I feel led of the Lord to postpone my promised message on suicide until next week. In the context and chronology of this scripture, I think that it is important to deal with another subject first. We touched on it last week, but sometimes a touch is not enough. Just smelling the roast in the oven, or the chicken on the grill, is not as satisfying as eating it. Judas’ confession, in emotions of which I can only guess, included, “I have betrayed the innocent blood.” Those words open pages in the great theological books of the library of Heaven.
I hope that I didn’t mislead anyone last week in my brief comments on verse 4. I didn’t want to imply that the definite article “the” is in the Greek text. It isn’t. What I said, and what I hope you heard was that our translators, men who were the most expert of their day and no doubt as good or better than translators today – those men determined that the Greek demanded that definite article. Rather than saying, “I have betrayed innocent blood,” they felt that Judas referred to “THE innocent blood.” And, in my limited education, I fully agree with what we read in our Authorized Version of the scriptures.
This morning lets begin by asking – what was it that Judas probably meant?
For a moment, I hope that you theologians can lay aside what you know to be the true meaning of the words. We will come back to that in a few minutes. And while we do that, let’s assume that Judas had no idea of the full meaning of what he said. Since he had failed to understand so many of the lessons Jesus had taught over the last three years… since he didn’t understand that the Messiah is also the eternal Son of God... since he didn’t understand the nature and need for the sacrifice of Christ for our sins…. we might also assume that he didn’t understand the true nature of Jesus of Nazareth. Probably what Judas meant – and certainly what the priests heard – was that he believed Jesus to be innocent of the charges for which He was condemned – or at least that they were not worthy of death.
Remember – Judas was not a member of the council, nor was he invited to their middle-of-the-night meeting. So how did he know about the death sentence? It could have been that someone on the council felt it was his responsibility to pass that on to the man. Or it could have become nearly instant knowledge throughout the city. There may have been one of the temple guards, who went to breakfast at some nearby diner, and he told someone – who told someone else. Or someone might have shared the news with his wife, who told a gaggle of other women. Likely the story spread like wild fire throughout Jerusalem and came back to Judas. Now, after six or eight hours of reflection – and hearing that Jesus was condemned to die – the weight of his sin came crushing down on him in a way that Bunyan’s Pilgrim never dreamed.
Judas ran to the temple and into the office of the high priest, making his confession. Does it matter what the decisive charge might have been? Blasphemy against the Temple – a ridiculous, if not impossible charge. Blasphemy in claiming to be the Son of God, of which Jesus had been accused much earlier. Healing on the Sabbath; eating gleaned corn without washing His hands; rescuing a drowning boy without removing his phylacteries? It doesn’t matter what the final charges were, Judas had “delivered” – “betrayed” Him into their hands. Christ might have been walking into the temple at that very moment, if it were not for Judas’ betrayal.
And Judas knew – down in the depths of his heart Judas knew that Christ was not worthy of death. He was present when Jesus said “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up,” and he knew exactly what was meant. He knew that all those Sabbath day miracles were acts of kindness and pure grace. He may have even believed, in some confused sort of way, that Jesus might have been the Messiah. Judas was sure Christ was not worthy of execution – “I have betrayed the innocent blood.” Those were the facts of the case, and that the vaunted leaders of his nation were guilty of murder.
Beyond that, in what other ways was it that Christ had “the innocent blood” flowing through His veins?
Beginning at the beginning it must be understood that there is no sin in God – that is – in Jehovah. To someone raised in Christianity, that may sound like a ridiculous, useless or an obvious statement. But please keep in mind that in the majority of human religions most gods have been sinful beings. Since man enjoys making god in his own image, most gods have been devious and wicked. So unlike nearly every deity – in the days of Moses, the God of Israel was declared to be holy and righteous. Exodus 15:11 – “Who is like unto thee, O LORD, among the gods? who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?” Psalm 99:9 – “Exalt the Lord our God, and worship at his holy hill, or the Lord our God is holy.” Unlike in the temples of the false Gods, before Jehovah’s throne the angels cry back and forth to one another, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is fully of His glory.”
As planned within the Godhead – as decreed by the infinite and holy God – “When the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.” As every six-year-old in a Christian Sunday School knows, years ago, an angel came to Mary, the future wife of Joseph, saying… “The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.” Notice that the angel called Mary’s baby “that holy thing born of thee.” Those Sunday School children also know that an angel visited Mary’s fiancé and told him, “Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.” As miraculous as it seems – as miraculous as it really was – Christ was born the son of Mary, but without a human Father. “When the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth HIS Son – (but) made of a woman” as far as His physical body is concerned. As far as the spiritual nature of Jesus of Nazareth is concerned, He was and is entirely sinless deity.
As a result of this miraculous union of human flesh and divine spirit, we are not the least bit surprised to read the testimonies of Jesus’ sinless life. Despite sounding flippant, you might say that the most dominant contributor to this union of God and man – the most dominant contributor dominated the final product. While He walked upon this earth, and even yet today, Jesus Christ was and is the God-man. He may have curbed and curtailed some of His Divine attributes, leaving some things in the hands of His Heavenly Father or the Holy Spirit, but in other things His deity could not be laid aside.
And one of those areas was His holiness – His sinlessness – or to put it simply – His “innocence.” In John 8 Jesus demanded that people stand and point out any sin in His life – everyone remained quiet. In the Old Testament it was prophesied that not even a fib or white lie would leave His lips – Isaiah 53:9. And then in retrospect, one of the disciples who had been with Him from the beginning testified that Christ, “did not sin, neither was guile found in his mouth.” “Guile” speaks of “subtly,” “deceit” or “craftiness.” The writer of the Book of Hebrews described Christ as our great high priest “who is holy, harmless, undefiled and separate from sinners,” in the sense that He Himself was sinless. As God’s lamb, sacrificed for the sins of many, Christ was “without blemish and without spot.” “God the Father has made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him” – II Corinthians 5:21.
Several of those verses just quoted emphasize the important reason and result of Jesus’ innocence.
From the very beginning of the Hebrew nation, and probably much earlier than that, the blood sacrifices made to God were to be the best available. Scripture after scripture told Israel to choose the most perfect lamb or bullock or goat available. In some cases those animals were to be set apart from the herd in order to be studied more closely. Only the finest and best was worthy of God, because He is holy and perfect Himself. Many in Israel might have thought that those animals fully satisfied the demands of the law against their sins. In reality the sacrifices did so only by faith – only in a representative sort of way. Each and every Passover lamb, evening sacrifice or goat of the Atonement was a picture or type of sacrifice which was to come – the Son of God Himself. Each animal was the best available, because they were representatives of the infinitely perfect sacrifice which was to come.
We opened our service this morning by reading from Isaiah 53. Verse 9 says that the coming sacrifice “had none no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.” In prophecy we are told what Judas repeated “I have betrayed the innocent blood.” Almost as important as the character of the sacrifice is what Isaiah says about the purpose of the sacrifice. “He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken. And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.” Notice God’s words in that last verse – “my righteous servant shall JUSTIFY many.” The meaning is clear – God’s holy servant would, by His sacrificial death, justify or render many sinners righteous. It was absolutely essential that the sacrifice for our sins, be absolutely holy – righteous – innocent.
Another scripture which was quoted earlier came from II Corinthians 5. Please turn there, and follow along as I read from verse 17 down – “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God. For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” Paul tells us that the only way in which sinners like us could be reconciled to God is through Christ who was made sin for us. If He had been a sinner Himself, then He couldn’t possibly become sin for us. If Christ had been a sinner, then His death would have been – could only have been – for Himself.
In Hebrews 7 Paul was writing about Christ as a minister in a priestly order different from Israel’s tribe of Levi. He pointed out that through the years there had been a constant changing of the priestly guard. “They truly were many priests, because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death.” That’s kind of obvious. But speaking of Christ, “this man hath an unchangeable priesthood, because he continueth for ever.” “Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens; Who needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the people’s: for this he did once, when he offered up himself. For the law maketh men high priests which have infirmity; but the word of the oath, which was since the law, maketh the Son, who is consecrated for evermore.” Notice that Paul’s point in this chapter is that this priest – Christ Jesus – this priest after the order of Melchizedek, needs no sacrifice for Himself, like the priests of Levi, because He had no personal sin.
Peter, one of Jesus’ closest disciples, wrote about Christ’s sinlessness in his first epistle. At the heart of his references to salvation in I Peter 1:18-23 is the absolutely essential element of Jesus’ “innocence.” “Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you, Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God. Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently: Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.”
Then just a chapter later Peter does it again. I Peter 2:21 – “For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps: Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously: Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.”
It is not important to me whether or not Judas knew what he was saying in those words, “I have betrayed the innocent blood.” But it is important to me that you understand what God intended those words to mean. You, me, we all need a Saviour from our sins, because we are dead in sins and totally helpless to deliver ourselves. We deserve to spend eternity in the Lake of Fire. The only kind of Saviour sufficient to deliver us must be one thoroughly approved by God. And so God sent His own Son in the world to become that Saviour/Redeemer. Christ Jesus is completely without personal sin so He could bear my sin in His own body on the cross. And I know, I believe and I trust that is what happened that day two thousand years ago. Jesus died MY soul to save, and I humbly trust in His work that day. How about you?