10 JUDAS PLANS JESUS’ ARREST-God chose an amazing plan to confound His enemies. He came in the form of a humble servant and suffered to save the world. An outstanding report which many did not, and do not believe.

The Old Testament prophets could not understand the prophecies given to them, yet they were prepared for this by animal suffering to cover their sins. This is the Good News of God to be given to the nations. The whole Bible reveals His Plan of His Love for people through His Own anguish. Despite all the miracles Jesus, God’s Messiah, had done, His teaching, His preaching throughout three and a half years, he was still rejected by His people, which fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah 53:1,6,10.

The Chief Priests planned to arrest Jesus so He could be taken out of the way, killed to quieten the crowd-they regarded Him as a threat to their comfortable positions in society. King David prophesied in Psalms that The Messiah would be betrayed by one of His close friends, one who Christ considered close, telling Him all, one who had been always close with Jesus and the other disciples for over three years. A wound from a friend hurts. Jesus did pick Judas personally and knew that he was of the devil. Jesus quoted this Psalm of His human ancestor, King David, regarding Judas, a companion who had shared bread with Him. Their friendship also was witnessed in public and in worshipping God, The Father. A friendship that ended in betrayal.

Little is known about the life of Judas before he made his appearance among Christ's followers. He had ambitions to play an important and lucrative part in the coming of a Messianic Kingdom. Judas was disappointed, for he expected a political Messiah who would free Israel from The Roman Empire and wanted to force Jesus into this position, also his greed for money was an incentive to betray Jesus, for he was known to steal money given by followers of Jesus to help others. Ambitious Judas, like several other disciples believed that Jesus the Messiah would set up an earthly Kingdom, in which he could see himself as influential. Externally, Judas was a consistent servant of Christ, but was a hypocrite, selfish, hollow-hearted and not truly committed to His Leader. Thinking only of self-gain, his heart was full of lies and deceit. He was treacherous and wicked. Jesus had called Judas the devil. His weakness for greed and self-centredness continually overpowered him.

When Mary anointed Jesus’ head and feet at the banquet in Bethany with costly perfume, the equivalent to a man's yearly salary, Judas Iscariot, being the group's treasurer, thought that Mary's gesture was a wasted expense and disapproved with what she had done and argued that the money could have gone to the poor. His pretended zeal for the poor was really covetousness. Jesus was not deceived. Judas began to comprehend that his desire for status in Jesus' Kingdom, which was spiritual and not earthly, would not be realised. Because Judas had considered the costly perfume a waste upon Jesus, he went to the Chief Priests during the week of the Passover Festival and offered to betray Jesus for a reward. It was total hypocrisy by the priests during the celebration time of the Exodus Passover Lamb (the saving of the firstborn) that they were looking for a way to remove Jesus, and plotting His death, who was God's Personal Passover Lamb gift and His firstborn.

Judas Iscariot, driven by the love of wealth went to the Chief Priests and made arrangements for Jesus to be handed over to them for the reward of thirty silver coins, fulfilling Psalms, 41:9. 55:13,14, Zechariah 11:12. The thirty pieces of silver, equal to the payment of a day's work, was the price of a slave and an insult, but the significance of silver was that it is used for redemption (liberation, rescue and freedom).

He purposely pre- planned to betray and cheaply sell his friend, teacher, Lord and Master. The high leadership of the Jewish religious assembly was open to Judas and they were pleased about the situation because Judas, being an insider of Jesus’ group of followers would be the one answerable for their own actions for the arrest of Jesus. They allowed Judas to nominate the appropriate time and place for the arrest, and he consented, and watched for an opportunity to hand Jesus over to them when no crowd was present.

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