Judas Iscariot did not do the betrayal all alone; he was influenced by someone. Who influenced Judas Iscariot to betray Jesus? The answer is this: ‘Then Satan entered Judas, called Iscariot, one of the Twelve. And Judas went to the chief priests and the officers of the temple guard and discussed with them how he might betray Jesus.’ (Luke 22:3-4.)
Satan influenced Judas Iscariot. The devil, also called Satan, is a master of exploiting our weaknesses or flaws to his advantage but to our disadvantage. Judas Iscariot was a victim of spiritual warfare between God and the devil – an age-old war. The devil has always opposed the will and purpose of God as much as he could. Right from the very day Jesus was born, he had plans afoot to destroy Him.
But to do so, he needed helpers. He sought and gathered many helpers for himself from among the Jewish leaders, including the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the High Priest, the chief priests, and the scribes. Satan could bend the will of these people easily against Jesus. Yet all of them were not enough. He needed something extra – he needed a betrayer – a betrayer closer to Jesus among His disciples. But which of Jesus’ disciples was a potential betrayer? Time will tell.
The devil certainly has a criterion for selecting a good betrayer, because not just anyone can serve as a betrayer. After having sought carefully among the disciples of Jesus, Satan discovered in Judas Iscariot the weakness he could exploit to his advantage to make his plans of killing Jesus come to completion. Having the weakness of greed for money, what a great vessel Judas Iscariot proved to be. So the devil pushed him into the role of a betrayer to accomplish his plans.
The Bible categorically stated how Satan used Judas Iscariot: ‘Then Satan entered Judas, called Iscariot, one of the Twelve. And Judas went to the chief priests and the officers of the temple guard and discussed with them how he might betray Jesus. They were delighted and agreed to give him money.’ (Luke 22:3-5 NIV)
Judas Iscariot was victimized by the devil. He could be victimized because he was susceptible. He was susceptible because he had a weakness, which he could not check; the unchecked weakness delivered him up to the devil’s manipulation.
You know what? Satan did not exercise Judas Iscariot to go to the religious leaders to betray Jesus. Rather, he used money as bait to manipulate him. When Judas Iscariot was on his way to make a deal with Jesus’ enemies, all thought he was doing something smart to earn extra cash, aside from what he had been stealing, to enrich himself. Little did he know that the very idea of betraying his master and the boldness he had mustered to do so were inspired by none but the devil.