June 20 2025

Friday June 20

Luke 22:21-23

Jesus Reveals the Betrayer

21 But behold, the hand of My betrayer is with Me on the table. 22 And truly the Son of Man goes as it has been determined, but woe to that man by whom He is betrayed!" 23 Then they began to question among themselves, which of them it was who would do this thing.

Today, we're continuing to look at Luke 22. We are now in the upper room on Thursday evening with our Lord Jesus Christ and His twelve disciples. In verses 14–16, they have sat down at the table to eat the Passover meal with Jesus the night before He will be crucified. According to John’s Gospel (John 13), Jesus had risen from the table and washed all the disciple’s feet which would have included Judas before they went through the eating of the Jewish Passover. It is after this that Jesus reveals the disciple who has already betrayed Him and made a deal with the chief priest (Matthew 26:14).

On a number of occasions Jesus had already hinted to His disciples that one of their number was not truly with Him (John 6:66-71), but now He openly spoke about a traitor in their midst. However, He did not do this just for the sake of the disciples, but more for the sake of Judas. Jesus had kissed Judas and washed his feet, and now He was giving Judas another opportunity to repent. It is most significant that Jesus did not openly identify Judas as the traitor but in a sense had protected him until the very end.

A question we all ask is that if Jesus knew that Judas would betray Him, why did He choose him in the first place? And, if somebody had to betray the Lord, why condemn Judas? After all, he simply did God's will and fulfilled the Old Testament prophecy in Psalms 41:9; 55:12-14; 69:25; 109:8; Acts 1:15-20.

You might remember that before Jesus chose His 12 Apostles, He spent a whole night in prayer (Luke 6:12-16), so we must believe that it was the Father's will that Judas be among them (John 8:29). But the selection of Judas did not seal his fate; rather, it gave him opportunity to watch the Lord Jesus closely, believe, and be saved. God in His sovereignty had determined that His Son would be betrayed by a friend, but divine foreknowledge does not destroy human responsibility or accountability. Judas made each decision freely and would be judged accordingly, even though he still fulfilled the decree of God (Acts 2:23).

The fact that the disciples were puzzled by this strange announcement reveals that they did not know Judas' true character, their own hearts, or the prophecies in the Psalms. It appears that they all ask the question after Jesus made this announcement, “Is it I?” (Matthew 26:22-25). Nor did they remember the Lord's statements that He would be betrayed into the hands of the enemy (Matthew 17:22; 20:18). If Peter had fully understood what was happening, he might have used his sword on Judas!

There is much about Judas that remains a mystery to us, and we must not speculate too much. Judas is certainly a witness to the sinlessness of Jesus Christ, for if anybody could have given witness against Him, it was Judas. However, the authorities had to find false witnesses in order to build their case against Jesus. Remember when Judas went back to the chief priest and gave them back their money admitted that he had "betrayed innocent blood" (Matthew 27:4).

It is at this point that Judas left the Upper Room to go to the religious leaders and get ready for the arrest of Jesus in the Garden. Judas went out "and it was night" (John 13:30), for he was obeying the prince of darkness (Luke 22:53). Jesus had said, “Woe to that man by whom He is betrayed”.  That man was Judas, and for him it was night, and is still night, and always will be night!

We must also remember that Satan can still appear as an angel of light, and like Judas, sit in our church, stand in the pulpit, serve on the leadership team, and deceive everyone as he destroys the church. Paul warned the church about these people in 2 Corinthians 11:13-15.

One day Jesus will expose these people for who they really are! In the meantime, we should be aware!

God bless!