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Author: Stephen Weller
644 words, 3 minutes read time

One of the Disciples is a Deceiver

Scripture: John 13:18-20

With the previous lesson we finished the section on greatness equals serving and loving. With this lesson we begin a new section in which the disciple who will betray Jesus is identified.

^{Jn 13:18} I am not speaking of all of you; I know whom I have chosen. But the Scripture will be fulfilled, ‘He who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me.’ ¹⁹ I am telling you this now, before it takes place, that when it does take place you may believe that I am he. ²⁰ Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever receives the one I send receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.”

“I am not speaking of all of you” refers back to verses 10 and 11 in which Jesus points out that one of them was not clean; the one who would betray him. Jesus chose the twelve, including Judas, to be his disciples and at the time he chose them, he knew that Judas would betray him. In John 6:70 (ESV), Jesus said, “Did I not choose you, the twelve? And yet one of you is a devil.” In Luke 6 we read about a group of people who followed Jesus around who he knew as his disciples. From among these disciples he chose twelve and referred to them as apostles (Luke 6:13).

In John 17, Jesus is praying to his Father and said, “While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.” Of the twelve disciples, who were chosen, one was not chosen for salvation but was left for destruction after fulfilling his assignment of deceiving Jesus. Like all of us, Judas was born spiritually dead and left in his sin. The other eleven would come to salvation in their time.

Jesus quotes Psalm 41:9 (ESV) in reference to Judas: “Even my close friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted his heel against me.” This verse specifically referred to Absalom’s rebellion against King David.

Jesus is pointing out to his disciples that he knows that one of them will turn against him. If this turns out to be true then this would be an example of foreknowledge and an indication that Jesus is who he says he is; “that I am he.” This “I am he” has overtones of a claim to deity. We see this in John 8:28 ESV: “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he.”; in John 8:58 ESV: “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.”; and in John 18:5, 6 and 8, when they came to arrest Jesus, he identified himself as “I am he.”

Through the great commission, Jesus is sending out anyone who is a disciple of his with the gospel message to find and bring in loss sheep. Anyone who receives us with the message, receives him and anyone who receives Jesus will receive those he sends.

Conclusion

If Jesus knew that Judas would deceive him then why was he chosen? The plan laid out by God for our salvation, before creation, required someone to inform those chosen to arrest Jesus of when and where that could happen. Without them realizing it, God often chooses the unsaved to accomplish his purpose. At the time they may think they are working against God, but in the end we see that he has used their evil for his good. God used evil nations to discipline Israel when she disobeyed, and he can grow the church under persecution.