Matthew is the gospel of the Kingdom of Heaven.  Throughout the book, Jesus keeps the laws of the kingdom, demonstrates His power within the kingdom, calls people into the kingdom, and shows who is in the kingdom and who is not.  Additionally, Matthew tells us why some are in and some are not.

There is no more poignant contrast than Judas and Peter.  Yes, throughout His ministry Jesus had confrontations with the Pharisees, chief priests, scribes, Sadducees, elders of the people, and so on.  Yes, these confrontations revealed that none of the religious groups in first century Israel correctly interpreted Scripture, but none from these groups was a disciple of Jesus for His entire earthly ministry.

Judas and Peter saw the same miracles.  They saw Jesus calm the sea of Galilee ... twice!  They saw Jesus feed a crowd of 5,000 and then 4,000 men (besides women and children)!  They saw Jesus raise the dead ... thrice!  They watched Jesus cast out demons ... with a single word!  They heard Him teach the mysteries of the kingdom.  They heard Him give the meanings of the parables.  They watched Him weep over the death of His friend Lazarus, even though Jesus had intentionally waited for Lazarus to die.  They had both seen and heard all these things.

Yet, Judas was eaten up by greed.  His small sins led to bigger and bigger sins.  He was in the habit of helping himself to what was in the money bag, and this led up to the confrontation he had with Jesus when Mary poured out an entire bottle of nard onto Jesus.  "Why was not this perfume sold for a year's worth of wages, and the proceeds given to the poor?"  John tells us Judas was using generosity toward the poor as a pretense and cover-up for his greed.  Jesus, of course, knew all this and responds to Judas--full of love and truth--that you will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me.  The contrast of hearts between Mary's glad generosity and Judas' selfish greed could not have been more stark.

Peter, on the other hand, was a work in progress.  His impetuosity is infamous.  When Jesus gives Peter a monstrous catch of fish and calls Peter to follow Him, Peter responds, "Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man."  When Jesus is crossing the stormy sea of Galilee, Peter says, "If it is You, Lord, call me out to You."  When Jesus says that He is going up to Jerusalem to die, Peter responds, "Far be it from You, Lord."  When Jesus says that all His disciples will abandon Him and that Peter will deny Him three times, Peter and all the other disciples said that they would not.

Yet, they all did exactly what Jesus had said they would do.  And, each of them did exactly what each one wanted most in each and every moment that night of Jesus' betrayal.  We marvel at this, yet the Scriptures make clear on every single page that everything comes to pass according to the word of the Lord and that each sentient being is doing exactly what he or she wants to do.  The mystery here is not the what but the how.  (Mystery here is being used in the biblical sense of the word where God has chosen to set things up a certain way but we only understand it when He makes the fullness clear.)

The question now becomes clear: why did Peter repent and Judas only regret?  Both had seen the marvelous things that Jesus had done and taught.  Both committed heinous sins against Jesus.  To betray and to deny were both sins absolutely worthy of God's just and eternal condemnation.  Yet, according to Luke, Jesus had prayed earnestly for one and had left the other.  Jesus prayed earnestly for Peter, but He had left Judas outside the camp, so to speak.  Even though Judas was one of the twelve, yet when he fell he demonstrated that he was not a righteous man, for he fell and stayed down.  He did not get back up.

Why did he not get back up?

Was it because Peter was a better man than Judas?  Was it because Peter was smarter than Judas?  Was it because Peter was more intrinsically worthy than Judas?  There answer is that none of these assumptions is true.  The answer is that Jesus--of His own good pleasure and out of His own grace and mercy and for the purpose of revealing His own glory--chose to pray for Peter and to leave Judas to himself.  And all of this was to fulfill what the Scriptures had spoken. 

This is not a fluke event.  This is not just a one-time event.  This is a particular example of how God saves some and hardens others.  He saves some by interceding for them.  He hardens the rest by giving them over to the corrupt desires in their hearts.  He does not create evil in them, but they do exactly what they want, for it has been written from all eternity, and also for they have been gifted with the ability to choose. 

How do I know that Judas was condemned before God and that Peter was forgiven before God?  Jesus called Judas a devil and said that it would have been better for Judas if he had never been born.  Peter, on the other hand, Jesus prayed for and restored into covenantal favor when Jesus asked Peter if Peter loved Him and commanded Peter to take care of Jesus' sheep and lambs.

Notice something key here: the ground for our understanding of the differing destinations of Peter and Judas is nothing less than and nothing more than the word of God itself.  What God declares and decrees is exactly what is.  The evidence for our understanding is the divergent responses that Peter and Judas gave.  Judas hanged himself in a potter's field out of regret and anguish and sorrow.  Peter's anguish and sorrow over his denials led him ultimately to repentance, and God used Peter mightily to proclaim the goodness of God to the crowd at Pentecost. 

Peter was never perfect.  Nor was Paul.  Nor was any other of our heroes of the faith.  Jesus alone was the only perfect human being ever to walk this terrestrial ball.  And that will remain true until He returns. 

The question for you is this, "What has the One, True God done for you?"  Has He prayed for you?  Has He called you?  Are you in awe that the holy God Who exists in eternal perfection and holiness would want to make you like Himself: righteous and holy?  Or, are you repulsed by a God Who chooses some and excludes others on the basis of His own good pleasure and covenantal love that He has for Himself and His elect?  If you are in awe, rejoice!  If you are repulsed, repent and believe, for there is no other way to stand before God than to be clothed with the righteousness of Jesus Christ alone that is given freely to all who believe in Him alone by grace alone, eschewing one's own works and embracing Christ's works alone.

Are you like Judas, or are you like Peter?  There is no third option.  I pray you are like Peter.

#comeandseeJesus

#comeandlivebyfaith

#comeandworshipHim

#SoliDeoGloria