As we reach the end of the gospel of Luke, we are seeing very familiar stories, yet there is never an end to them speaking to us. I once was talking to a woman who had just gone through electric shock therapy for depression. I was encouraging her to read the Bible every day. Her response was that she had already read it.

To talk about the Bible like that is to not know it as the Living Word, is to know it apart from the Spirit, to know it apart from the Author. Jesus is the Word. To come to the Word is to come to Jesus. To know the Word is to know God. To know Him is life. And to know Him is an eternal adventure. We’ll never come to the end of getting to know an infinite being. There is always more in His Word for you.

In Luke 22 we have the stark phrase, “Satan entered into Judas.” He was one of Jesus’ disciples. Jesus had chosen him as a disciple. Judas had been sent out healing and preaching the gospel. It’s the heart that matters, not the externals. The heart will show in the externals. Judas was stealing and conniving. Those were external things showing the heart, but he kept them hidden as best as he could.

If you are questioning if someone is of God or not, ask God to show you their heart. Look for evidences of selflessness or selfishness.

Satan isn’t going to just enter into someone. Peter denies Jesus but Satan doesn’t get to enter him. Peter weeps over his sin. Judas is choosing his sin again and again. He made the choice to betray Jesus for money. It wasn’t a fear response in the moment. It was a deliberate act of the will. He loved money. You can’t love God and money. Don’t be deceived.

According to what we read in this chapter, Satan enters Judas before the Passover meal. Jesus is sharing a meal with Judas, who is possessed of the devil. He warns Judas with a “woe,” which was an act of love. God keeps giving chances. Judas chooses not to hear. He had already made his choice.

Jesus had chosen to love Judas. He will wrestle in prayer until He settles the matter and chooses the Father’s will and is killed for being who He says He is. “Are you the Son of God?” “You say that I am.” I am – the name of the Existing One.