The Bible Text (Luke 22:1-6)
Now the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which is called the Passover, was approaching. And the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how they might put Him to death; for they were afraid of the people. And Satan entered into Judas who was called Iscariot, belonging to the number of the twelve. And he went away and discussed with the chief priests and officers how he might betray Him to them. And they were glad, and agreed to give him money. And he consented, and began seeking a good opportunity to betray Him to them apart from the multitude (Luke 22:1-6).
If Jesus must die, then there must be a means by which He dies. The Old Testament is quite clear on the fact that the Messiah must betrayed. The Old Testament is showed that He is to be betrayed by His own (e.g. Joseph betrayed by brothers) and even the number of coins for a slave at the time of Jesus hundreds of years was stated beforehand (Zechariah 11:12-13).
And I said to them, "If it is good in your sight, give me my wages; but if not, never mind!" So they weighed out thirty shekels of silver as my wages. Then the LORD said to me, "Throw it to the potter, that magnificent price at which I was valued by them." So I took the thirty shekels of silver and threw them to the potter in the house of the LORD. (Zechariah 11:12-13, NASB).
We should note that Satan and not one of his demons entered Judas. This passage says much about Satan along with his techniques and purposes as well as the passage in Luke 22:31. We need not be over concerned with Satan's affect on our lives if we are in Christ. Satan was desiring to shake Peter (Simon), but Jesus did not allow it. There is a wonderful security in being in Christ. There are strong spiritual forces out there that only want to kill and destroy. In Christ, we can trust Him to care for us.
Demon Possession: Is it Biblical?
Understanding How Demons Work
The Devil and His Powers
Sorcery: Satan or Flesh? Gal. 5:19
Satan's use of bad counsel (Job)
1) What feasts were fast approaching in 22:1? Find them on the Redemptive Calendar.
2) How were they celebrated? Look at the details in Exodus 12-13.
3) What were the chief priests and scribes plotting to do (22:2)? Did they know that this was wrong? Why were they so intent on doing it?
4) What does Luke 22:3 say happened to Judas at that time? What does it mean? Can that happen to anyone (John 17:11-12)?
5) What did Judas secretly do behind Jesus' back (17:4-6)? What was the response of the chief priests and scribes?6) Why did Judas do what He did?
“For they were afraid of the people” (Luke 22:2).
Have you ever thought about doing something wrong? Did you plan for it?
Did you carry it out? Why or why not?
What does 22:3 have to contribute to our understanding of Satan's influence over man? Can a man be possessed? What happens to his 'free' will in these cases (see Ephesians 2:2-3). Also see the many articles in the sidebar.
Perhaps out of all the disciples only Judas Iscariot best understood and believed that Jesus would give up His life. This was too much for him. He wanted freedom from Rome, left Jesus' camp and betrayed Him. He no doubt thought that Jesus was missing His great opportunity. Jesus could have got anything from the people but only talked about giving up the whole mission and dying.
This passage stirs us up to think about our true motives for serving Jesus. Do we want Jesus only to get things that we want or have we given up our agenda and decided to follow what God has planned for us? Now is the time to fully commit ourselves to the Lord that the enemy might not infiltrate our lives.
Now let us look at why Jesus had such a mysterious plan to hold Passover.
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