Betrayed

While he was still speaking a crowd came up, and the man who was called Judas, one of the Twelve, was leading them. He approached Jesus to kiss him, but Jesus asked him, “Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?”

When Jesus’ followers saw what was going to happen, they said, “Lord, should we strike with our swords?” And one of them struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his right ear.
 

But Jesus answered, “No more of this!” And he touched the man’s ear and healed him. 

(Luke 22:47-51)
 

In these verses we see the angry crowd led by one of Jesus’ own disciples – Judas. Judas, one of Jesus’ closest friends, betrays Him with a kiss. How ironic! To us, a kiss is generally a sweet sign of love, and in Bible times it was an act of friendship. Yet Judas desecrates and abuses it. Hmmm … I wonder how often we desecrate and abuse what is sweet and good?
 

“Man sees your actions, but God, your motives.”
(Thomas a Kempis)
 

“Beware of no man more than of yourself; we carry our worst enemies within us.”

(Charles Spurgeon)
 

God is looking for obedient behavior from His children stemming from proper motives! I am reminded of David’s words to his son Solomon regarding the building of the temple:

And you, my son Solomon, acknowledge the God of your father, and serve him with wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind, for the LORD searches every heart and understands every motive behind the thoughts. If you seek him, he will be found by you; but if you forsake him, he will reject you forever. Consider now, for the LORD has chosen you to build a temple as a sanctuary. Be strong and do the work. (1 Chronicles 28:9-10)
 

Have you ever noticed that there are simply no secrets hidden from Jesus? Knowing full well who was to betray Him, Jesus was aware of Judas’ “secret” sign which would show the crowd accompanying him exactly who they were looking for to arrest.

I am reminded of God’s words in Jeremiah:

Can anyone hide in secret places so that I cannot see him?” declares the LORD. “Do not I fill heaven and earth?” declares the LORD. (Jeremiah 23:24)
 

Nothing is outside the realm of God’s omniscience–nothing!
 

I am the LORD, and there is no other; apart from me there is no God. I will strengthen you, though you have not acknowledged me, so that from the rising of the sun to the place of its setting men may know there is none besides me. I am the LORD, and there is no other. I form the light and create darkness, I bring prosperity and create disaster; I, the LORD, do all these things. (Isaiah 45:5-7)
 

I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say: My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please. (Isaiah 46:10)

 

Take It to Heart

“Jesus is the One who shows us the paradoxical route to meaning in a chaotic and hostile world. It’s the paradox of the gospel: Strength is found in weakness. Control is found in dependency. Power is found in surrender … God uses the frustrations of this life and the hurt of relationships to compel us to look beyond what we can control to the God who controls all things in order to woo us to himself. As we move from control to surrender, we move from chasing the wind under the sun to embracing God above it.”

(Dan Allender, Breaking the Idols of You)

Beth Yoe Devotionals

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Don't Fall Asleep!

Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. “Could you men not keep watch with me for one hour?” he asked Peter. “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak.”

 

He went away a second time and prayed, “My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done.”
 

When he came back, he again found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy. So he left them and went away once more and prayed the third time, saying the same thing.
 

Then he returned to the disciples and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Look, the hour is near, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us go! Here comes my betrayer!”

(Matthew 26:40-45)
 

Ever been depressed over circumstances differing greatly from what was hoped or perhaps even prayed for? If so, you are in good company. These disciples, exhausted from sorrow, were experiencing such despair. Much more than just mere followers of Jesus, these guys were Jesus' most trusted friends. But they were tired!
 

Oftentimes, we too are so discouraged over a situation that we choose to retreat in sleep, under the comfort of the comforter, when in reality our comfort must come from the Comforter!

Jesus cries out to us: “Why are you sleeping?”
 

“He speaks as one amazed to see them so stupid. How small a thing it was that he expected from them–only to keep watch with him. If he had bid them do some great thing, or die with him, they thought they could have done it; and yet they could not do it, when he desired them to keep watch with him … Yet, He considered their frame, and did not chide them, for he remembered that they were but flesh.” (Matthew Henry)
 

Friend, this is our hour! Jesus admonishes us to watch and pray, emphasizing the weakness of the flesh even though our spirits are so well-intentioned!
 

Paul warns:

So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall! (1 Corinthians 10:12)
 

He adds in the book of Ephesians:

And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints. (Ephesians 6:18)
 

Through the power of the Holy Spirit, we are to always be praying and alert, not only when the enemy attacks, but on all occasions.
 

“Labor to get a deep sense of the majesty of God, and of his mercy, upon thy mind, that thy prayers may be fervent and earnest; and God will bless thee.” (C.H. Bogatzky)

 

Take It to Heart

Let all of our trials lead us to earnest prayer. May we pray from the heart! As we call upon the Lord, He will hear us and He will help us.
 

Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. (Jeremiah 29:12-13)

Beth Yoe Devotionals

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JesusOnline Ministries

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Peter Allan C. Mariano

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Search Me, O God!

But he replied, “Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death.” Jesus answered, “I tell you, Peter, before the rooster crows today, you will deny three times that you know me.”  (Luke 22:33-34)

 

We must be on guard against the presumption of our actions lest, like Peter, we fail. Peter, as confident as he was in his own heart, was not, ready to go to prison and death with Jesus. Our hearts are untrustworthy. Let’s give Peter credit; this occurred prior to the indwelling of the Holy Spirit’s power.

The flesh is flawed at best, nevertheless we are to be on guard against the deceitfulness of our own hearts:

The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? “I the LORD search the heart and examine the mind, to reward a man according to his conduct, according to what his deeds deserve.”
(Jeremiah 17:9-10)
 

The Lord is the only true discerner of man’s heart, of each person’s innermost thoughts and motives. This is particularly important for us to acknowledge in the spiritual realm.
 

“Private loop-holes, sinful lusts, can hide themselves at times so well as to seem quite dead; but if we grow careless, they spring up again on a favourable occasion, and sometimes appear in a spiritual shape, and take a fine spiritual name.

Thus, though the flesh exceedingly likes sensual indulgences, yet to flatter its lust of pride, and the vanity of being thought a perfect man, it will sometimes endure great mortification. Therefore we ought always to be jealous of ourselves, and guard as much against self-righteousness as licentiousness; for the flesh is never more fleshly and dangerous than when it has the most spiritual appearance, and covers its lusts with the holiness and spirituality of angels.” (K. H. Von Bogatzky)

 

Take It to Heart

How do we go about searching and guarding our hearts so as to equip ourselves for the high calling of discipleship? Like King David we must ask God to continually search our hearts and point out to us what needs to go and what needs to be fanned into flames.

We must seek His ways fully through the diligent study and application of His Word, through prayer, through praise and thanksgiving, and through hiding His Word in our hearts.
 

Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. (Psalm 139:23-24)

 

“The wiser we are in our own conceits, the more negligent are we in prayer, the more destitute of true wisdom and faith; for the Lord gives sight only to the blind, and to the babes, who pray for it. Therefore the deepest humblings go before the greatest blessings. O my blessed Saviour! Since I am always blind and ignorant of myself, if I am not guided by thine eyes, I desire always to look up to thee, and do everything under thy direction.” (K. H. Von Bogatzky)
 

“Assist and teach me how to pray; incline my nature to obey; what thou abhorrest let me flee; and only love what pleases thee.” (K. H. Von Bogatzky)
 

Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” (James 4:13-15)

Beth Yoe Devotionals

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JesusOnline Ministries

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Peter Allan C. Mariano

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The New Covenant

After taking the cup, he gave thanks and said, “Take this and divide it among you. For I tell you I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you. 

(Luke 22:17-20)
 

The Master’s table is our individual and corporate privilege! When we come to it we obtain a fresh and renewed awareness of the precious benefits of our Savior’s sacrifice. It is to be our constant reminder of the person and work of Jesus. His body broken, His blood poured out, the elements constantly pointing to the blessed truth that Christ Jesus died for sinners, our foundation for encouragement, hope, and joy. The blood of animals, while commanded through the law, was not sufficient. The constant sacrificing for sins was proof enough of that.

The writer of Hebrews tells us:

The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming–not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. If it could, would they not have stopped being offered? For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins. But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins, because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. (Hebrews 10:1-4)

 

Jeremiah prophesied regarding God’s future establishment of a new covenant which would be based on the full and eternal atonement secured by the death of Christ Jesus.

This is the new covenant of which Jesus refers to in our verses for today:

“The time is coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them, “declares the LORD.  “This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time,” declares the LORD. “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.(Jeremiah 31:31-33)

This new covenant is based on an individual, personal knowledge of God and is characterized by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. It is an eternal covenant of peace which Jesus, the Prince of Peace, ushers in.

Paul tells us in Colossians:

When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross. (Colossians 2:13-15)
 

“The agony in Gethsemane was the agony of the Son of God in fulfilling His destiny as the Savior of the world. The veil is pulled back here to reveal all that it cost Him to make it possible for us to become sons of God. His agony was the basis for the simplicity of our salvation. The Cross of Christ was a triumph for the Son of Man. It was not only a sign that our Lord had triumphed, but that He had triumphed to save the human race. Because of what the Son of Man went through, every human being has been provided with a way of access into the very presence of God.”

(Oswald Chambers)

 

Take It to Heart

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith–and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God–not by works, so that no one can boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9)
 

God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 
(2 Corinthians 5:21)
 

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
(John 3:16-17)

Beth Yoe Devotionals

Copyright © 2014

JesusOnline Ministries

P. O. Box 6017

Great Falls, MT 59405

======

Peter Allan C. Mariano

Links2Prosperity Enterprises 

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