Believing implies doing - it's the doing that tells us who they are.
Judas was chosen to betray Jesus. That's the way it works. Nothing happens in heaven or on earth unless it is God's will. ie. letting people fall away, letting people sin - then he destroys them. The shepherd knows his own sheep - those he kept. Jesus said none were lost except the son of perdition. Yes Judas was a devil.
John 17:6
“
I have manifested Your name to the men whom You
have given Me out of the world. They were Yours, You gave
them to Me, and they
have kept Your word.
John 17:12
While
I was with
them in the world,
I kept them in Your name. Those whom You gave Me
I have kept; and none of
them is lost except the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.
Re. Peter - denying is not betraying. It's normal, the weakness of the flesh, to deny something if your life is at stake.
Judas chose of his own freewill to betray Jesus, which was foreseen by God from the beginning, and foretold in the scriptures.
I don't see where
God chose Judas to betray Jesus, but rather Judas chose to betray Jesus.
While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Your name. Those whom You gave Me I have kept;
and none of them is lost except the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. John 17:12
Like the parable of the lost sheep, and the prodigal son, the scripture teaches us that if something is lost, it first belonged to you, then became lost.
4 “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? 5 And when he has found
it, he lays
it on his shoulders, rejoicing. 6 And when he comes home, he calls together
his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me,
for I have found my sheep which was lost!’ 7 I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven
over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance.
Luke 15:4-7
- Peter repented, meaning he turned back to the Lord.
- Judas did not.
Both were His sheep, then became lost, one returned, the other did not.
Likewise the prodigal son, was not "chosen" to forsake his father, but chose of his own freewill to leave his father's house for the world.
He became "lost", and dead.
Thankfully
he returned, of his own freewill, and like Peter was received again, and restored.
It was right that we should make merry and be glad, for your brother was dead and is alive again, and
was lost and is found.’”
Luke 15:32
JLB
