‘For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.’ -Jeremiah 29:11
I was preparing for a teaching on prophecy and Judas Iscariot when I discovered a little hidden glimpse of God’s mercy. Matthew 19:28 says, “And Jesus said to them, ‘Truly I say to you, that you who have followed Me, in the regeneration when the Son of Man will sit on His glorious throne, you also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.'” The interesting thing is that chronologically this declaration was after Judas had become “a devil” (John 6:70).
Why does that matter?
It means that even after Judas had turned in sin against Jesus that God still had hopes of his repentance. Perhaps his story could have ended more like Peter’s. We can’t know such things for sure, but we can see that our God has plans for a future and hope for people even when they are as lost as Judas or Judah in the days of Jeremiah.