What You Are About to Do, Do Quickly
· Jerwin Arnado · 3 min read ·
“As soon as Judas took the bread, Satan entered into him. So Jesus told him, ‘What you are about to do, do quickly.’” — John 13:27
A Word Spoken Past the Man
After Judas took the bread, Satan entered into him. Scripture states it plainly — Judas was now possessed.
The next thing Jesus says is, “What you are about to do, do quickly.” For a long time I read that as Jesus speaking to Judas. But look again at the verse before it. Judas is no longer acting alone. Jesus is not giving instructions to a disciple; He is giving permission — and the one receiving that permission is the spirit possessing him.
Judas did not need permission to walk out the door. Neither do any of us to make our own choices. But Satan did. Jesus was speaking past the man to the power that had taken hold of him, and the command “do quickly” is the moment that power is released to act.
The Pattern from Job
This is not a new pattern in Scripture. We see it clearly in the book of Job. Every time Satan wants to move against Job, he first has to come before God and ask. He cannot touch Job’s possessions, his body, or his life until permission is granted.
The accuser operates under authority. He is not free to do as he pleases; he is bound to ask. What we read in the upper room is the same arrangement playing out — Satan, even at the hour of the betrayal, is still operating only by permission.
The Divinity Hidden in the Betrayal
Here is what stopped me. If Satan must go to God for permission, and at this table he is waiting on the word of Jesus to act — then who is Jesus?
Even in the betrayal, the divinity of Jesus is revealed. He is YAHWEH, the very same God that Satan has to approach in order to ask. The authority that allowed the testing of Job is the authority sitting at that supper, releasing the betrayal with a single sentence.
It is the same authority we see whenever Jesus casts out demons. The crowds witnessing it say it themselves: even the demons are subject to His will. The spirits obey Him because He is the one they answer to.
The betrayal looks, on the surface, like the moment Jesus loses control. It is the opposite. Not one part of it moves without His word. Even here, especially here, He is Lord over it all.