Jesus Washes the Disciples’ Feet

 

13 Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. ² During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him, ³ Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, ⁴ rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. ⁵ Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him. ⁶ He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, do you wash my feet?” ⁷ Jesus answered him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.” ⁸ Peter said to him, “You shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.” ⁹ Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!” ¹⁰ Jesus said to him, “The one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean. And you are clean, but not every one of you.” ¹¹ For he knew who was to betray him; that was why he said, “Not all of you are clean.”

¹² When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, “Do you understand what I have done to you? ¹³ You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. ¹⁴ If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. ¹⁵ For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. ¹⁶ Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. ¹⁷ If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them. ¹⁸ I am not speaking of all of you; I know whom I have chosen. But the Scripture will be fulfilled, ‘He who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me.’ ¹⁹ I am telling you this now, before it takes place, that when it does take place you may believe that I am he. ²⁰ Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever receives the one I send receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.”

(John 13:1-38)

Bible verses that tell us to honour the Lord’s Supper

 

And as they were eating, he took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to them, and said, “Take; this is my body.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, and they all drank of it. And he said to them, “This is my blood of the new covenant, which is poured out for many. Truly, I say to you, I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.” (Mark 14:22-25)

 

For I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.  (Luke 22:18-20)

 

For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” ²⁵ In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” (1 Corinthians 11:23-25)

God’s Plan of Salvation

Just viewed a video called God’s Plan of Salvation and loved it. Though the video is old, the message is good to understand salvation. Please, do watch it.

 

Note: Credit for the Youtube video goes to Brian Moonan

Covenant by the Blood of Jesus

Stained glass showing Lamb of God with vexillum and chalice, from chapel that used to be part of a convent in El Cajon, California (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

As a Christian, one must always regard the New Covenant with great respect. For it was founded by the shedding of Jesus Christ in atonement for sins of the whole world. Lets first reflect on the following two scriptures:

• For the Son of man came to seek and to save that which was lost. (Luke 19:10)
• The one who commits sin is of the Devil, for the Devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God was revealed for this purpose: to destroy the Devil’s works. (1 John 3:8)

Adam and Eve sinned against God and therefore lost God’s friendship and favor. Death entered by sin into the human race. The main work of the Devil (by his own choice against God’s will) on earth is to make man who was created in the image and likeness of God into the lowest spiritually dead person he can and then die and suffer in hell.

God knew that man by himself could not restore the lost oneness and fellowship with God. So he sent his only begotten Son Jesus to live a human existence to redeem mankind. That’s why Jesus called himself the Son of man. Because he was born of Mary the virgin who is also the descendant of David who descended from Adam. Jesus didn’t want to limit himself to only the Jews because the love of God is for the whole world too.

By identifying himself as the Son of Man he conveyed he is for everyone on earth. Now he came to destroy the Devil’s work of making man sinful and dead in spirit to God. He came to destroy the power of sin and death over man. He came to heal people and cast out demons. He came to restore man to God’s favor by his obedience, being obedient even to his death on the Cross for all.

Jesus gives true joy, hope and peace. Today you too can experience the salvation and hope of Jesus. You get this by believing in the New Covenant by the Blood of Jesus.

To take away the curse of death due to the sin of Adam and Eve, the Lord Jesus had to take that curse on himself and then himself become the curse and be cursed. The Bible explains this. When I was very young I used to wonder about a remarkable curse mentioned in the Bible. Here it is:

“If a man has committed a sin worthy of death and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, his corpse shall not hang all night on the tree, but you shall surely bury him on the same day (for he who is hanged is accursed of God), so that you do not defile your land which the LORD your God gives you as an inheritance. (Deuteronomy 21:22-23)

With this curse I would wonder, what is the purpose of cursing a person who is hanged on a tree when he is already dead by the hanging? I didn’t understand at all, until some years later I succeeded in reading the whole Bible word for word. I realized that this curse was destined to be used by God to take away every curse that could ever harm mankind. Here’s that amazing scripture verse that came alive to me:

Christ has redeemed us out of the curse of the law, having become a curse for us, (for it is written, Cursed [is] every one hanged upon a tree,) (Galatians 3:13)

When Jesus shed his blood on the cross, he was hanging on the cross made of a tree, hanging by the painful nails that were driven into his body. He then died on the cross taking away the curse of the law. By believing in this you are justified and purified.

For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed–a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.” (Romans 1:17)

For he has made him, who knew no sin, to be sin for us; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. (2 Corinthians 5:21)

Here’s what Jesus said about the New Covenant which he formed by the shedding of His Blood on the Cross:

In the same way also Jesus took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” (1 Corinthians 11:25)

And when the hour came, he reclined at table, and the apostles with him.  And he said to them, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.  For I tell you I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he said, “Take this, and divide it among yourselves. For I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.”  And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”  And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood. (Luke 22: 14-20)

Please realize the need to believe in the New Covenant. Lay down your burdens of sin and of life at the feet of Jesus. Believe in the complete work of Jesus which is to restore you unto God in this life and the next.

 

Here are a few select scriptures that you can reflect upon:

• Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah (Jeremiah 31:31)
• Thus says the Lord: “In a time of favor I have answered you; in a day of salvation I have helped you; I will keep you and give you as a covenant to the people, to establish the land, to apportion the desolate heritages, (Isaiah 49:8)
• “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)
• Jesus said, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. (Matthew 5:17)
• Then Jesus said to them,“These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.”(Luke 24:44)
• And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. (Acts 2:38)
• But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises. (Hebrews 8:6)
• In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away. (Hebrews 8:13)
• Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant. (Hebrews 9:15)
• Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. (2 Corinthians 5:17)

 

Related articles

• The Resurrection Of Jesus Christ Is The Greatest Single Event In Human History
• Count the Cost of Redemtion
• Why Jesus Came
• First-Century Jews and the Paschal Sacrifice: why “Lamb of God” should mean far more to us
• The Blood Still Speaks
• Discourse about the Cross
• Hebrews – A Wealth of Insight
• Life is in the Blood
• When you drink the cup of the new covenant