Hastening the Day

LOVING season three of The Chosen so far, and cannot wait to see more! Hearing all the testimonies surrounding this engaging portrayal of a very relatable gospel of Christ makes my heart sing. For anyone who may be following, we see a brand new character being introduced in this season, the disciple Judas Iscariot. The character portrayed as Judas on The Chosen is very interesting. He’s relatable, he’s real. He is sincere and wants to be used by God. Wait… whaaaat? This is so opposite of the villain character we so often think of him as being.

But episode one of season three also very cleverly introduces his flaw. Judas sees the Messiah coming first and foremost as the Lion of Judah. Completely bypassing the scriptural evidence that He comes first as a lowly sacrificial Lamb, Judas fully expects that Jesus has come as a Warrior and will no doubt be ousting the Romans. This explains why he feels he must work hard to get the word out as quickly as possible about Jesus, as you can really sense that he feels the day will be upon them before they know it.

I can already see that in the beginning no matter how sincere Judas’ desire was to follow Jesus and be used by God, he will be so blinded by what was to come that he is unable to comprehend the NOW, the present. This will set the stage at some point for him to be convinced that if Jesus really is the Messiah, then he (Judas) will have to force Him to act upon it because He just isn’t acting fast enough. In essence, Judas was “hastening the day”, which is a term we hear often in Christian circles. Did you know that scripture affirms that Satan also seeks to change times and laws, or in other words – he is just as busy “hastening the day” of his antichrist as many Christians are trying to hasten the return of our Lord?

He will speak out against the Most High and wear down the saints of the Highest One, and he will intend to make alterations in times and in law; and they will be given into his hand for a time, times, and half a time. Daniel 7:25

Speaking of hastening, we are all like Judas in some ways. We have an idea about God and who we think He is – a mold we think He ought to fit neatly into. If God doesn’t live up to our idea, we can justify that He must not then really be God, or that He doesn’t care, or is somehow contrary to all the attributes that scripture affirms of His character. This comes out in conversations, when you hear statements like “How can a loving God…”, or “I asked God once, but He let me down…”, or “He did not act upon a word, vision, or dream I was told was from Him…”, or “The church I was raised in always told me…”.

Why is this important? It’s because this is the exact trap that Judas fell into – incorrectly interpreting scripture according to a popular desire or belief instead of asking the Holy Spirit for understanding on what the text was actually saying. Rather than conform to HIS image, we instead demand that He conforms to OURS, and this makes us no different than Judas.

Interpreting the bible and understanding what the text says is known as hermeneutics. Key principles of biblical interpretation include studying scripture within both the immediate and the broader context, beginning by considering what is happening in surrounding verses. This is important, as I agree that too often scripture is quoted or otherwise used to either make a point or argue against a point while at the same time ignoring the context it was written within.  This is why theologians caution against building elaborate doctrines on obscure or isolated passages.

So my heart goes out to Judas. I can only imagine how heartbroken Jesus must have been when Judas made the conscious decision not to bend his will to God’s will instead. That is where you and I don’t have to be like Judas. We can be different. We can choose to bend our will to His will, and in the process discover the freedom and empowerment that obedience to Him truly brings.

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