Luke 22:22

“For the Son of man indeed goes, as it has been determined, but woe to that man through whom he is betrayed!”

These words are undoubtedly an appeal to Judas to consider what he was doing. Let him recognise that what he was doing, he was doing to ‘the Son of Man' Who would shortly be approaching the throne of glory (Daniel 7:13). He was being warned that he was in danger of betraying God's Chosen One and committing the unforgivable sin. He was deliberately hardening his heart in such a way that it was becoming frozen in unbelief. It could therefore only result in the most terrible woe. And the truth is that it was only one beyond the pale who could have carried through what he was doing in the face of all the opportunities that he had to consider what he was doing. And he could only have done it by deliberately hardening and hardening an already hardened heart. The offer of forgiveness was still open, but it was necessary for him to know that it would shortly be closed, and that his situation was a matter of great grief to Jesus (‘woe' can also be translated as ‘alas'). But it is a sign of man's fallenness that he can carry through the most despicable of acts by rigidly setting his own heart on it in opposition to his own conscience, even though afterwards it can only result in deep remorse and unbearable regret.

But at the same time these were also words of assurance to the other disciples. Let them not think that what was to happen would thwart the purposes of God. For what was to happen was in fact purposed by God. For death and betrayal were aspects of the treatment of ‘the son of man' in Daniel 7 (the holy ones of the Most High, together with their king), and the betrayal and death of the Coming One was thus divinely predetermined, as Isaiah, Daniel, Zechariah and the Psalmist had made clear (Isaiah 53; Daniel 9:26; Zechariah 13:7; Psalms 22). Judas could not thwart the divine purpose. He could only choose to destroy himself by being a part of the fulfilling it. There was nothing predetermined about Judas' own behaviour, even though it was forecastable (John 6:70), that was not his own choice. In rejection of every warning he chose his own way.