But Jesus said unto him, Judas, betrayest thou the Son of man with a kiss?
In the garden at the moment of arrest, one of the twelve came straight to Jesus with an armed multitude from the rulers, giving the prearranged token by which the one he kissed would be seized and held fast. He used a familiar sign of affection and friendship to identify the Son of man and hand Him over to His enemies and into the hands of sinners. Jesus met His betrayer with calm dignity, naming him and exposing the act, yet His question was spoken with sorrowful gentleness to appeal to conscience and awaken the stubborn heart. Even then there was hope that if Judas would confess his traitor work he would have been freely forgiven, for Jesus did not retaliate or refuse the salutation but bore it with unequaled forbearance, love and pity, thinking not for Himself but for others. That same betrayal is repeated whenever professed loyalty covers disloyalty, whether by setting aside God's law while claiming to advance the gospel or by undermining confidence in His appointed testimonies and leadings.
Betrayal in the Garden
The words were spoken in the garden at the moment of arrest, after the agony in Gethsemane, immediately after Judas came straight to him saying Master, Master and kissed him. Judas was one of the twelve and a professed disciple, yet he came with a great multitude with swords and staves from the chief priests and the scribes and the elders. He had given them the prearranged token that whomever he kissed was Jesus, to be taken and led away safely and held fast.
The kiss was a sign of affection, friendship, and greeting, and the question exposes the contradiction of using that familiar gesture to identify and hand over the Son of man to his enemies and into the hands of sinners. Judas approached as a familiar friend, came close, took his hand and gave the traitor's kiss, while outwardly greeting him yet concealing betrayal. He did this because he believed Christ would not permit himself to be taken, after he had fallen helpless backward with the mob when Christ stood transfigured before them with angels in companionship.
He remained bold and defiant with no disposition to relent or remorse, because he had yielded himself to Satan's control with no power to resist, and honor, fidelity, and human tenderness had utterly forsaken him. His betrayal with a treacherous kiss was the end of a gradual fall in which, when tempted and tried, he did not rise above temptation but lost ground. He often manifested a spirit of superiority on evangelistic tours with the other disciples and sought to exercise authority over his brethren, and that unchecked spirit opened his mind and heart for the enemy to work.
After the kiss Jesus was handed over to his enemies and taken to an earthly court, where sinful people mocked and condemned him to death, and he suffered for human transgressions and iniquities.
Jesus' Sorrowful Appeal
Jesus stepped forth with calm dignity to meet His betrayer, confronting him with full knowledge of what he was doing, a knowledge already made plain at the supper table. He called him by name and laid bare the act, that with a kiss he was betraying the Son of man, his Master who had borne so much from his false unfaithfulness, handing Him over into the hands of sinners. The kiss that pretended friendship was thus exposed as the very means of treachery.
The question was spoken with sorrowful gentleness, in a voice trembling with sorrow and full of pathos. It was a most touching appeal meant to rouse Judas' conscience, to speak to his sense of righteousness and to touch his stubborn heart, that it might awaken him and break his heart. That gentle word should have touched him and awakened him, yet it did not relent him.
Even in that very moment the words carried a final offer of hope, that if Judas would even then honor his Lord by confession of his traitor work and yield, Jesus would have saved him and freely forgiven him just as He afterward saved the thief on the cross, and history would have been different. Judas acted knowing the earlier word that it would have been better for the betrayer of the Son of man never to have been born.
He did not turn upon the traitor with righteous indignation, did not resist and did not refuse the salutation and the kiss. He rose far above human retaliation in gentleness, forbearance, longsuffering, love and pity without parallel, longing even to the last moment to save Judas from working out his own ruin. In that hour of humiliation He thought not for Himself but for others and for all beholders. In receiving the kiss He gives His disciples an example, that they are to treat even their enemies with the same spirit of forbearance, love and pity.
Later Betrayals Foretold
To betray with a kiss is to profess loyalty while handing over, and setting aside any part of God's law under the pretense of advancing the gospel does just that while claiming to honor Christ and promote his cause. Those who claim to honor Christ yet set aside his law repeat the contradiction of greeting with affection while opposing what was taught. Among professed people of God, those who seek to undermine confidence in the testimonies given for their benefit and in the leadings of Providence in the work act a part similar to Judas, and unless converted will be revealed and numbered among the open enemies of God's work for this time. The same spirit and action is repeated in the last days by those who virtually press themselves close to Christ while betraying him, attending the Passover supper and the feet washing as Judas did when Jesus served him first.
As Judas betrayed with a kiss, nominal churches and nominal Adventists will betray the Sabbath-keeping saints to the Catholics to obtain Catholic influence against them. The saints will be obscure and little known to the Catholics, but the betrayers will know them by faith and customs and will report them as those who disregard the pope's institution by keeping the Sabbath and disregarding Sunday. That betrayal brings Catholic and Protestant cooperation in a decree that all who will not observe the first day of the week instead of the seventh shall be slain. In that union Catholics give power to the image of the beast and Protestants destroy the saints as their mother did, but before the decrees bear fruit the saints will be delivered by the voice of God.
The betrayal and death, joined to the agony in Gethsemane, the condemnation in the Judgment Hall, the humiliation, and the rejection by the multitude that had hailed him as king but then reviled and cried Crucify him, was foreseen. While still present to comfort and strengthen his chosen, he deliberately brought on an earlier crisis that drove away the faint-hearted. That sifting removed weak and undecided followers who in the hour of betrayal would have sunk under fear and disappointment and whose apostasy would have overwhelmed the twelve and carried the rest away. Having seen the fickleness of followers, the faithful few learned the inconstant favor of the world and not to hang faith on others' opinions, and when professed lovers turned from him in trouble they were not overwhelmed with surprise and were prepared to endure his betrayal and death.
In the garden at the moment of arrest, one of the twelve came straight to Jesus with an armed multitude from the rulers, giving the prearranged token by which the one he kissed would be seized and held fast. He used a familiar sign of affection and friendship to identify the Son of man and hand Him over to His enemies and into the hands of sinners. Jesus met His betrayer with calm dignity, naming him and exposing the act, yet His question was spoken with sorrowful gentleness to appeal to conscience and awaken the stubborn heart. Even then there was hope that if Judas would confess his traitor work he would have been freely forgiven, for Jesus did not retaliate or refuse the salutation but bore it with unequaled forbearance, love and pity, thinking not for Himself but for others. That same betrayal is repeated whenever professed loyalty covers disloyalty, whether by setting aside God's law while claiming to advance the gospel or by undermining confidence in His appointed testimonies and leadings.
Betrayal in the Garden
The words were spoken in the garden at the moment of arrest, after the agony in Gethsemane, immediately after Judas came straight to him saying Master, Master and kissed him. Judas was one of the twelve and a professed disciple, yet he came with a great multitude with swords and staves from the chief priests and the scribes and the elders. He had given them the prearranged token that whomever he kissed was Jesus, to be taken and led away safely and held fast.
The kiss was a sign of affection, friendship, and greeting, and the question exposes the contradiction of using that familiar gesture to identify and hand over the Son of man to his enemies and into the hands of sinners. Judas approached as a familiar friend, came close, took his hand and gave the traitor's kiss, while outwardly greeting him yet concealing betrayal. He did this because he believed Christ would not permit himself to be taken, after he had fallen helpless backward with the mob when Christ stood transfigured before them with angels in companionship.
He remained bold and defiant with no disposition to relent or remorse, because he had yielded himself to Satan's control with no power to resist, and honor, fidelity, and human tenderness had utterly forsaken him. His betrayal with a treacherous kiss was the end of a gradual fall in which, when tempted and tried, he did not rise above temptation but lost ground. He often manifested a spirit of superiority on evangelistic tours with the other disciples and sought to exercise authority over his brethren, and that unchecked spirit opened his mind and heart for the enemy to work.
After the kiss Jesus was handed over to his enemies and taken to an earthly court, where sinful people mocked and condemned him to death, and he suffered for human transgressions and iniquities.
Jesus' Sorrowful Appeal
Jesus stepped forth with calm dignity to meet His betrayer, confronting him with full knowledge of what he was doing, a knowledge already made plain at the supper table. He called him by name and laid bare the act, that with a kiss he was betraying the Son of man, his Master who had borne so much from his false unfaithfulness, handing Him over into the hands of sinners. The kiss that pretended friendship was thus exposed as the very means of treachery.
The question was spoken with sorrowful gentleness, in a voice trembling with sorrow and full of pathos. It was a most touching appeal meant to rouse Judas' conscience, to speak to his sense of righteousness and to touch his stubborn heart, that it might awaken him and break his heart. That gentle word should have touched him and awakened him, yet it did not relent him.
Even in that very moment the words carried a final offer of hope, that if Judas would even then honor his Lord by confession of his traitor work and yield, Jesus would have saved him and freely forgiven him just as He afterward saved the thief on the cross, and history would have been different. Judas acted knowing the earlier word that it would have been better for the betrayer of the Son of man never to have been born.
He did not turn upon the traitor with righteous indignation, did not resist and did not refuse the salutation and the kiss. He rose far above human retaliation in gentleness, forbearance, longsuffering, love and pity without parallel, longing even to the last moment to save Judas from working out his own ruin. In that hour of humiliation He thought not for Himself but for others and for all beholders. In receiving the kiss He gives His disciples an example, that they are to treat even their enemies with the same spirit of forbearance, love and pity.
Later Betrayals Foretold
To betray with a kiss is to profess loyalty while handing over, and setting aside any part of God's law under the pretense of advancing the gospel does just that while claiming to honor Christ and promote his cause. Those who claim to honor Christ yet set aside his law repeat the contradiction of greeting with affection while opposing what was taught. Among professed people of God, those who seek to undermine confidence in the testimonies given for their benefit and in the leadings of Providence in the work act a part similar to Judas, and unless converted will be revealed and numbered among the open enemies of God's work for this time. The same spirit and action is repeated in the last days by those who virtually press themselves close to Christ while betraying him, attending the Passover supper and the feet washing as Judas did when Jesus served him first.
As Judas betrayed with a kiss, nominal churches and nominal Adventists will betray the Sabbath-keeping saints to the Catholics to obtain Catholic influence against them. The saints will be obscure and little known to the Catholics, but the betrayers will know them by faith and customs and will report them as those who disregard the pope's institution by keeping the Sabbath and disregarding Sunday. That betrayal brings Catholic and Protestant cooperation in a decree that all who will not observe the first day of the week instead of the seventh shall be slain. In that union Catholics give power to the image of the beast and Protestants destroy the saints as their mother did, but before the decrees bear fruit the saints will be delivered by the voice of God.
The betrayal and death, joined to the agony in Gethsemane, the condemnation in the Judgment Hall, the humiliation, and the rejection by the multitude that had hailed him as king but then reviled and cried Crucify him, was foreseen. While still present to comfort and strengthen his chosen, he deliberately brought on an earlier crisis that drove away the faint-hearted. That sifting removed weak and undecided followers who in the hour of betrayal would have sunk under fear and disappointment and whose apostasy would have overwhelmed the twelve and carried the rest away. Having seen the fickleness of followers, the faithful few learned the inconstant favor of the world and not to hang faith on others' opinions, and when professed lovers turned from him in trouble they were not overwhelmed with surprise and were prepared to endure his betrayal and death.