A quote from Douay-Rheims Bible John Chapter 17 verses 11 -12: Jesus in the last supper:
[11] And now I am not in the world, and these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep them in thy name whom thou has given me; that they may be one, as we also are. [12] While I was with them, I kept them in thy name. Those whom thou gavest me have I kept; and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition, that the scripture may be fulfilled.
Thus Judas is the son of perdition.
Exactly. Jesus knew that Judas was the “son of perdition”. Anyone that doesn’t think Judas is in hell, doesn’t understand what Jesus said about him.
I’ve also read about an exorcist in the past that mentioned Judas being one of the demons that they had exorcised from a person. I couldn’t remember any specifics about who it was, but it might have been the one you mentioned, or another one. Exorcists always demand that the demon give them their name, so they know who they’re dealing with and can use their own name to defeat them.
I think when Jesus chose Judas, He already knew what he would do. Many people question why Jesus would even choose someone that would betray Him. Some speculate it was only to fulfill the scriptural reference, but I think it’s much more than that. I think Judas represents the ‘lukewarm’. Those of us that only follow Jesus halfheartedly, because we really don’t have true faith in Him, are a lot like Judas. Deep down inside, he didn’t really believe what Jesus taught. He wasn’t the Messiah that Judas wanted, or expected Him to be. We might only follow Jesus to please our families and friends. Or, it could be that we like the social aspects of getting together with our friends at church, because it makes us feel like we’re a part of something bigger, even if we don’t really believe in living the way Jesus wants us to live.
Some of us might also be more like the Pharisees, who just wanted to appear to be ‘holy’ in front of others. They were also lukewarm, because they had a very limited and narrow view of what following their faith meant. Maybe we’re like Judas because we have ulterior motives like him and the Pharisees did. I can’t help but think about the preachers who only preach the Gospel to make a fortune and live a lavish lifestyle, either from the donations that people give to them, or from the many books that they sell. That’s what the Pharisees and Judas did, too.
People like them know that there will always be ‘gullible’ individuals, that will believe whatever they tell them as long as they can ‘put on a good act’. So, they prey on the simplicity of faith that those people really do possess. Then, they play on their sympathies when they claim to need their financial support to help them ‘feed the poor’. But, all they’re really interested in doing is lining their own pockets, first.
So, I believe Judas represents all those that will cry, “Lord, Lord!”, but Jesus will answer, “I never knew you: depart from me, you that work iniquity.” Jesus wanted there to be a perfect example among those whom He chose to follow Him, to show us what we shouldn’t do if we really want to get to Heaven. He wanted us to realize that there’s much more to following Him than many of us might think. Unless we’re willing to really live our whole lives according to what He taught us, we can still end up in hell by picking and choosing only those parts we want to believe, and by being wishy-washy in practicing our faith.
