Luke 22:47
And while he yet spake, behold a multitude, and he that was called Judas, one of the twelve, went before them, and drew near unto Jesus to kiss him. And while he yet spake, behold a multitude, and he that was called Judas, one of the twelve, went before them, and drew near unto Jesus to kiss him.
Luke 22:47 shows Judas, one of the twelve and a professed disciple of Jesus, at the head of the multitude coming to hand Him over to His enemies for arrest after His agony in Gethsemane. He was thus betrayed with a kiss and hurried to an earthly court where sinful men would deride, condemn and kill Him, and that suffering was for human sin. Judas drew near as a familiar friend and greeted Jesus with a kiss of affection and honor, turning outward friendship into treachery. That kiss was the prearranged, agreed signal by which the authorities would identify and seize Him.
Judas had drawn close to Christ, sharing the Passover and the foot washing, yet he gave way to temptation and trials. He cherished an unchecked spirit of superiority and a desire to exercise authority over his fellow disciples, which opened his mind and heart to the enemy until he betrayed his Lord. At last he gave himself to Satan's control and could not resist him. Jesus met the betrayal without anger and accepted the kiss with exceptional, unmatched forbearance, gentleness, love, pity and longsuffering, still longing to save Judas from ruin. He confronted him with sorrowful questions that exposed the meaning of his act and should have awakened his conscience.
Judas remained defiant under that appeal and did not relent. His betrayal began a most trying ordeal for the disciples in the agony in Gethsemane and the crucifixion, which Jesus foresaw because He knew who among His followers were unbelieving and of weak faith. He deliberately brought on an earlier crisis that drove away the faint-hearted while He was still present to comfort and strengthen His chosen, to sift out the weak and undecided in character, so that when He was betrayed and condemned in the judgment hall and humiliated the faithful few would not be overwhelmed with surprise. When the multitude who had hailed Him as king hissed at Him and reviled Him, when the cruel jeering crowd cried for His crucifixion, and when those who professed to love Him turned from Him in His trouble, the disciples had already seen the fickleness of those who once followed Him for less reason and had tested the inconstant favor of the world. They did not hang their faith on the opinions of others, and the example of apostasy in that hour of horror, grief, fear, disappointment and ruined hopes did not carry them away or cause them to sink beneath it.
To outwardly honor Christ while setting aside any part of God's law repeats that kiss, for it is betrayal disguised as devotion. To speak of Christ's blood and gospel while weakening His commandments and taking away His crown is the same treachery under an outward sign of affection. Judas's handing of Jesus to His enemies will be repeated against the saints at the end of time, when nominal churches and nominal Adventists will act like Judas and betray the saints to the Catholics to obtain Catholic influence against them. The saints will be an obscure people little known to the Catholics, but the nominal churches and nominal Adventists will know their faith and customs and will report them as those who disregard the institution of the pope because they keep the seventh-day Sabbath and disregard Sunday.