Jeremiah explained the covenant very clearly, and that there are four blessings. I treasure that the Lord, who established this new covenant by His blood, personally explained this covenant in detail. Before He established this covenant by His blood, and on the night before His crucifixion, He Himself explained in much greater detail and depth about the content of this covenant. This is so precious and unforgettable.
John 13 records the Lord washing the feet of the disciples. Peter found it unacceptable because he didn’t think he deserved it. He even said to the Lord, “You shall never wash my feet.” (John 13:8) It’s truly amazing. Peter once said, “You’re the Christ, the Son of the living God.” (Matt 16:16) Now the Lord, being his Teacher, washed his feet. It’s hard for the disciples to comprehend, because they didn’t think they deserved it. I’m out of words to describe the Lord. You can describe him in many ways. He’s full of grace, and He humbled Himself to the point of becoming a slave. He came to serve man. No words can fully describe His heart, and how He wanted to eliminate the false feeling of distance. It’s really not easy to express. John 13:8 reads, “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.’” Oh that cannot be! Then Peter said, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!” (John 13:9) He didn’t want to lose his share. We can see his heart towards the Lord, though he might not have had a good understanding of what it meant. Whether we have full understanding is not the most important – more important is the heart.
John 13:10-11 reads, “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.’ For he knew who was to betray him; that was why he said, ‘Not all of you are clean.’” Jesus knew that the eleven disciples were clean. They had truly believed in Him .
John 13:14 says, “‘If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.’” When the Lord said, “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.” I feel that this is related to chapter 15, in which the Lord says, “Apart from Me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5) In the New Year, I shared about being heart to heart with the Lord, and this time I shared it in a more concrete way: When I behold the Lord, I see that He’s in glory, He’s everywhere, and He’s in my heart. Also, I realize that I’m heart to heart with Him, and I take note of my heart’s condition, that there’s no hindrance for me to go to Him. Those who are saved know the state of their spirit. Your spirit can feel whether you’re in a normal state or whether you have problems coming before the Lord. When you continue to practice to be heart to heart with the Lord, you are abiding in Him. This is a concrete way to let you know of your condition. When we obey His words, we abide in His love. Abiding in His love is the same as abiding in Him. When we abide in Him, we abide in His love as well. If we don’t repent after sinning, we’re apart from Him, and we can do nothing. We need to return to Him and ask the Lord to save us. Rely on Him to stand up again. This is the fourth blessing of the new covenant. “‘For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.’” (Jer. 31:34) The moment we believed in Him, we became clean. If we stumble, we only need to wash our feet, meaning that we don’t depart from Him, and be connected with Him once again. Washing one another’s feet means helping one another to remove anything that pulls us away from being connected to the Lord. Staying connected with brothers and sisters helps us not to leave the Lord, and to quickly enjoy the Lord again. This is indeed washing one another’s feet.
The act of washing the disciples’ feet demonstrates the fourth blessing of the new covenant. Being clean means our sins have been forgiven. We are forever perfect. When we sin and stumble, we need to quickly wash our feet. It doesn’t mean we need salvation again. We can only be born again once. Most importantly, we need to be sure that we truly believed when we said we accepted Him as our Saviour. If we stumble, we wouldn’t lose our relationship with Abba, nor would we need to be born again. We are clean, and this is the fourth blessing. It’s so precious that the Lord illustrated this blessing through washing the disciples’ feet. In His prayer, He also mentioned that He would be in us. Please read John chapters 13-17 again when you have a chance. What I shared since the beginning of this year is to show you a concrete way to abide in the Lord. It’s also the key element of the vine and branches parable. When you abide in the Lord, you are truly experiencing the blessings of the new covenant. It’s all yours, and you can freshly experience it every day.