None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled.
Judas is not generally a topic for discussion in polite Christian circles. The idea of having a traitor among Jesus’ disciples is repulsive to the mind. Yet, like everything else Jesus says, there is purpose and meaning in this sentence.
Jesus is talking with his Father with his disciples present. There is a lot of important information being relayed to God the Father, and the disciples are privileged to hear it. They are all listening intently. All except Judas that is.
Judas is off plotting with the Pharisees and Chief Priests to capture Jesus. He knows where Jesus hangs out, and he knows when he will be vulnerable and without the protection of the crowds. Apparently, the Pharisees and chief priests would not have been able to do this on their own. (I suspect that the reason for this is that even they had a sense of propriety about this. At some level, they could not be seen as actually hunting down Jesus. Having a disciple offer Jesus up, however, would be an entirely different matter.)
The person chosen to be a disciple and still betray Jesus to death had to meet a very special criterion. They had to be doomed to destruction.
Jesus does not elaborate on this point, but let’s apply what we know about Jesus and what he taught and see if we can make sense of this.
The first question I want to ask is, who is ‘doomed to destruction?’ The answer is people who have sinned and are unable to justify their sin when they face a Holy God at Judgement. Without Jesus, this would include every person who has ever lived.
The second question is who is not doomed to destruction? The answer here is all people who have been born again and believe in Jesus. (John 3: 5, 14-15)
The third question is how did Jesus know that Judas would not be born again or believe in him? This is where we have to allow for Jesus’ out-of-this-world perspective. In John 3: 13 Jesus says something that he repeats often in one form or another:
“No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man.”
From heaven’s perspective, God/Jesus sees both the beginning and the end. They exist outside of time even though they created time for our benefit. Jesus knew that Judas’ heart would never turn to him. In fact, we see this in the clues to Judas’ personality that John gives us throughout his gospel. Judas wasn’t very nice, and he never was ever going to be. This is something God knew. He could see it from his God’s Eye View.
Food for thought: How does your view of God compare to God’s view of you?
Well, that is a scary question. From my point of view, God’s view of me would be of a hopeless sinner. Yet, from what Scripture tells me of God’s point of view, He sees me as His beloved child who is seen as holy due to the application of the work of the cross. He sees me through the lens of His mercy and grace. And I am thankful for that. My view of Him is a high view, but not nearly as high as it should be. He is greater than I can understand. He always seems to get the short end of the stick.
Thanks Rich!
Yes, it is a scary question. You have framed your comment to perfectly reflect our position as humans who believe Jesus is the Son of God. We are hopeless sinners, yet at the same time because of our Lord’s gracious gift of life, we are alive in Him because He is in us.
Once again we wrestle with the question of God’s view vs our view. Our view is temporal. Our horizon is measured in days or months or years. God’s horizon spans the the entire history and future of the human race.