How Comes A Close Disciple Such As Judas Iscariot Could Have Doubted The Powers Of Jesus Christ?

I think that a lot has been lost to translation and interpretation. These reports of Judas having betrayed Jesus was recorded with predjudist. I believe that Judus and Jesus might have been closer than the other disciples wanted to think.

It could have just as well said that Jesus COMMANDED Judus to "betray" him, For Jesus said unto Judus ... "Go and do what you must do" I could almost hear Jesus saying, It is time for you to do as we have discussed, go and do what you MUST do

It is one thing to observe His Power. It is another thing to know His Ways. Consider these verses:

9WHERE YOUR FATHERS TRIED Me BY TESTING Me,AND SAW MY WORKS FOR FORTY YEARS. THEREFORE I WAS ANGRY WITH THIS GENERATION, AND SAID, 'THEY ALWAYS GO ASTRAY IN THEIR HEART, AND THEY DID NOT KNOW MY WAYS'; (Heb.3:9-10)

Israel saw God's works of power which He exhibited in rescuing them from Egypt and sustaining them in the Wilderness. But when God told them to enter the good land, they had no faith, no trust in God, no love. Faith and love are His ways. Judas did not doubt the power of Jesus. The problem is that he didn't enter into the realm of faith and love. Some think what Judas had in mind in betraying Jesus was that His arrest would compel Jesus to demonstrate His power to the Romans, thus achieving an overthrow of their imperialistic dominion. Judas would have financially benefited from such a regime change as he would be the treasurer. But when Judas saw Jesus did not defend Himself and was on His way to crucifixion, he repented of his plan, threw the money back at the Jewish leaders, and killed himself. To conclude all Judas wanted was the 30 pieces of silver makes no sense. Why did he give the money back? Judas had a bigger plan, but a weak, suffering Jesus did not fit. Judas was banking on a powerful Jesus.

Because he was probably the only one who used logic=)

John 17:12 (KJV) While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled.

We must first understand that none of the Learners (Disciples is a blasphemous translation) were Born Again, including Judas.

Second, we must understand that Judas like the Pharaoh in Moses time, whose heart was hardened by The Lord, was always going to behave the way he did in order FOR THE SCRIPTURES TO BE FULFILLED.

His supposed doubting of the Lord's powers has nothing to do with it, for he was always going to betray Him.

Jesus already knew that Judas would betray him. I've struggled with this one a lot over the years... Judas played his part in the story, in the end leading to the final sacrifice for all sin for all time.

The sacrifice had to happen, but maybe it didn't have to be caused by Judas. So Judas was simply lost. He was called a "zealot", which meant that he yelled a lot about Rome being destroyed by Israel's promised Messiah (or Christ), and the world finally being ruled by him.

I think Judas had way too much pride, and no patience, for Jesus to fulfill his purpose in his time. God says to "trust" him but don't "test" him. Judas didn't trust at all, and went way overboard on the testing -- he tried to force Jesus to destroy Israel's enemies by getting him arrested.

So Judas was a disciple, but he wasn't really "close" to Jesus at all... Hmm, I've met a few people in church like that myself. He chose to believe a lie rather than believe Jesus, and that lie got planted in his mind by evil, probably because of his own pride.

Only Judas and God can really answer but we can guess. First remember that all fall short and sin. Judas' sin just happens to be notroious. But if you look at all the disciples- every single one of them doubted, disobeyed, and feared. They denied him, demanded to see his hands to prove himself, sank into the water after enthusiastically jumping out of a boat...

As Yabeya pointed out- Judas was a Zealot. Many Jews at the time were expecting a warrior king -not someone teaching peace and dieing for spiritual salvation. It was physical freedom they were expecting. Judas was most likely one of them. At some point everyone questions God because he is not what they think he SHOULD be.Why should Judas be any different? He wanted a physical salvation and may even feared that Jesus was guiding them away from that salvation.

The Jews saw God's powers directly. They witnessed plagues that they were saved from, witnessed a pillar of fire between them and a blood thirsty army, crossed the red sea on dry land with walls of water on each side, and yet they worshiped a gold COW because they could not be patient. Like all of us- Judas was human. He behaved in a very human fashion. He had dreams, hopes and confiction. Jesus was bringing a message he did not expect to hear.

Then again it could have been pure self preservation. Sacrifice the virgin to the valcano to save the village. Hand the Jews over to Hitler so that you will not die along with them. The religious leaders and the Roman leaders were becoming more obvious about their displeasure. There were places Jesus and his disciples could not go with out physical harm and ridicule. Sacrifice Jesus and you can save the disciples and yourself. Hand him over and the valcanoe wont erupt, the SS wont bust down your door and drag you off. Self preservation- a very human instinct. Judas killed himself in the end. If anything, I think that shows he was facing a very personal internal battle that affected the outside world in ways he did not expect. He may have only believed Christ would be put in prison- not killed. We can't say. But then again when we wrestle with tough personal decisions, we usually do not see the full consequences until they bury us.