Did God predestine Judas to betray Jesus?
No. Judas was not created or placed in a situation where he had no choice. He had just as much choice as the other disciples. God, in His foreknowledge, knew what Judas would do when given the opportunity, and prophecy foretold it, but Judas retained free will and full opportunity to accept.
Les explains that Judas had been with the disciples for the whole three years and even served as treasurer, holding the bag, yet he never had a spiritual part of the ministry. Jesus Himself indicated Judas was a devil or demon from the beginning, so Judas fooled the other eleven men but never fooled Jesus. David, by inspiration, prophesied Judas’s betrayal. People sometimes suggest that poor old Judas never had a chance and that God had already created him to be the betrayer, but Les says Judas was not put in that kind of situation and was not left without a choice. He had as much choice as the others, but God in His foreknowledge knew what Judas would do when given the opportunity, so prophecy foretold it. When prophecy foretells something, it has to happen, otherwise the book becomes a lie. Yet Les insists we should never take away Judas’s free will; he had full opportunity of accepting, had he wanted to. The psalmist foretold that he would betray and fall by transgression. Judas later purchased the field with the reward of iniquity, took his thirty pieces of silver back to the priest at the temple, and threw it at their feet because of his own guilt, and the priest knew it was blood money.