THE KINGIS BUSINESS
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4. The Effect on the Traitor. Each word was meant to call him to consider. All warnings come in love; “Hell” itself is gospel. But Judas’ appetite was whet for “the sop” the Jews offered (Luke 22:5). He stretched a hand to Jesus, it was not paralyzed; he ate “ the sop,’ he was not strangled; he raised his eyes on the Lord, they were not blighted; he said, “ Is it I ?” Wonder of wonders he was not struck speechless; he heard, “ The Son of Man go- eth, even as it is written of him: but woe unto that man through whom the Son of Man is betrayed! good were it for that man if he had not been born” (Acts 2:23), and he went out, “and it was night (aye, in his soul), and he walked on into the mouth of hell,—“ to his own place” (Acts 1:25), where he was no intruder. The effect on Judas was to increase his hate and confirm his purpose. Is there evil await ing them that reject Christ? Think on the words, “good for that man . . . if he had not been born.” You have been born — wliat next? IV. A ppointment of th e L ord ’ s S upper ,— vs. 22-25. 1. The Old the New Contains, the New the Old Explains. This, of Augustine, is well illustrated in this passage. “A s they did eat.” —The last passover blended into the first supper; the Lord’s _ passover (Exod. 12:11) became the Lord’s supper; table, company, bread and cup passed over. Like, yet unlike, the old picture blends into the new, as Malachi and Matthew, the O. T. and the N. T., blend into one mes sage. The likeness is more marked than the unlikeness. The passover looked for ward to the Cross, the supper looks back ward to the Cross (1 Cor. 5:7). Israel lived in the shadow of the Cross, we on its sunny side, yet neither in the full light; for what they saw dimly we see but more clearly, for the Cross is beyond analysis. But, thank God, it is not knowledge of the Cross but faith in the Cross that saves (howbeit faith presupposes knowledge, to Concluded on page 490.
(when the first passover had occurred) the Hebrew had it “ between the evenings” (at the end of one and the beginning of the next day) for this Passover ended the Jew ish and opened the Christian age. 2. The First Communicants.—See the four Gospels. We must have in mind John 13:1-17. (1) We have the Lord Himself; NOTE His precious grace of Person, words and char acter, how lowly, how lordly. (2) The eleven: Self, strife, self-confidence, spirit ual insensibility, ignorance of the signifi cance of all distinguished them. Yet the Lord sweetly sat among them, suffering their evil ways. So He is always present today in the midst of just such disciples— let whosoever will come! But study deeper; selfish, self-confident, unstable, they did love HIM , they meant to be loyal to death; self-confident they were at heart self-dis trusting, “Lord, is it I? ’’ they asked, and sorrowfully they asked it. “ Is it I ?” Give me the man that, fearing a fall, says, “ Lord, is it I ?” “Lord, save m e!” These are they that woo Holy-lovingness, and Loving-holi ness :to sit among us. (3) The “ one” of the twelve, Judas—did h e , too, commune? Some say, “ N o !” They may be right,— but not because hypocrisy and mortal vil lainy has not the deviltry and effrontery to “present’’ itself with “the sons of God” (Job 1:6). III. A nnouncem ent of th e B etrayal ,— vs. 18-21. 1. The Word of Warning. Jesus said, "Verily (inconceivable as it appears), one of you shall betray M e .” 2. The Incredulous and Anxious Re sponses. N ote: “ sorrowful,” “ one by one,” and the trembling, “ Is it I ? ” "Is it I ? ” Dear hearts! Haste, Lord, say, “ No.” 3. The Lord’s Answer. Peter asked John (reclining next to the Lord) to ask “W h o?” . (John 13:21-27). The answer was "the sop,” offered to Judas, so skilled a hypocrite that his associates never sus pected him, but the Lord knew him from the first (John 6:64; Ps. 41:9).
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