How would you fill in the blank? Have you ever had it filled in for you by someone who was angry or hurting themselves, and attributed their pain to you? Or maybe it was you who was using those words because you were disappointed with the way a relationship turned out, or with life in general. Whatever the reason may be, those words can sting if they’re said angrily, but what if they were words of caution, but you didn’t heed?
Jesus used those words to warn one of His disciples without naming the individual I believe, to protect his identity from the others, and also as a way to get the person to reconsider. Jesus knew why He came and how He would die, but His heart was always for the redeeming of lives never losing them. The reason He gives warnings is to protect us. Some of us heed others rush headlong to their destruction. Temptation to sin is as old as Adam’s creation, but the way of escape is just as old. Before the yielding, there’s always a warning. It’s called conscience. John 16:8; 1 Corinthians 10:13
A seared conscience is to be avoided at all costs. It will most often lead to death and heartache. Once we’ve allowed our hearts to grow cold to His warnings and ways of escaping, there’s no going back. There are some things you can never make right or undo. Hence Jesus’ warning the night He was betrayed. It’s one thing for a person in anger to say it would have been better for you not to be born, it’s quite another when the One who created you says it. But there was no malice intended here, Jesus’ heart must’ve been broken, knowing that His warning would not have been heeded.
“In the evening Jesus arrived with the Twelve. As they were at the table eating, Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, one of you eating with Me here will betray Me.” Greatly distressed, each one asked in turn, “Am I the one?” He replied, “It is one of you twelve who is eating from this bowl with Me. For the Son of Man must die, as the Scriptures declared long ago. But how terrible it will be for the one who betrays Him. It would be far better for that man if he had never been born!”
Mark 14:17-21 NLT
This entire exchange baffles me. Judas knew what he had done and was planning to do after the Passover meal, Jesus even gave the perplexed disciples a clue, which they all missed, because I believe Peter would’ve committed murder that night, Judas wouldn’t have had the opportunity to kill himself, which was proven when he cut the man’s ear off that same night, John 18:10-11. But Judas was being given a lifeline and chose to ignore it. Seared consciences will do that. 1Timothy 4. He probably thought as long as he wasn’t outed by name, he was safe. But was he? Are you? What are you hiding that is about to cost you dearly if you continue to ignore the Holy Spirit’s warning?
What could possibly mean so much to you that you would lose your soul or life over it? Judas was a zealot. He wanted Jesus to become political, free the Jews from the oppression of the Romans. But that wasn’t Jesus’ assignment. Judas was always angry about something. He was the loudest voice about the costly perfume being wasted on Jesus. He was easily taken in betrayal for another reason, GREED. Appetite can be a slow walk to disaster.
“But Judas Iscariot, the disciple who would soon betray Him, said, “That perfume was worth a year’s wages. It should have been sold and the money given to the poor.” Not that he cared for the poor—he was a thief, and since he was in charge of the disciples’ money, he often stole some for himself.”
John 12:4-6 NLT
These messages have been inspirational, thought provoking and sometimes a warning bell. I’m just glad I’m only the messenger. He speaks -I write. I’m the first partaker of what He shares so I get it. It’s not for everyone, it’s for those who desire to go deeper in their study of God’s Word. Hence the recent hacking of my website- If you don’t like what is being shared, don’t read it. It is a choice not a command.
We can choose to ignore the warnings like Judas, Matthew 26:25, and Peter, Matthew 26:31-35, or we can heed and be saved. The choice is ours. Jesus’ words provoked the others to at least ask if they were the ones, Judas asked, then went away to seal the deal of betrayal. If you’re ignoring the Holy Spirit’s warnings, He’s giving you another chance through this message to get it right before you hang yourself. Will you hear His voice and not harden your hearts?
Written by permission of the Holy Spirit
W. Tennant
June 7, 2021