¹¹ For He knew the one who was betraying Him; for this reason He said, “Not all of you are clean.”

Jesus knew Judas was going to betray Him. We know it already, because most of us have heard the stories of Jesus Christ repeatedly. Plus John had already made reference to it in 6:71and 12:4 as well as earlier in this chapter (13:2).The first century Christians who were reading the Gospel according to John for the very first time most likely were well acquainted with the betrayal story from the accounts of Matthew, Mark and Luke which had long been in circulation, for anywhere from 20-40 years. The disciples, in the chronology of the Upper Room events, were not yet privy to this knowledge.

On a side note, the early Christians did not think of the four gospels as four separate gospels. They understood the Gospel to be singular, there was only one life and one message, which was/is the Good News of Jesus Christ. By the beginning of the second century, Christians customarily referred to the four “accounts” of the one Gospel. Fittingly, the titles given to the four writings were, “According to Matthew”, “According to Mark”, etc. John’s account was the last of the four to be written and circulated. And by the beginning of the 2^nd century we see all four accounts being circulated in one collection.

Back to our story. So we readers are given the inside of Jesus’ meaning, at a juncture in the story when the disciples didn’t know it. And it raises for us questions which the disciples did not even conceive. First, was this prophetic, premonition or simply wise discernment. This is only problematic if one eliminates the supernatural out of the starting gate. In John’s perspective, Jesus is “the Word” and He is the “only begotten of the Father.” It was John who preserved for us Jesus’ words, “Before Abraham was, I am,” which to the Jewish mind of that day amounted to a claim to deity, and incurred their attempts to stone him. At the minimum, Jesus had “foreknowledge” and could see what was going to happen. Further, being familiar with OT prophecies, as later discovered by the eleven disciples (Acts 1:16-26), a betrayal was inevitable. So, yes, Jesus’ knowledge was prophetic, contrary to what those of a more liberal view of Scripture and the life of Christ would have us to believe. There is no question that John portrays Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the living God. “These have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God…” (John 20:31). And His foreknowledge is one of evidences of this.

Lord, I do believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God. And I believe that You know all things before they happen. There are no surprises with You.