The Fate of Judas
It has long been suggested or even accepted that Judas, he that betrayed The Christ, is in Hell; Either for the act of betrayal itself or because he committed suicide. I challenge that notion.
To understand this, we must first understand that the roll Judas played was absolutely necessary to fulfill prophecy contained in scripture (Matthew 26:56, John 17:12). Second, we must understand that it was not actually Judas that committed the act of betrayal, but it was Satan that entered Judas for this purpose (Luke 22:3-4). I do, however, concede that Judas was weak in his faith thus allowing this possession to occur.
Judas, however, before his untimely death, did indeed repent of his sin and confessed, stating that he had sinned by betraying innocent blood (Matthew 27:4). He had even gone so far as attempting to return the thirty pieces of silver (Matthew 27:3). When the money was refused, he threw the thirty pieces to the ground at the feet of the priests and departed (Matthew 27:4-5). With those words and actions, Judas demonstrated his belief in The Christ, and in that moment, he turned away from, or repented, of his sin. Until that moment, he had been condemned, but he recognized his condemnation as we all must do. He confessed and repented, or turned away from his sin. Until that moment, he was indeed lost as Jesus stated (John 17:12).
Judas saw that he could not undo that which he had done. He saw that the priests would not be moved from their endeavor and were predisposed to seeing that Jesus died. Much sorrow and woe fell upon him as Jesus Himself had said that it would (Matthew 26:24). He indeed knew that it would have been better that he, personally, had never been born.
Judas then made the same mistake that many Christians make to this very day. Even though he had confessed his sin and repented, he held on to all of the guilty feelings. He did not understand that forgiveness was his, and his inability to forgive himself would lead him to his ultimate demise in this world. How much sorrow and woe did Judas suffer? How great was his torment? Our Bible does not give us these particular details. We only know that it was so great that Judas left the thirty pieces of silver at the feet of the temple priests and went and hanged himself.
His sorrow, his torment, his woe, is not difficult for us to imagine. Many of us have been in that very same place in our hearts. We desperately want forgiveness, but in our minds we hear the lies of Satan tell us that what we have done is so very bad that God will never forgive us. The lies tell us that we are not worth saving.
The truth is that every single one of us in this world is worth saving, even you. God loves you enough to forgive you no matter what you have done. We read in the Gospel of John that “God gave His only begotten Son, that WHOEVER believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). That “whoever” includes every one of us no matter what we have done. The Christ is willing to forgive us our sins, so we need to be willing to forgive ourselves. He died to forgive me; He died to forgive you. He is our resurrection to eternal life. We should never mock His sacrifice by refusing to forgive ourselves. We must not believe the lies of Satan. We can be forgiven.
So, what of the fate of Judas? Judas, like all true Christians, is numbered among the forgiven. Many well meaning pastors and preachers, when pressed on this issue, will tell us that “Judas is in his own place” referring us to Acts 1:25. “His own place…” What exactly does this mean? Judas returned the thirty pieces of silver to the temple priests. They would not accept it. They considered it blood money. Judas threw it down in the temple anyway. The priests, being unwilling to accept it, most likely to preserve their own sense of piety, collected it and used it to purchase the desolate Potters field and had the field “deeded” (for lack of better term) to Judas. Judas had in fact gone down to his own place, and there hanged himself. The place was now called the field of blood. The ultimate fate of Judas will be the same as the rest of us who are forgiven.
Glory to God in the highest in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ.
Bruce Scott is a Christian man residing in North Georgia with his wife and six children. He has been called of God to found The Enochian Church of Jesus the Christ, a church that is founded of all of God’s word. The church will eventually be located in or near Myrtle Beach, South Carolina as God has shown him the need to accomplish this work there.
Copyright Bruce Scott 2008