“Thank You, Lord Jesus, that You redeemed us by identifying with us, at our lowest level. We are of no significance to You, yet You loved us completely. We worship, praise and adore You. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.”
Peter initiates the process of finding a replacement for Judas from among those who were with the Lord from the start of His ministry. Acts 1:16 “Men and brethren, this Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke before by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus; This is the prophecy of the betrayal of Jesus. Zechariah 11:12-13 Then I said to them, “If it is agreeable to you, give me my wages; and if not, refrain.” So they weighed out for my wages thirty pieces of silver. (13) And the Lord said to me, “Throw it to the potter”—that princely price they set on me. So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the Lord for the potter. As we read this prophecy, we see how man has valued Christ at thirty pieces of silver. He is the Creator, the God of heaven and earth, who dwells in unapproachable light. He is the eternal, immortal, invisible, all-powerful, all-knowledgeable God. Whereas, what is man that God should consider us? The glory of man is like the flower of the grass that fades away.
Judas negotiated with the Priests and both parties agreed upon the value of Jesus at thirty pieces of silver. This shows the state of man. Man is surely dead. It is man, who is of such a low status that Christ comes searching, identifies with our predicament, saves us and restores us to Himself. This is His love. Matthew 26:14-16 Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests (15) and said, “What are you willing to give me if I deliver Him to you?” And they counted out to him thirty pieces of silver. (16) So from that time he sought opportunity to betray Him.
The Old Testament gives us an idea of how people were valued when a person was consecrated to God by a vow. Leviticus 27:2-3 “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘When a man consecrates by a vow certain persons to the Lord, according to your valuation, (3) if your valuation is of a male from twenty years old up to sixty years old, then your valuation shall be fifty shekels of silver, according to the shekel of the sanctuary. In the Old Testament, the valuation that was placed on a male from twenty years to sixty years was fifty shekels of silver. Whereas, even in a purely numerical comparison, Judas and the priests, valued Jesus at thirty pieces of silver, not even fifty. (We are not going into the worth of money in the Old Testament compared to the times of Jesus). This is the detestable state of man.
Isaiah 53:3 He is despised and rejected by men, A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. We are in a state of death. Jesus came searching for us. He identified with our terrible state and restored us to be co-rulers with Him. Philippians 2:6-7 who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, (7) but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men.
Friends, we are being confronted over the hardness of our hearts. By God saving us, God is not benefited in any way. He came for us, identified Himself with our lowest degree in order for us to have life. God is telling us, “You have valued Me at thirty pieces of silver. Yet, I am God. I love you not because you will add anything to Me, but I love you for that is who I am. I am love. I am saving you from eternal death, of which you had no idea of its horror and I am restoring you to be my vice-regents to once again be the ruler over My creation.”
Judas loathed himself. It dawned on Judas that he was vile and so he should end his life. Matthew 27:3-5 Then Judas, His betrayer, seeing that He had been condemned, was remorseful and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, (4) saying, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.” And they said, “What is that to us? You see to it!” (5) Then he threw down the pieces of silver in the temple and departed, and went and hanged himself. This is the strategy of the devil. He pushes us into sin. He wants us to come to the state where we hate ourselves, consider ourselves despicable and then destroy ourselves. The Lord longs for us that our eyes would open, that we would come rushing into the arms of our loving God. He longs for us to have life and life in all its fullness. This is the work of God.
“He takes us, who are contemptible and converts us into those who are of beauty and goodness.”