“Yea, Mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted…hath lifted up his heel against Me” (Psalm 41:9).
Have you ever heard the expression, “Beware the ides of March?” The word “ides” is Latin, and in Roman times, it referred to the 15th day of the months of March, May, July, and October. Away back in the year 44 B.C., Julius Caesar, who held supreme power in Rome, was assassinated by a group of senators on March 15. Supposedly someone who knew about the plot warned Caesar to “beware the ides of March.” It is doubtful whether anyone actually gave him this warning, but it found its way into legend because it was used in Shakespeare’s play, Julius Caesar. One of those who aided in his assassination was Marcus Brutus, who was supposed to be Caesar’s friend.
About 74 years later, in 29 A.D., the Lord Jesus was betrayed by one of His followers—Judas Iscariot. But the Lord Jesus did not need any warning about Judas, for He knew well what Judas would do. Although his name is not mentioned, our verse for today describes him, and it was written about 1,000 years before Judas lived. Like the other disciples, Judas had spent several years with the Lord Jesus, and had worked with Him. Yet he was not a saved soul, and when the opportunity came, he sold his Master for thirty pieces of silver.
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