Illustration of His Methods
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Passover chamber, the joy of Christ’s presence, and the light of im-
mortal hope, he went forth to his evil work—into the outer darkness,
where hope was not.
“Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not,
and who should betray Him.”
John 6:64
. Yet, knowing all, He had
withheld no pleading of mercy or gift of love.
Seeing the danger of Judas, He had brought him close to Himself,
within the inner circle of His chosen and trusted disciples. Day after
day, when the burden lay heaviest upon His own heart, He had borne
the pain of continual contact with that stubborn, suspicious, brooding
spirit; He had witnessed and labored to counteract among His disciples
that continuous, secret, and subtle antagonism. And all this that no
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possible saving influence might be lacking to that imperiled soul!
“Many waters cannot quench love,
Neither can the floods drown it;” “
For love is strong as death.”
Song of Solomon 8:7, 6
.
So far as Judas himself was concerned, Christ’s work of love had
been without avail. But not so as regards his fellow disciples. To
them it was a lesson of lifelong influence. Ever would its example of
tenderness and long-suffering mold their intercourse with the tempted
and the erring. And it had other lessons. At the ordination of the
Twelve the disciples had greatly desired that Judas should become one
of their number, and they had counted his accession an event of much
promise to the apostolic band. He had come more into contact with
the world than they, he was a man of good address, of discernment and
executive ability, and, having a high estimate of his own qualifications,
he had led the disciples to hold him in the same regard. But the
methods he desired to introduce into Christ’s work were based upon
worldly principles and were controlled by worldly policy. They looked
to the securing of worldly recognition and honor—to the obtaining of
the kingdom of this world. The working out of these desires in the life
of Judas, helped the disciples to understand the antagonism between
the principle of self-aggrandizement and Christ’s principle of humility
and self-sacrifice—the principle of the spiritual kingdom. In the fate
of Judas they saw the end to which self-serving tends.