive as we view it in connection with the fulfilment of prophecy. To three different Psalms (Ps. 41; 69; 109) are we directed in the New Testament as applicable to him. The Lord (John 13:18) refers to 41:9 as prophetic of Judas' treachery. Peter (Acts 1:20) applies the language of Psalms 69:25; 109:8, as foretelling what should take effect consequent on his sin and death. His treachery, then, was distinctly the subject of prophecy; and he was chosen among the twelve that the word of God might be fulfilled (John. 13:18). Yet who ever looked for a traitor in that company? Evidently the chief priests, as we have remarked, had no previous thought of help from such a quarter, else why meet in council before Judas made overtures to them? Then we learn from Peter's own words to the Lord (John 6:68-69), and from those of Thomas about Him (John 11:16), their attachment to Christ and that of others from close personal intercourse with Him. The sorrow, too, and the amazement which the eleven felt and expressed on hearing of the Lord's approaching betrayal by one of their number (Matt. 26:22), show how inconceivable it was in their eyes that one among them should do such a thing. The inquiring among themselves who should do it, and the question, "Is it I" as it came from each one, indicated their inability to conceive that any of their number could be guilty of such baseness and wickedness. The Lord's positive declaration they could not doubt, but it came like a thunderclap upon them. Who could be ready, be willing, for such treachery? Most unlikely then was it according to human thought that from among the twelve the traitor should appear. Scripture, indeed, had not predicted that an Apostle should do it, though it spoke of one in familiar intercourse with the Lord who would turn against Him. We see how it was. Scripture was fulfilled. God's word came literally true. God's word does come true. And we may rest assured, and be fortified in that assurance by the history of Judas, that, however unlikely it may beforehand appear, what God has foretold will certainly be brought about.

The New Testament illustration of this is the selection of Judas Iscariot as an apostle. It has been said, did not the Lord know at the beginning that Judas was a traitor? We are distinctly told so in the sixth chapter of John, and may be certain that our blessed Lord was neither deceived nor disappointed — save in divine and holy sorrow over a lost soul — in the result. But this does not mean that our Lord put Judas in a position against his will or for which he was not in the judgment of men specially fitted. Judas himself had taken the place of a disciple. It was, therefore, simply selecting one who had already taken this place, and not imposing upon him a profession which he had not assumed for himself. Nay, more, the position of apostle was calculated to foster, if it existed at all, the faith of the disciple. The twelve were in the place of special privilege and nearness to the Lord, constantly under His influence, with His example before them as we know with much individual instruction according to the need of each. Who could associate with such a Master and witness His deeds of love, the flashing out of His holy soul, His tender heart of compassion, His sympathy, and not be made a better man if there were anything of grace in his soul at all? If Judas apostatized and the wickedness of his heart came out in face of all this, we may be sure it is only a special proof of the hopeless corruption of a heart that has not been visited by God's grace. At the same time our Lord would not be violating in the least the free agency of the man or compelling him into anything counter to his nature.

It is significant further that what followed this night of prayer was the selection of the twelve men who were to be sent forth as Apostles. Amongst the twelve was Judas Iscariot, and why he should have been included appears to us mysterious. The Lord chose him however, and thus his selection was right. No mistake was made after that night of prayer.

"And when it was evening144 He comes with the Twelve. And as they lay at table and were eating,145 Jesus said, Verily I say unto you, One of you that eateth with Me shall deliver Me up.146 And they began to be sorrowful, and to say to Him one by one, Is it I? [and another said, Is it I?]." There was conscious integrity in the disciples, weak as they might be, and fleshly as we know from Luke they were, even in this very scene. But the Lord answers, "One of the Twelve, he who dippeth with Me in the dish. The Son of man goeth indeed as it is written concerning Him; but woe to that man by whom the Son of man is delivered up." It was man's sin, Satan's guile, God's counsel, and Christ's love. But none of these things altered the wickedness of Judas: "Good [were it] for that man147 if he had not been born." He was ordained, we may say, for this condemnation: he was not made wicked by God, but his wickedness was made to take this shape in order to fulfil the counsels of God. One of that company which was chosen to be with Jesus here below was to prove this awful truth — that the nearer a man is externally to blessing, if he does not receive it into his heart, the more distant he is morally from it. There was but one Judas in Israel, and he was nearest to Jesus; there was but one who united all the privileges of such companionship with Jesus to all the guilt of betraying Him. ["And another said, Is it I?"]: so AD, etc., 1, 69, Orig. Edd. omit, after ℵBCL., etc., Amiat. Syrsin pesch (t).

Before He chose the twelve Apostles He spent the whole night in prayer. It was "in those days," the days when they were rejecting Him. The refuge of the perfect Man was then in God. He sought His presence and cast Himself upon Him for guidance. The Gospel of Luke has much to say about the prayers of the Lord Jesus. His prayers are the expression of dependence of His perfect humanity. Among the twelve is Judas the traitor. He was called to be an apostle that the Scriptures might be fulfilled. The Lord knew him from the beginning. He was not a believer in the Deity of our Lord; Judas never called Him, Lord. A very old commentary gives the following suggestion: "Judas is chosen that the Lord might have an enemy among His attendants, for that man is perfect who has no cause to shrink from observation of a wicked man, conversant with all his ways."--Anselim, who lived from 1033-1109.

Answering for all, he said we. The Lord's reply made known, that He knew better than Peter. The Eleven were indeed sound. But one would turn out to be false — which of them was not then made known, though John, writing years after, explains the allusion. Till Judas declared himself, by betraying the Lord, he had his place in the apostolic company. We learn later why he was numbered among them — viz. that the scripture might be fulfilled (13:18, 17:12) — the Lord knowing all the time what he was, and the awful sin of which he would be guilty. By none could Christ be deceived. He knew what was in man (2:25). He knew that some of the crowd which had followed Him across the water did not believe (6:64). He knew who should betray Him (13:11). A Divine Person, knowing all about every one, it was only as circumstances arose that His prescience was declared.

The moment had now come for Judas to be exposed in his true character. At the close of chapter 6 we find words of the Lord recorded which show that He thoroughly knew him from the outset. In His choice of the disciples He acted with Divine foreknowledge, and Judas was the man to fulfil the prediction of Psalm 41:9. Nevertheless he had been commissioned and sent by the Lord as much as the others and those who received him and them had received his Master, and God Himself, from whom the Lord had come. The personal unworthiness of the servant did not vitiate this great principle.

Yet the terrible fall of Judas was a real grief to the heart of the Lord, which was not lessened by His Divine foreknowledge, which enabled Him to see the end from the beginning. The Lord's emphatic pronouncement that one of the chosen twelve was about to reveal himself as a traitor also carried trouble into the minds of the disciples, and verse 22 bears witness to the fact that no suspicion of Judas was lurking in their minds. He appeared perfectly sincere to their eyes, so much so that the common purse had been entrusted to him. The craft of Satanic camouflage is well-nigh perfect. Has there ever been a more striking illustration of what is stated in 2 Corinthians 11:13-15?

"The term election is used in two ways: sometimes for election to some external office, as 'Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil?' Judas the traitor was elected indeed to the apostleship; but to the inheritance of eternal life he was not elected. Again, election sometimes means a designation of some men, out of the common lost mass, to the knowledge of the will of God, and at length to eternal life, of the mere favour of God; and it is of that election the discourse here is, and of that Christ also speaks, 'I know whom I. have chosen.'

The Apostle said of the brethren who were to accompany him to Jerusalem with the offerings of the Gentiles, "they are the messengers of the assemblies, and the glory of Christ" (2 Cor. 8:23). What higher commendation could any of us have this side the Judgement Seat of Christ? The men referred to had been carefully selected by their brethren as stewards in whom they could have full confidence. In contrast to this, the case of Judas Iscariot comes to our minds. How came he to be Treasurer for the apostolic band in the days of the Lord Jesus? It is unthinkable that the Lord Himself chose him for such service. Did He not once say "one of you is a devil?" (John 6:70). Was He not aware, as the reader of all hearts, that love of money was the particular snare of Judas? Would He, who is always tenderly considerate and compassionate because of the frailty of poor flesh, expose any man to special temptation? Did He not teach the disciples to pray "lead us not into temptation? (Matt. 6:13). How then did Judas become keeper of the bag? His companions must have chosen him for this service; certainly not for his spiritual grace, but rather for his business ability. Fatal blunder! It worked disastrously as we know. Many years after the unhappy Judas had "gone to his own place," the Apostle John wrote of him: "he cared nothing for the poor; but he was a thief and had the bag, and bare what was put therein" (John 12:6).