Dr Paul Allen

Octavius Winslow once famously said, “Who delivered up Jesus to die? Not Judas, for money; not Pilate, for fear; not the Jews, for envy—but the Father for love.” 1  We could just as easily edit this statement in the following way: “Who put Jesus on the cross? Judas, for money; Pilate, for fear; the Jews, for envy; and you and me, for enmity.”  We should never tire of hearing this truth, to which we must often return. Our understanding of the nature of our depravity is essential if we are to rightly understand the nature of Jesus's death. In short, the doctrine of human depravity helps us better understand who delivered Jesus up to the death on the cross. When considering the nature of sin, many professing Christians focus on the horizontal relationships they sustain with those around them. In a genuine sense, we have all been culturally conditioned to think of the manifold ways we violate the last six—rather than the first four—commandments.  Perhaps it is because the rel...

Then Satan entered Judas, called Iscariot, one of the Twelve. And Judas went to the chief priests and the officers of the temple guard and discussed with them how he might betray Jesus. Luke 22:3-4 Everyone knows that Judas betrayed Jesus, but why did Judas betray him? In the end, we’ll never know, because Judas killed himself shortly afterward and his motives were lost to history. Luke records that “Satan entered Judas.” What in the world does that mean? Most of our minds go to the Exorcist with heads spinning around and levitating bodies. But I don’t think that’s what happened. More than likely, all Satan did was have to plant an idea, a deception in Judas’ mind, and Judas took it and ran with it. That’s been Satan’s preferred plan of attack from the very beginning (Genesis 3:1). Why would Judas betray Jesus? Like the expectation of the crowds, he could have signed up to follow Jesus because he thought Jesus was his one-way ticket to a revolution against Rome. But Jesus would never p...

The task of washing anybody’s feet was seen by the Jews as peculiarly demeaning; it was one of the few things which the Law stated a Jewish slave should not be asked to do—it should be left to a Gentile slave. Jesus and his disciple group had been invited to use the Upper Room for this occasion. It would have been carpeted, and custom demanded that they wash filthy dusty feet before they occupied the room.  But there was no Gentile slave, and none of the disciples were prepared to do such a thing, and so they did nothing about it. Jesus therefore took the opportunity of teaching the disciples a lesson in humility: What they were not prepared to do for one another he, their “Lord and Master,” did (v 14). WASH THOSE DIRTY FEET, ANYBODY? It is clear, however, that there are profounder dimensions to this narrative than what lies on the surface. Peter, protesting at Jesus washing his feet, is told first that only later will he be able to understand what Jesus is doing and, secondly, tha...

The intercession of our Great High Priest is the foundation for our confidence when it comes to our perseverance. It also helps us make sense of the accounts of Peter and Judas, two of Jesus’ disciples who experienced a serious fall. One disciple’s fall away from Christ is seen as a final and full work of apostasy, whereas the other disciple’s fall is not final and full because he is restored. And we see that their crime against Christ was very similar. Judas betrayed Jesus. And that same night, Peter denied Christ. These two men who had been disciples with Jesus during his earthly ministry committed treason against Him in his darkest hour. And there are further similarities in these two examples in that Jesus predicted both Peter’s and Judas’ diabolical acts. But we recall that when Jesus said, “One of you will betray me,” the disciples said among themselves, “Who is it, Lord? Is it I?” When Judas asked, “Is it I, Rabbi?” Jesus said to him, “You have said so” (Matt. 26:25). Jesus...

…Jesus was troubled in his spirit, and testified, “Truly, truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me.”The disciples looked at one another, uncertain of whom he spoke. One of his disciples, whom Jesus loved, was reclining at table at Jesus’ side, so Simon Peter motioned to him to ask Jesus of whom he was speaking. So that disciple, leaning back against Jesus, said to him, “Lord, who is it?” Jesus answered, “It is he to whom I will give this morsel of bread when I have dipped it.”So when he had dipped the morsel, he gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. Then after he had taken the morsel, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, “What you are going to do, do quickly.”Now no one at the table knew why he said this to him. Some thought that, because Judas had the moneybag, Jesus was telling him, “Buy what we need for the feast,” or that he should give something to the poor. So, after receiving the morsel of bread, he immediately went out. - John 13:21-30 Days before his ...

Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands and that he had come from God and was going back to God, rose from supper.  He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him. - John 13:1-5 Sometimes, we like to think that everyone would love Jesus if only He did more for them. Maybe, if he showed up in their life, spoke to them, or did a miracle in front of them they would believe in Him. The example of Judas Iscariot shows that is not the case .  For three years, Judas heard Jesus pray and pr...

The intercession of our Great High Priest is the foundation for our confidence when it comes to our perseverance. It also helps us make sense of the accounts of Peter and Judas, two of Jesus' disciples who experienced a serious fall. One disciple's fall away from Christ is seen as a final and full work of apostasy, whereas the other disciple's fall is not final and full because he is restored. And we see that their crime against Christ was very similar. Judas betrayed Jesus. And that same night, Peter denied Christ. These two men who had been disciples with Jesus during his earthly ministry committed treason against Him in his darkest hour. And there are further similarities in these two examples in that Jesus predicted both Peter's and Judas' diabolical acts. But we recall that when Jesus said, "One of you will betray me," the disciples said among themselves, "Who is it, Lord? Is it I?" When Judas asked, "Is it I, Rabbi?" Jesus sa...

“And Judas also, which betrayed him, knew the place: for Jesus ofttimes resorted thither with his disciples.” ( John 18:2 ) In the 18th and 19th chapters of John’s gospel, there are four “places” where Jesus had to go to accomplish our salvation. The first was the place as noted in our text: He, “knowing all things that should come upon him” ( John 18:4 ), nevertheless went directly to that place, knowing that Judas would meet Him there. Then He went to the place of trial: “Pilate . . . brought Jesus forth, and sat down in the judgment seat in a place that is called . . . Gabbatha” ( John 19:13 ). But He did not stay there long; the mockery of a trial was soon over, and Pilate delivered Him to be crucified. “And they took Jesus, and led him away. And he bearing his cross went forth into a place called the place of a skull” ( John 19:16-17 ). And in that place called Golgotha, He died for our sins. He was betrayed in a place called Gethsemane, condemned in a place called Gabbatha, an...

Antichrist with the devil, from the Deeds of the Antichrist (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) The Antichrist is not a system of evil, nor an anti-Christian organization, but instead, a single individual being, a person yet to appear. In support of this we appealed to the declaration of our Lord recorded in John 5:43; “I am come in My Father’s name, and ye receive Me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive.” Here the Saviour both compares and contrasts the Man of Sin with Himself. The point of comparison is that, like the Saviour, he shall offer himself to Israel ; the contrast is, that unlike Christ who was rejected by the Jews , the false messiah shall be “received” by them. If, then, the Antichrist many be compared and contrasted with the Christ of God, he, too, must be a person, an individual being. Again; we called attention to the expression used by the apostle Paul in 2 Thess. 2:—“That Man of Sin,” “the Son of Perdition ,” “he that opposeth and exalteth hi...

English: The Last Supper (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Judas had planned to give them a signal, saying, ‘The man I kiss is Jesus . Arrest him.’ At once Judas went to Jesus and said, ‘Greetings, Teacher!’ and kissed him.” Matthew 26:48–49 NCV When betrayal comes, what do you do? Get out? Get angry? Get even? You have to deal with it some way. Let’s see how Jesus dealt with it. Begin by noticing how Jesus saw Judas. “Jesus answered, ‘Friend, do what you came to do’” ( Matthew 26:50 NCV). Of all the names I would have chosen for Judas, it would not have been “friend.” What Judas did to Jesus was grossly unfair. There is no indication that Jesus ever mistreated Judas. When, during the Last Supper , Jesus told the disciples that his betrayer sat at the table, they didn’t turn to one another and whisper, “It’s Judas. Jesus told us he would do this.” He had known it, but he treated the betrayer as if he were faithful. It’s even more unfair when you consider that the religious l...

English: "The Judas Kiss", (Mark 14:45) by Gustave Doré. Judas kisses Jesus in order to betray him to the guards. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Jesus put a thief in charge of his moneybag . Has that ever struck you as odd? Last week we focused at Mary, who poured a year’s wages on Jesus’s feet, and Judas, who saw Mary’s worshipful act as huge waste, because “he was a thief, and having charge of the moneybag he used to help himself to what was put into it” (John 12:6).  But this fact begs the question: Why was Judas carrying the moneybag in the first place?  Jesus could have given the moneybag to Nathaniel, “an Israelite indeed, in whom there [was] no deceit” (John  1:47 ), or to John, “the disciple whom Jesus loved ” (John  21:20 ), or to Levi, who had extensive financial experience (Luke  5:27 ). But he didn’t. Jesus chose Judas to be the treasurer of his itinerant nonprofit. One is tempted to offer the Lord some consulting on good stewardship. Donor...