Christ’s Most Misunderstood Teaching

John 13:8: Peter said to Him, “You shall never wash my feet!” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, YOU HAVE NO PART WITH ME.”

ONE OF THE MOST NEGLECTED TEACHINGS OF JESUS EVER!!!! Also, usually MISUNDERSTOOD when not NEGLECTED! A twisted or neglected scripture will never do anything but impede the growth of a believer.

 

The passage is most often used to preach about the humility of Jesus, which of course, is true. Buit there is more than one vein of in this gold mine of teaching!

 The point to remember is that Christians (read the whole passage) DO NOT NEED TO BE CLEANSED FROM THEIR SIN AGAIN AND AGAIN BY THE APPLICATION OF THE BLOOD. That happened once and for all, and we are now new, sinless creatures in God's sight forever. How else would the Spirit of God be able to reside in us unless we are as sinless as Jesus? In fact, there is NO SIN in Jesus even though we are now in Him. New creatures are clean before God forever, Christ having borne our sin.

 So Christ washing our feet, without which our intamacy with Him cannot happen, speaks of our heart and minds being washed from the inescapabvle contact with the filth of the world we are presently living in. The "water of the Word" washes away the impressions in our minds of the sin aroiund us and still resident in our old natures. This is the purpose for saints of the puiblic preaching of the Word of God!

Once we understand this principal of washing and regulate 1 John 1:9 to its proper use (evangelizing unsaved Jews who thought they naturaly had no sin) we are trained to do for other believers what Christ did for Peter and the other Appostles, just as He instructed us to do!

 So let us "wash feet" by reminding both weak and strong believers, Jesus paid it all, once and for all, so we could have this fountain of the Spirit springing up within us all the way to Glory! The water of the Spirit washes us clean, using the Word. The water of the Spirit also continues to satisfy our thirst for Jesus. Drink up! Living water!

The Coming Kingdom of Christ (Pdalm 2)

Psalm 2 (NKJV)  The Messiah’s Triumph and Kingdom

1 Why do the nations rage,
And the people plot a vain thing?
² The kings of the earth set themselves,
And the rulers take counsel together,
Against the Lord and against His Anointed, saying,
³ “Let us break Their bonds in pieces
And cast away Their cords from us.”

COMMENT: This is the final confederation of rebellious Gentile nations, girding themselves up to oppose the armies of Heaven, led by the King of kings and Lord of lords, Jesus Christ the Righteous. The rage of this nations has been provoked against the Lord by His wrath spilled out on the earth for the seven years of the Tribulation. Their plot is to break ALL restraints of their Creator, and throw them off once and for all. All their rebellious planning is but vanity; like blind men, unaware of the lion before them.

⁴ He who sits in the heavens shall laugh;
The Lord shall hold them in derision.

COMMENT: The idea of puny little man overwhelming their Creator and wrestling the Crown of Deity from Him, is so ludicrous, God laughs and mocks their demented plan. Only truly evil men could have such blinding pride.
⁵ Then He shall speak to them in His wrath,
And distress them in His deep displeasure:
⁶ “Yet I have set My King
On My holy hill of Zion.”

COMMENT: The holy laughter of the Victor over His sworn enemies is followed by the perfect expression of His righteous wrath against such evil doers. Contrary to their plot of overruling God, He has already set up His King in Jerusalem. What could distress evil men more than to know the world will be ruled by the very One who will destroy them in battle? This Psalm is prophetic in nature, yet spoken as though it had already happened. This is because when God speaks of future things, we can be certain they will come about by His power and foreknowledge.

⁷ “I will declare the decree:
The Lord has said to Me,
COMMENT: Jesus Christ now reads His Father’s words concerning Him. As God, He wrote the Word, as Man He learned the Word. 

‘You are My Son,
Today I have begotten You.

COMMENT: Christ is fully God, the second Person of the Trinity and He always will be. Yet at a moment in time, He also became fully Man…yet born without sin…the only begotten of the Father. Only Jesus was ever born this way and only He could be born this way.  

⁸ Ask of Me, and I will give You
The nations for Your inheritance,
And the ends of the earth for Your possession.
⁹ You shall break them with a rod of iron;
You shall dash them to pieces like a potter’s vessel.’”

COMMENT: Christ, as the obedient Son, doing the will of God perfectly through the power of the Spirit, is given the world which He died for. Vs 9 shows the fate of the evil nations who reject His love, His sacrifice and His righteous rule. Surely He could say, “They hated Me without a cause.” Such is the mystery of iniquity!

¹⁰ Now therefore, be wise, O kings;
Be instructed, you judges of the earth.

Comment: These Kings are not the ones first mentioned in this Psalm. Those enemies have been destroyed, along with their followers. These Gentile Kings now being instructed, are reigning over righteous people in their respective kingdoms, the “sheep” who ministered to Christ’s Jewish brethren during their persecution in the Tribulation. 

¹⁰ Now therefore, be wise, O kings;
Be instructed, you judges of the earth.
¹¹ Serve the Lord with fear,
And rejoice with trembling.
¹²  Kiss the Son, lest He be angry,
And you perish in the way,
When His wrath is kindled but a little.
Blessed are all those who put their trust in Him.

COMMENT: A sharp contrast is seen here between the King Jesus of the Millennial reign and the lowly Jesus of the Gospels. King Jesus, reigning from the throne of David in Jerusalem, will exercise righteous judgment quickly for any insubordination! Why this difference? Because all men will have available as never before the revealed will of God. His holiness and righteousness will be so manifest, there will be absolutely no excuse of ignorance to fall back on. Sin will be immediately identified in the intense holy light and atmosphere experienced on earth at that time. “Unto whom much is given, much is required”, will be the rule.

It should be understood this Psalm is prophetic only regarding the 1000-year reign of Christ on earth and does not include the eternal state which will have no sin and no temptation in either the new world or the new hearts of the people of Heaven.