Why Did The Lord Pick Judas?

Q

I am fairly new reading your site and enjoying it tremendously. Have a question that intrigues me. Why did Jesus choose Judas Iscariot to be His disciple? The word tells me that Jesus does nothing unless the Father does, and so I would presume that it had the Father’s okay in choosing Judas as a disciple. Having said that, and that God knows everything about each one of us, past, present and future, why? I know that the Father and Jesus do not make mistakes, so there has to be a good reason for having chosen him. Was it necessary to have him in the position to identify Jesus prior to the crucifixion? Thanks for your thoughts on this.

A

1000 years before the cross the Lord had David prophesy that the Messiah would be betrayed by a close friend (Psalm 41:9). 500 years before the cross Zechariah said that the cost of betrayal would be 30 pieces of silver and that the money would be used to purchase a potter’s field. (Zech. 11:12-13) Judas was fulfilling prophecy so it wasn’t a surprise to God. It was one more sign that Jesus really was Israel’s Messiah.