His Heart Was Receptive

Neither God nor Satan force their way upon us without our acceptance of it. We are free moral agents with the power of choice. We could not glorify God by conformity to His will if it was forced upon us. It is because we choose to follow Him that we bring glory and honor to Him.

In John 13: 2 we read, "And supper being ended, the devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him." It is true that it was Satan's desire that Judas betray Jesus, but it is also true that Judas willingly agreed to do so. Through various ways of temptation Satan puts the desire to do evil into our hearts but we must concur with his wishes before we so wrong. By His Word God puts the desire to do good in the heart. Again, we must concur with His wishes before we do good.

Judas is to be blamed so be sure. But he chose that path. He was willing to allow the evil Satan desired to grow in his heart and he did that which was worse than death. He betrayed the Son of God.