It happens to each of us that the Lord stands at the door of our hearts and knocks quietly, waiting for Him to be opened and let in – knocking like a beggar at the door. Oh, woe, woe to us, if we do not hear the soft knocking of Christ, for at this moment we must think that those words of Christ apply to us, which caused streams of tears from His Divine eyes: "... Oh, if only on this day of yours you would know what will serve for your peace!" April 22, 1951 A WORD ON PASSION. NINTH.

Your hearts trembled when I read to you the terrible story of the Savior's death on the cross. This is necessary, it is useful for you: it is necessary that they should always shudder when you look at the cross of Christ or remember it. It is necessary that you remember the vile and terrible images of the murderers of God: the chief priests, the scribes and the elders (of whom I spoke to you last Sunday).

It is necessary that you reject in your heart, as from the most vile, the most unbearable for the human heart, as from the most terrible thing that has ever happened in the world, from the accursed betrayal of the Lord Jesus Christ by His own disciple. O Lord! Oh, Lord, how scary it is! The disciple, the apostle, gave up his Lord to death. More than once, probably, the question arose in your mind, how did the Lord Jesus, the Omniscient God, choose Judas as one of the twelve apostles?

After all, He knew, He knew what kind of person he was, He knew that He would betray Him! He knew, he knew, as the Omniscient, he knew everything; but what Judas did was foretold by the Prophet David more than a thousand years before the birth of Christ, for in his 68th Psalm he says thus: "Let his court be desolate, and let him not dwell in it: and let another take his dignity" (Acts 1:20).

And in another psalm he says on behalf of the Lord Jesus Christ: "He who eats bread with Me has lifted up his heel against Me." This, like everything that happened in the life of the Lord Jesus on earth, was foreseen in the Covenant of God even before the creation of the world, the fall of Adam and Eve was foreseen, and the deep depravity of the human race was foreseen. A decision was made that amazes us with the abyss of love that gave rise to this decision, love for the perishing human race: it was predetermined in advance that the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, God the Word, would become incarnate, descend to earth, and by His preaching and death on the cross would save the perishing human race.

So everything was foreseen, all things were foretold by the prophets. The sufferings of Christ were described by the Holy Prophet Isaiah so vividly, so strongly, as if he himself were present at these sufferings, which is why he is called the Old Testament Evangelist. Why and why was Judas chosen as a disciple? Because that what was predestined in God's pre-eternal Covenant and foretold by the prophets had to be fulfilled. Does this surprise you?

You may ask – couldn't it be otherwise? It's not for us, it's not for us to reason! This was God's will, this was God's ordained, so it had to happen! The Lord said a terrible word about Judas the traitor at the Last Supper: "... one of you will betray me... it would have been better for this man not to have been born" (Matt. 26:21, 24) – so terrible is his sin. In order to understand why Judas was needed as an instrument of the Lord's betrayal to death, I will tell you that more than once in ancient times God chose as vessels of His wrath people who were mired in sins, hopeless for the truth, and chose them as instruments of His Divine actions.

Such was Pharaoh, who did not want to let the people of Israel go out of Egypt; such was the terrible King Nebuchadnezzar, such was Judah. But again ask why God allows such evil people to be born, and if they are born, they would rather die. Again criticism of God's ways, again reasoning about what you do not understand. It is necessary to understand that God does not make anyone evil.

Evil are not born, the evil are evil because they themselves choose the path of evil; they could have been good, had escaped the terrible fate of Nebuchadnezzar, Pharaoh, Judah, if they had wanted to. Remember, remember the basic and most important truth – the truth that God does not forcibly attract anyone to Himself, does not force anyone to obey Him with fear and trembling. Remember that only pure free love for God is pleasing to Him.

Submission out of fear has no moral value. Judas, if he had wanted to, could not have become the terrible traitor that he became. Oh, how much good, how great he saw and heard from his Teacher! Oh, how meekly the Saviour treated him even at this terrible hour of the Last Supper, when he was ready to leave in order to betray the Lord to the scribes, Pharisees and chief priests.

See how He spoke of His betrayer. He could have severely and angrily rebuked Judas in front of everyone. He didn't. With deep sorrow He says to His disciples: "One of you will betray Me." He does not name the traitor. He waits to see if the terrible thought of betrayal will not be extinguished in Judas's heart, whether at the last moment he will repent of the evil deed he is plotting, whether he will not abandon his intention to betray the Lord.

But the evil in the heart of Judas had already reached such great strength that he was not ashamed even to ask, together with the other disciples: "Is it I, Lord?" After all, the accursed one knew that it was he, he knew that he was betraying, and he dared to ask if it was me. The Lord did not denounce the traitor before all the disciples here either. He said quietly, "You said." It meant: you confessed yourself - you will betray me. And he gave him holy bread.

"And after this morsel Satan entered into him," as the Holy Apostle John says (John 13:27). Oh, how terrible it is: Satan himself has entered into the human heart, even if it be Judas... How is this possible, maybe, you ask? What does that mean? How is it possible that after Judas has just received the holy bread from the hands of the Lord, which has become His Body, Satan should immediately enter into his heart?

And if the Evangelist said so, it means that it was so, it means that Satan really entered the heart of Judas. Satan made his abode in the heart of Judas, just as the Holy Spirit makes the heart of pure and righteous people his abode. Judas became the house of Satan. How can we comprehend this, so that the devil can take possession of the human heart completely, so that Satan enters into man? Here's how it's possible.