Dear Friends,

Judas had heard Jesus promise, “Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out” (John 6:37). Why then didn’t he go to Christ? Why did he hang himself? Today’s devotional from the house of the Interpreter (the Holy Spirit whose house is the Bible) will help you answer those questions. God bless you.

Because of Calvary,

John Janney

• Matthew 27:1-10

  Matthew 27:1-10    English Standard Version (ESV)
  Jesus Delivered to Pilate
  27 When morning came, all the chief priests and the elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death. 2 And they bound him and led him away and delivered him over to Pilate the governor.

  Judas Hangs Himself
  3 Then when Judas, his betrayer, saw that Jesus[a] was condemned, he changed his mind and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders, 4 saying, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.” They said, “What is that to us? See to it yourself.” 5 And throwing down the pieces of silver into the temple, he departed, and he went and hanged himself. 6 But the chief priests, taking the pieces of silver, said, “It is not lawful to put them into the treasury, since it is blood money.” 7 So they took counsel and bought with them the potter’s field as a burial place for strangers. 8 Therefore that field has been called the Field of Blood to this day. 9 Then was fulfilled what had been spoken by the prophet Jeremiah, saying, “And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him on whom a price had been set by some of the sons of Israel, 10 and they gave them for the potter’s field, as the Lord directed me.”

Matthew 27:1-10

”So he took him by the hand again, and led him into a very dark room, where there sat a man in an iron cage.
“Now, the man, to look on, seemed very sad: he sat with his eyes looking down to the ground, his hands folded together, and he sighed as if he would break his heart. Then said Christian, What means this? At which the Interpreter bid him talk with the man.
“Then said Christian to the man, What art thou? the man answered, I am what I was not once.
“CHR. What wast thou once?
“The man said, I was once a fair and flourishing professor, both in mine own eyes, and also in the eyes of others. I was once, as I thought, fair for the celestial city, and had even joy at the thoughts that I should get thither….
“CHR. Well, but what art thou now?
“MAN. I am now a man of Despair, and am shut up in it, as in this iron cage. I cannot get out; O! now I cannot.
“CHR. But how camest thou into this condition?
“MAN. I left off to watch and be sober; I laid the reins upon the neck of my lusts; I sinned against the light of the word, and the goodness of God; I have grieved the Spirit, and he is gone; I tempted the Devil, and he is come to me; I have provoked God to anger, and he has left me; I have so hardened my heart, that I cannot repent.
“Then said Christian to the Interpreter, But are there no hopes for such a man as this? Ask him, said the Interpreter.
“Then said Christian, Is there no hope, but you must be kept in the iron cage of Despair?
“MAN. No, none at all.
“CHR. Why? the Son of the Blessed is very pitiful.
“MAN. I have crucified him to myself afresh; I have despised his person; I have despised his righteousness; I have counted his blood an unholy thing; I have done despite to the Spirit of grace: therefore I shut myself out of all the promises; and there now remains to me nothing but threatenings, dreadful threatenings, faithful threatenings, of certain judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour me as an adversary….
“CHR. For what did you bring yourself into this condition?
“MAN. For the lusts, pleasures, and profits of this world; in the enjoyment of which I did then promise myself much delight; but now every one of those things also bite me, and gnaw me like a burning worm.
“CHR. But canst thou not now repent and turn?
“MAN. God hath denied me repentance. His word gives me no encouragement to believe; yea, himself hath shut me up in this iron cage, nor can all the men in the world let me out! O Eternity! Eternity! How shall I grapple with the misery that I must meet with in eternity!
“Then said the Interpreter to Christian, Let this man’s misery be remembered by thee, and be an everlasting caution to thee.”
[“The Pilgrim’s Progress,” The Works of John Bunyan III, (Edinburgh: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1854), p. 100-101]