Free Unlocking the Heavens: Release the Supernatural Power of Your Worship by Shane Warren Page B

worshipping something because worship was built into them from the very beginning.
    Satan fights day and night to keep people from discovering the power of worship because he knows that true worship is the pathway to God-ordained dominion for the Christian Church and its individual members.
    Now that we are aware of Satan’s strategies we can better resist his ploys with true worship, one of our strongest weapons in triumphing over him.

Chapter 9
    BETRAYED BY A KISS
    And while he yet spake, lo, Judas, one of the twelve, came, and with him a great multitude with swords and staves, from the chief priests and elders of the people. Now he that betrayed him gave them a sign, saying, Whomsoever I shall kiss, that same is he: hold him fast. And forthwith he came to Jesus, and said, Hail, master; and kissed him. And Jesus said unto him, Friend, wherefore art thou come? Then came they, and laid hands on Jesus, and took him
(M ATTHEW 26:47-50 KJV) .
    I n Chapter 6, I introduced the Hebrew word for worship,
shachah
, which means “to bow down or prostrate oneself.” In association with the story of the worship of the golden calf, I also presented the word
proskuneo
, which is used in the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible), and which means “to kiss like a dog licking a man’s hand.” It has been surmised that Aaron had erected the golden calf and the Israelites were worshipping it in this manner, by bowing down and possibly kissing it on the mouth, because they had learned it in Egypt, as it is known that ancient Egyptians worshipped an agricultural deity in this way.
    Needless to say, a kiss is a very intimate, personal action. It can be entirely positive or an expression of corrupted motives. This is why, when the disciple Judas betrayed Jesus with a kiss, his action seems much worse than it already was. In appearance, Judas was showing honor to his Lord (as a person might do in worship). In reality, he was handing Him over for death.
    Judas, thinking that Jesus would be hard to find and that the disciples who were with Him would put up a fight, had brought a band of soldiers, armed and carrying lanterns, to arrest Him. Judas failed to understand so much about the Lord. The fact is a kiss was not even necessary, because Jesus clearly told the soldiers who He was:
    So Judas, procuring a band of soldiers and some officers from the chief priests and the Pharisees, went there with lanterns and torches and weapons. Then Jesus, knowing all that was to befall him, came forward and said to them, “Whom do you seek?” They answered him, “Jesus of Nazareth.” Jesus said to them, “I am he”
(John 18:3-5 RSV).
    Hail, master
was a usual compliment among the Jews. Judas pretended to wish the Lord Jesus continued health while he was aiming for His destruction! It makes me think of other stories in the Word about compliments of this kind—Joab, for instance. Joab pretended by a kiss to inquire tenderly after the health of Amasa, but then he thrust him through with his sword (see 2 Samuel 20:9-10). Such insidious kisses are tantamount to false worship, and the rewards are never good.
    “JUDAS” = “PRAISE”
    The meaning of the name
Judas
is “thanked, admired, praised”—in a word, praise. Another way of thinking of it is that Judas’ very name essentially means “worship.” Somehow, he chose to use a distinctly worshipful action as a signal for betrayal. His kiss was corrupt, a weapon of destruction. In that day it was customary for disciples to kiss their teacher upon meeting him; their kiss was a sign of respect and honor. However, Judas’ kiss of betrayal was a sign of
dis
respect and
dis
honor. To make matters worse, the Greek verb indicates that Judas kissed Jesus repeatedly, not only once, but multiple times. As it turned out, Judas fulfilled the words of Isaiah, which he must have heard Jesus quote: “This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship