Wednesday, March 2, 2016

Matthew 26 - The Conspiracy Begins

Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went unto the chief priests, And said unto them, What will ye give me, and I will deliver him unto you? And they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver. And from that time he sought opportunity to betray him. Matthew 26:14-16

As the Crucifixion week drew near, Jesus began to prepare His disciples for what was about to happen. He warned them that the Jewish leaders would conspire to kill Him, and as one would expect, this caused confusion and fear in the hearts of His followers. Even though Jesus had instructed them that His sacrifice was necessary for this New Covenant kingdom to be established, they did not have the understanding of what that meant - like most people of their day, they expected a physical kingdom ruled from the earthly Jerusalem. They did not yet have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit that would help bring the spiritual revelation that they needed to understand this new, spiritual kingdom--which is still the case for many professing Christians today! Without the Holy Spirit, it is impossible to understand the things of a Holy, spiritual God!

Sensing that Jesus was not going to establish a physical kingdom, Judas (one of the twelve) took the opportunity to sell Him out to the Jewish rulers. And for what? Thirty pieces of silver, which is exactly what the law stated was the payment for an ox that gored an innocent servant. Amazing! When Jesus informed His disciples that one of them would betray them, they were all in disbelief! They loved each other and had been through so much together and couldn't imagine one of them doing such a thing. But they did not know the heart of Judas Iscariot the way Jesus did. Jesus loved him and viewed him as a close friend but was not surprised at his actions; it had been prophesied long ago that His dear friend would sell Him out for the price of a disobedient ox! See Exodus 21: 28-36.

Tragic!

Links:
https://pjmiller.wordpress.com/2009/03/26/unheeded-or-misinterpreted-signs-the-destruction-of-jerusalem-70ad/

http://bible.christiansunite.com/jos/warindex.shtml

http://www.allthingsfulfilled.com/

http://www.godandscience.org/apologetics/haggadah.html