John 17:12

“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.”

Sure enough, this is a purpose construction. The purpose (or a purpose) of Jesus “losing” Judas is the fulfillment of prophesy, especially Psalm 41:9:

Even my own familiar friend in whom I trusted,
Who ate my bread,
Has lifted up his heel against me.

But why would the fulfillment of a prophesy be the purpose for anything? That makes it sound like the prophesy wasn’t right to begin with and something had to happen to keep it from failing.

Surely, that’s not what’s actually going on. So, what is?

The answer is that the purpose is God’s original purpose. Losing Judas was in the plan from the beginning, as demonstrated by the earlier prophesy. That prophesy was going to come true, no matter what.

So, Judas being lost is a requirement, and that was simply fulfilled.

It checked a box.

Many people are troubled by what happened to Judas and that God foreordained it all.

“The Son of Man indeed goes just as it is written of Him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been good for that man if he had not been born.” — Matthew 26:24

But there’s no doubting that scripture says these things. We can’t run away from the implication. God’s plans include tragedies. Here are some other key references on this troubling subject.

As it is written, “Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated.” — Romans 9:13

You will say to me then, “Why does He still find fault? For who has resisted His will? But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, “Why have you made me like this?” Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor? — Romans 9:19–21

Paul treats this thoroughly in Romans. God’s will in tragedies is an advanced topic, but every Christian will eventually face it. My in-depth study of Romans is here:

https://www.ailbe.org/resources/item/15390-romans

The truth is that God is just as right to create tragedies as Shakespeare is. Creators have creative agendas.

These Monday—Friday DEEPs are written by Mike Slay. The Saturday DEEPs are written by Matt Richardson. To subscribe to all the DEEPs click here:

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The weekly study guides, which include the Monday–Friday devotionals plus related questions for discussion or meditation, are available for download here:

https://www.ailbe.org/resources/itemlist/category/91-deep-studies

Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. ESV stands for the English Standard Version. © Copyright 2001 by Crossway. Used by permission. All rights reserved. NIV stands for The Holy Bible, New International Version®. © Copyright 1973 by International Bible Society. Used by permission. All rights reserved. KJV stands for the King James Version.