John 6:70-71 Jesus answered them, “Did I Myself not choose you, the twelve, and yet one of you is a devil?” Now He meant Judas the son of Simon Iscariot, for he, one of the twelve, was going to betray Him.
The encouragement we may draw from these verses is that our Father is always working for our good, and therefore we can entrust ourselves to Him. Can you see that in what Jesus said? Jesus’ statement was made to fortify the statement made in verse 65, “No one can come to Me unless it has been granted him from the Father.” Even if the Son chooses someone, it doesn’t mean the Father has chosen Him. Jesus chose Judas Iscariot knowing he was going to betray Him. He knew the Father was not teaching Him. He knew Judas was following Him for the wrong reasons, just like the crowd was. Eventually, Judas and the crowd would bring charges against Jesus with hostile intent. That’s the idea in the root word for devil, diabolos. It means to accuse or slander falsely with malicious intent. The devil is the accuser of the brethren (Rev. 12:10).
I’m encouraged by a couple of things about Jesus that help me understand the faith that is necessary if I’m to live to love with Him. He completely entrusted Himself to His Father. When He chose Judas to be one of the twelve, we know He did so at the Father’s direction. He came to do the Father’s will (John 6:38). We learn here that Jesus knew Judas would betray Him. That tells me that Jesus, even knowing that Judas would play an integral part in His death, still entrusted Himself to His Father. 1 Peter 2:23 testifies of Jesus’ reliance on His Father. “And while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously.” That kind of faith and trust lives in me and all those who live to love with Jesus. That encourages us to entrust ourselves completely to our Father and His will for us.
Jesus’ unwavering obedience to His Father also encourages me. He obeyed His Father in choosing Judas, knowing it was going to bring suffering. By the way, that was an act of love for His Father and for us. The Father commanded Him to lay down His life for us, and in choosing Judas, He began the process. As we live to love with Jesus, we have been commanded to love like Jesus loves, to love with Him. We are commanded to lay down our lives for the well-being of others. There will be times when we know that if we do something nice, loving, or kind to someone, they are going to be devilish. They are going to turn it around and twist it, falsely accuse us. Our loving them makes them feel guilty because they don’t love us. There is hostility in their hearts toward us, and it makes them angry when we love them. So rather than receive the love, they sabotage our efforts to love them and accuse us of being proud or manipulative. I’m encouraged by Jesus’ example of obedience to not refrain from loving those who are my enemies and entrust myself to God’s care. We can trust God will work everything for good and for His glory, just as Jesus did.
I hope you’ll be encouraged also from these verses to entrust yourself to your heavenly Father and obey Him by loving others as Jesus loves. This is only possible in the power of the Holy Spirit. May we be filled with the spirit of Christ today as we walk in love with Him.
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