The Son of Perdition John 17:12 CLICK TITLE FOR AUDIO
The Son of Perdition mentioned in this verse is obviously Judas Iscariot. The notes below are not a transcript of this message but show you some of the verses to which we refer in the audio.
Having previously referred to Judas as a devil, Jesus knew that Judas was going to betray Him (John 6:70-71). In Jn 17:12, Jesus referred to Judas as the son of perdition.
We see the term Son of Perdition used not only in Jn 17:12 but again in 2 Thes 2:3 along with the term “man of sin“ in 2 Thes 2:4.
When Judas died “Judas by transgression fell, that he might go to his own place,” Acts 1:25. When God wants you to know that a person has gone to Hell, He states very plainly that he is in Hell (Luke 16:22, Matt. 23:33). But that is not what we see in Acts 1:25. Instead the Bible states that he went to his own place.
This place is seen in Revelation 9:1 and 9:11. It is a bottomless pit. Out of this pit will come mutated locusts that have a king despite the fact that ordinary locusts, as we know them, have no king (Prov. 30:27). This bottomless pit has an angel in it named Abaddon in Hebrew and Apollyon in Greek (Rev. 9:11). Interestingly, according to the marginal notes, the name Apollyon means destroyer, or perdition.
When John wrote the Book of Revelation the body of Judas Iscariot was dead, but his soul was still alive in the bottomless pit, or his own place. Therefore, when we read “The beast that thou sawest was, and is not” in Revelation 17:8 we are to understand that “was, and is not” are references to the physical body of Judas Iscariot whose soul currently dwells in the bottomless pit without a physical body. Nevertheless, he “yet is” because his soul is still alive. The verse goes on to say that he “shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition” showing us that Judas Iscariot the Son of Perdition mentioned in John 17:12 is connected to the beast of Rev 17.
The way that Judas eventually comes back during the Tribulation in the beast’s body is through a pseudo-resurrection following an attempted assassination of the antichrist, after which he is revealed “And then shall that Wicked be revealed” (2 Thes. 2:8). In Revelation 13:3 we see how this will happen “And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.” This will fulfill the prophecy found in Zechariah 11:17 stating, “Woe to the idol shepherd that leaveth the flock! the sword shall be upon his arm, and upon his right eye: his arm shall be clean dried up, and his right eye shall be utterly darkened.”
This prophecy is so significant because it foretells of a kind of a resurrection. In Rev. 13:3 and Zech. 11:17 the suggestion is that when the head of the beast is wounded unto death and the soul departs from the body of the beast, Satan will then utilize the opportunity to insert the soul of Judas Iscariot into the beast’s body and thereby create the illusion of a resurrection to deceive and lead the people into idolatry.
When Judas returns as the beast he will deceive the world by “miracles” as stated in 2 Thes 2:9, “Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders.”