| “And he (Judas Iscariot) cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself” (Matthew 27:5). |
| Probably most of you know the sad story of Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve disciples of the Lord Jesus. He was not a true believer, and thought that he could get some money by showing the chief priests and scribes where to find the Lord Jesus and arrest Him. He thought that he would get his money, while the Lord Jesus would simply slip away and not get caught. But when he saw that the Lord Jesus was condemned to be crucified, he threw down the money and went out and committed suicide. It is an awful thing when someone does this, yet several people killed themselves in the Bible. King Saul fell on his sword, while a man named Ahithophel hanged himself too. |
| Most of my life I lived less than an hour’s drive from Niagara Falls, and we often took visitors to see it. Right where the water goes over the falls, there is a strong fence at the side of the road, with a concrete base and strong metal bars above it. People can safely stand there, take pictures, and look at the falls through binoculars. Normally there are security men there, and if anyone even climbs on the concrete, they tell them to get down. But one time when we were visiting at the falls, there was a young woman on the other side of the fence, sitting on the concrete, right at the edge of the falls. I could tell by the look on her face that she was thinking of jumping to her death about 160 feet (about 50 meters) below. A few other people spoke to her, but she paid no attention to them. I went into the souvenir shop nearby to ask for some help, but they did not seem very interested. They said, “This happens all the time; she won’t really jump!” |
| I came back, wondering what to do, when a younger man, much bigger than I was, came over. He did not speak out loud to me, but made some hand gestures to indicate that he would save her, so I quietly moved out of the way. Then he carefully got behind the woman where she could not see him, quickly reached over the fence, grabbed her with both arms, and pulled her to safety. As you may imagine, she fought back, kicking and screaming, but he was strong enough to hold her. Eventually she settled down, and a few minutes later the police came and took her away. |
| She was saved that time, but I could not help but wonder what her real problem was, that she wanted to jump off the cliff and kill herself. I wished I had had a chance to tell her about the Lord Jesus. |
| If poor Judas had only repented and asked for forgiveness, he could have gotten saved. But although he felt that he had done wrong, he did not repent, and he is one man whom we know went to hell. You and I should not even think of killing ourselves if things are going badly for us. The Lord loves us, and is willing to help us. |
