Expert: Marilyn - 6/21/2010

Question
Did Judas go to heaven?

Answer
Hello Mark;

Paul says in Romans 10:9 & 10, "...if you will confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved."

Did Judas make this confession? Judging from his behavior, probably not. Was Jesus less his Lord for his sinfulness? We are all sinners. Some of us have betrayed innocents, murdered, raped, thieved, disrespected God...

Peter denied Jesus three times, just as Jesus predicted he would. Not a whole lot different from what Judas did, in that he also betrayed the Lord. But Judas actively went out looking for a way to betray the Lord, while Peter didn't do anything like that, he was just reacting out of fear. Also, Peter's sorrow was different from Judas's sorrow. Judas was overcome with guilt and remorse and killed himself; Peter was overcome with grief and guilt, but Peter didn't run from God, he ran to God.

Because we are sinners, all of us bear a responsibility for sending Jesus to the cross. Just like Peter, Judas could have been saved if he had repented and turned to God for forgiveness. From the evidence of Scripture, it doesn't look like he did, but we really don't know.

In John 12:4-6 we are given another picture of his character--Jesus knew he was skimming money from His ministry funds to spend for his own purposes, embezzling. Judas objected when the woman anointed Jesus with the expensive oils and perfumes saying that the substances could have been sold and the money given to the poor. The implication since this objection is coupled with the statement that Judas was an embezzler is that Judas would have spent some or all of the money on himself. Judas wanted more money in the kitty--his focus was on the money, not on what the woman's actions meant. His attitude shows a total lack of respect for Jesus, Jesus' ministry and God, not to mention being sin.

The tiny bits of Judas' character Scripture reveals seem to indicate a man who committed "little" sins which he covered up. This kind of behavior gives the devil more opportunity to gain ground in influencing a person. The end result, because Jesus was such a total Target for satan, was Judas' constant dabbling in sin allowed the devil to take possession of him--a thing long in the making with horrible results.

Some scholars say that Judas may have been attempting to force Jesus' hand--to get Him to stop playing around with healings and preaching and step up as the Great Warrior and whup the Romans. The Apostles as a group hoped Jesus would do this, the Jews as a people hoped for this kind of Messiah and still do to this day. The Bible promises the Warrior Messiah will come, but it also speaks of the Suffering Messiah. Maybe Judas, like many Jews throughout history, didn't want to think about that part of the Messianic mission.

None of the Apostles totally understood Jesus, why He was on planet earth and what He meant to do, until Pentecost, but Judas persisted in wandering so far from truth and right behavior that he didn't even achieve their pathetic level of understanding. He couldn't just trust, he had to take matters into his own hands. Which is, actually, another sign of a person who has not made God his King. Which leads us back to the question, did Judas go to Heaven?

Most Christians, to our shame, have moments when we act like God is not King. But the fact of the matter is, we don't know whether or not Judas went to Heaven. It looks like he probably didn't, but the Bible doesn't precisely tell us.

Sincerely,

Marilyn