Purpose beyond what is good for the individual, instead for the good of all!!!
Resplendent, and dazzling are those messages just before HE left the world; offering a glimpse into the magnificence of HIS GENIUS PLAN to SAVE who might be saved, as well as THE WAY which defines our role in HIS PLAN! Stunning brilliance, leaving NOTHING to chance, but everything to CHOICE; THAT free will is truly free will, and choices absolutely, reflect the heart! I am AMAZED a thousand fold by the endlessness of intellectual and creative flair in HIS WILL of GLORY!!!
Today we reflect upon the Last Supper, and the intimately personal discussions between THE LORD, and HIS Disciples! Some of the topics involved were LOVE, humility, FAITH, HIS coming back, the DIVINELY revealed reality of THE TRUTH, how THE FATHER was manifested in the person, and works of CHRIST, Peace being the gift of SALVATION/LIFE and the bounty of the MESSIANIC BLESSING, how the possession of TRUTH confers knowledge, and the liberation from sin, CHRIST JESUS as the ADVOCATE in HEAVEN, and the coming ADVOCATE, THE HOLY SPIRIT which would comfort, guide, direct, instruct, and provide as needed for HIS own, the betrayal, the denial, the doubt, the cleansing, and the sharing of HIS BODY, and HIS BLOOD, comforting them, and further preparing them for their roles as leaders of HIS CHURCH...
1+++It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.
2+++The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus.
3+++Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God;
4+++so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist.
5+++After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.
6+++He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?”
7+++Jesus replied, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.”
8+++“No,” said Peter, “you shall never wash my feet.”
Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.”
9+++“Then, Lord,” Simon Peter replied, “not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!”
10+++Jesus answered, “Those who have had a bath need only to wash their feet; their whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you.”
11+++For he knew who was going to betray him, and that was why he said not every one was clean.
12+++When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them.
13+++“You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am.
14+++Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet.
15+++I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.
16+++Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him.
17+++Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.
Our Lord Jesus has a people in the world that are his own; he has purchased them, and paid dear for them, and he has set them apart for himself; they devote themselves to him as a peculiar people. Those whom Christ loves, he loves to the end. Nothing can separate a true believer from the love of Christ.
We know not when our hour will come, therefore what we have to do in constant preparation for it, ought never to be undone. What way of access the devil has to men's hearts we cannot tell. But some sins are so exceedingly sinful, and there is so little temptation to them from the world and the flesh, that it is plain they are directly from Satan.
Jesus washed his disciples' feet, that he might teach us to think nothing below us, wherein we may promote God's glory, and the good of our brethren. We must address ourselves to duty, and must lay aside every thing that would hinder us in what we have to do. Christ washed his disciples' feet, that he might signify to them the value of spiritual washing, and the cleansing of the soul from the pollutions of sin. Our Lord Jesus does many things of which even his own disciples do not for the present know the meaning, but they shall know afterward. We see in the end what was the kindness from events which seemed most cross. And it is not humility, but unbelief, to put away the offers of the gospel, as if too rich to be made to us, or too good news to be true.
All those, and those only, who are spiritually washed by Christ, have a part in Christ. All whom Christ owns and saves, he justifies and sanctifies. Peter more than submits; he begs to be washed by Christ. How earnest he is for the purifying grace of the Lord Jesus, and the full effect of it, even upon his hands and head! Those who truly desire to be sanctified, desire to be sanctified throughout, to have the whole man, with all its parts and powers, made pure. The true believer is thus washed when he receives Christ for his salvation. See then what ought to be the daily care of those who through grace are in a justified state, and that is, to wash their feet; to cleanse themselves from daily guilt, and to watch against everything defiling. This should make us the more cautious. From yesterday's pardon, we should be strengthened against this day's temptation. And when hypocrites are discovered, it should be no surprise or cause of stumbling to us. Observe the lesson Christ here taught. Duties are mutual; we must both accept help from our brethren, and afford help to our brethren. When we see our Master serving, we cannot but see how ill it becomes us to domineer. And the same love which led Christ to ransom and reconcile his disciples when enemies, still influences him.
18+++“I am not referring to all of you; I know those I have chosen. But this is to fulfill this passage of Scripture: ‘He who shared my bread has turned against me.’
19+++“I am telling you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe that I am who I am.
20+++Very truly I tell you, whoever accepts anyone I send accepts me; and whoever accepts me accepts the one who sent me.”
21+++After he had said this, Jesus was troubled in spirit and testified, “Very truly I tell you, one of you is going to betray me.”
22+++His disciples stared at one another, at a loss to know which of them he meant.
23+++One of them, the disciple whom Jesus loved, was reclining next to him.
24+++Simon Peter motioned to this disciple and said, “Ask him which one he means.”
25+++Leaning back against Jesus, he asked him, “Lord, who is it?”
26+++Jesus answered, “It is the one to whom I will give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish.” Then, dipping the piece of bread, he gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot.
27+++As soon as Judas took the bread, Satan entered into him.
So Jesus told him, “What you are about to do, do quickly.”
28+++But no one at the meal understood why Jesus said this to him.
29+++Since Judas had charge of the money, some thought Jesus was telling him to buy what was needed for the festival, or to give something to the poor.
30+++As soon as Judas had taken the bread, he went out. And it was night.
Our Lord had often spoken of his own sufferings and death, without such trouble of spirit as he now discovered when he spake of Judas. The sins of Christians are the grief of Christ. We are not to confine our attention to Judas. The prophecy of his treachery may apply to all who partake of God's mercies, and meet them with ingratitude. See the infidel, who only looks at the Scriptures with a desire to do away their authority and destroy their influence; the hypocrite, who professes to believe the Scriptures, but will not govern himself by them; and the apostate, who turns aside from Christ for a thing of naught. Thus mankind, supported by God's providence, after eating bread with Him, lift up the heel against Him! Judas went out as one weary of Jesus and his apostles. Those whose deeds are evil, love darkness rather than light.
31+++When he was gone, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man is glorified and God is glorified in him.
32+++If God is glorified in him, God will glorify the Son in himself, and will glorify him at once.
33+++“My children, I will be with you only a little longer. You will look for me, and just as I told the Jews, so I tell you now: Where I am going, you cannot come.
34+++“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.
35+++By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
36+++Simon Peter asked him, “Lord, where are you going?”
Jesus replied, “Where I am going, you cannot follow now, but you will follow later.”
37+++Peter asked, “Lord, why can’t I follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.”
38+++Then Jesus answered, “Will you really lay down your life for me? Very truly I tell you, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times!
Christ had been glorified in many miracles he wrought, yet he speaks of his being glorified now in his sufferings, as if that were more than all his other glories in his humbled state. Satisfaction was thereby made for the wrong done to God by the sin of man. We cannot now follow our Lord to his heavenly happiness, but if we truly believe in him, we shall follow him hereafter; meanwhile we must wait his time, and do his work. Before Christ left the disciples, he would give them a new commandment. They were to love each other for Christ's sake, and according to his example, seeking what might benefit others, and promoting the cause of the gospel, as one body, animated by one soul. But this commandment still appears new to many professors. Men in general notice any of Christ's words rather than these. By this it appears, that if the followers of Christ do not show love one to another, they give cause to suspect their sincerity.
Bloodied, harmed, suffering, HE was forced to carry HIS cross up to Golgotha, and there they crucified HIM. As HE was dying, the sky grew black, the earth shook, rocks split, the tombs broke open, and the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom, and many said, "Surely this was the SON OF GOD"! HIS body was removed, and a Man named Joseph came to claim the body, prepared it according to custom, and laid it in his own new tomb, cut into the stone, and a rock was placed before it...
BLESSED IS THE LORD *GOD* WHOSE LOVE HAS ENDURED! How HE suffered for our sins! May we take straight to the depth of our souls, to the depths of our hearts, THE TRUTH of HIS LOVE which sets us FREE, and may we HONOUR HIM IN SPIRIT and TRUTH in all our ways, all of our days, WHILE we model ourselves after HIS MAJESTY THE KING OF KINGS; LORD *GOD* ALMIGHTY, our SAVIOUR! Let us PRAY, let us REJOICE, let us WORSHIP ARIGHT, and let us EVER GIVE THANKS in more than word! HALLELUJAH, HALLELUJAH, ALLELUIA, AMEN!!!
LWINSOR © 2017
BIBLICAL, and/or other references marked BOLDLY IN COLOURS
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