Jesus decided to die for our sins and He did, at the set time. However, it’s sometimes confusing to know the role of Judas in the whole story. Jesus was on a mission to die for our sins. That’s the reason why He came. Did He need Judas’ help? Was Judas’ role even necessary? Does it mean if Judas hadn’t betrayed Jesus, Jesus wouldn’t have died? Did Jesus really need Judas to betray Him? Well, it wasn’t a matter of need. Just as certain actions (of the first Adam specifically) necessitated the need for Jesus to come and die for us, certain actions established Judas in the equation.
When you study the Bible carefully, you would realise that Judas was not the only weapon Satan used in the entire story. In Psalm 22:12-16, it was prophesied that the ones the enemy had prepared were the bulls of Bashan, raging and roaring lion, and dogs. Acts 4:27 identifies these entities as Herod, Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles (soldiers), and the people of Israel. However, Judas is given a fully separate prophecy in Psalm 109. As if Israel as a nation rejecting Jesus was not enough, one of Jesus’ own disciples had to betray him. It wasn’t prophesied that Peter should deny him but it was prophesied that one of the disciples should betray Him? Why?
30 Pieces of Silver
Before you can understand the entire story, you need to understand this amount of money first. The Law of Moses established 30 pieces of silver as the purchase price for a slave. Exodus 21:32 says “if the ox kills a male or a female servant, the owner shall give to the servant’s master thirty shekels/pieces of silver [the purchase price for a slave], and the ox shall be stoned”.
In Zechariah 11, the prophet symbolically acts as a shepherd representing God’s care for Israel, but the people reject him. When Zechariah ends his service, he asks them to pay him what they think his labor is worth, and they give him thirty pieces of silver, the compensation price for a slave in Exodus 21:32. God calls this a “handsome price,” with irony, showing Israel’s contempt for His covenant care. He then tells Zechariah to throw the money to the potter in the temple, symbolizing Israel’s rejection of God and the coming judgment. What coming judgement, you would ask? Or a better question will be, what exactly did the people of Israel do to warrant such a judgement?
The Potter’s Field
“The Lord said: Jeremiah, go to the pottery shop and buy a clay jar. Then take along some of the city officials and leading priests and go to Hinnom Valley, just outside the Potsherd Gate. Tell the people that I have said: I am the Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel, and you kings of Judah and you people of Jerusalem had better pay attention. I am going to bring so much trouble on this valley that everyone who hears about it will be shocked. The people of Judah stopped worshiping me and made this valley into a place of worship for Baal and other gods that have never helped them or their ancestors or their kings. And they have committed murder here, burning their young, innocent children as sacrifices to Baal. I have never even thought of telling you to do that”. What you just read is Jeremiah 19.
So you see! At the time of Jeremiah, the people of Israel went to the lowest point of Israel, in a valley called Hinnom Valley. In fact, this is the valley from which we get the word “Gehenna”. Gehenna represents hell. At the time of Jeremiah, they were slaughtering their children on altars in this valley. It was literally the gates of hell as Baal and many other gods were worshipped here. In contrast, the Temple in Jerusalem sits on a mountain which was the highest point in Jerusalem in ancient times. Because Israel had committed this abomination for so long, the altar that birthed Judas was cemented into the coming judgement.
The Field of Blood
“Men and brethren, this Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke before by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus; for he was numbered with us and obtained a part in this ministry.” (Now this man purchased a field with the wages of iniquity; and falling headlong, he burst open in the middle and all his entrails gushed out. And it became known to all those dwelling in Jerusalem; so that field is called in their own language, Akel Dama, that is, Field of Blood)”. What you just read is Peter speaking in Acts 1:16-19.
When Judas returned the 30 pieces of silver, the chief priests of the Temple in Matthew 27:6 decided not to put the money back into the treasury. They knew that it was money used to betray innocent blood. Rather, they purchased a field with that money. Matthew 27:7-8 said “they consulted together and bought with them the potter’s field, to bury strangers in. Therefore that field has been called the Field of Blood to this day.”. Unbeknownst to even them, they had bought the same field Jeremiah stood about 600 years back to prophesy. Then was fulfilled what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet, saying, “And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the value of Him who was priced, whom they of the children of Israel priced, and gave them for the potter’s field, as the Lord directed me”.
At the time of Jeremiah, it was a potter’s field. In the time of Jesus, although most parts of it were used as a refuse dump where fire burnt continually, there was a potter’s field there as well. Jesus talked about hell than any other person in Scriptures, and He usually used this particular place as the imagery for people to understand. The prophecy did not end there. The altar that birthed Judas is the same altar on which he died. The prophecy was not specifically for Judas per se, but the abominations of Israel had cemented a betrayer among his very disciples. This son of perdition not only represented the betrayal of Israel as a nation but cemented him as an antichrist figure birthed from the altars of abomination. No wonder the Bible said Satan entered him.
Altars are transgenerational. Abraham raised an altar and Jacob encountered God at the exact spot. Altars establish decrees and prophecies. No matter what this betrayer did, once he allows himself to be used, he can never be saved. He will forever be lost. Also, no prayer can cancel out what had already been established by the judgement. In like fashion, the altar that birthed the antichrist can also be seen in Scriptures. It has already been cemented into prophecy and absolutely nothing can change it. At this point, you should become excited at the number of things also cemented by God through Christ concerning you that absolutely nothing can alter.
The same Bible that said in the last days, the Spirit will be poured out on all flesh is the same Bible that says that in the last days, many shall depart from the faith. My question to you now is, which prophecy are you fulfilling? Both will come to pass. However, are you going to be a Judas or a John?
