The Son Of Perdition

While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Your name. Those whom You gave Me I have kept; and none of them is lost except the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.  

John 17:12

What of Judas Iscariot? We have been contemplating Christ’s care for His people and the manner in which He refers to it in His High Priestly Prayer. He says in our text He has kept them in the Father’s name and that none of them is lost. He then makes the single exception of Judas Iscariot, by saying, ‘except the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.’ The term, ‘son of perdition,’ in its simplest form, means ‘child of damnation,’ or something very much like that. His reference to the fulfilling of the Scripture likely arises from verses like Psalm 41:9 which says, ‘Even my own familiar friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted up his heel against me.’ Christ poured Himself into Judas just as much as He did into the other disciples. He included him; taught him; labored with him, and helped him. He was fully aware, all the way along the line that Judas would betray Him. He treated him in the same manner in which He treated all the other disciples. In the end, what He did not do, was save him from himself. Judas got the money he wanted, but lost his soul in the process. What will it profit us, if we gain the whole world and yet lose our own soul? 

Our Wise and Sovereign God, 
we rejoice that You do what is right 
even though we often do not understand.  
We praise You that You will make things plain to us 
in Your own time. 

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning