Judas’ betrayal was thus at the Lord’s command, “Do it quickly,” which
means certainly, i.e. the Lord’s self-control. It led to the veil being rent, which
is the Christian Church unveiled. The Lord was establishing the Christian
Church by unwrapping the externals of the Jewish Church. This was to reveal
the same internal as all previous genuine churches, now to be clothed with
new externals, namely baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Judas was the agent of
the change, and he committed suicide, death meaning resurrection, i.e. a new
external for Christianity.
Here is a small section of my original 1983 Council of the Clergy paper on
Judas Iscariot, parts of which were melded in the above-mentioned articles. I
hope your readers might enjoy this with Chris’ superb examination.
The Internal Sense as Guide
“We turn now to Genesis 37:25-27, which contains the passage parallel
to Judas’ betrayal of the Lord. This passage has the Ishmaelites from Gilead
(sensuous good) on camels (scientifics) going to Egypt (knowledge), and
Judah saying, “Come, let us sell Joseph,” and his brothers agreeing.
“The internal sense of these verses reads: ‘There was further thought
by those in simple good, such as gentiles have, about interior natural truths
received by instructions in scientifics. The depraved quality in the Church,
which is against whatever is good, saw no profit or eminence to be gained if
these truths (especially about the Lord’s Divine Human) should be completely
extinguished. Those acknowledge Divine Truth who have simple good, and
they are without blame, because what is from them is accepted.’ (Arcana
Coelestia 4746-4754, expository sections)
“This is the very sequence of which it is said, ‘By Judas also, in that he sold
the Lord, the like is represented as here by Judah, who said, ‘Come, let us sell
Joseph.’” (Ibid. 4751e)
“In the internal sense, the depraved quality of the Church is involved in
preserving the Church because of those who are in simple good. As Dr. (Hugo)
Odhner so aptly put it: ‘The nominal acknowledgment of the Lord must still be
maintained, lest the organized Church should lack any real reason for existing,
and thus lose power among the simple. It is this dilemma that haunts the
Christian Churches.’
“The Lord preserves states of simple good amidst the destruction and
death of churches. There are many people who are without blame, sheep
without a shepherd.
“Judas seems to partake of both the depravity and somehow also of the
blameless simple good – a double nature which is perhaps at the root of trying
to understand Judas. It may also be part of the Jewish people as a whole. (cf.
Jews entering heaven Spiritual Diary 246, 2881, 4332, 4385, 3479; Arcana
281