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WEEK FIVE

Day Three

DAILY SCRIPTURE

John 13:16-17

LEADER GUIDE QUESTIONS

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Know: Read John Chapter 13:1-20

Note: Mark keywords, including pronouns and phrases. (love, linen, feet, wash)

Ask questions: (Use tools such as interlinear bibles to search the original meaning of words- free tool here) For example:

• Who is with Jesus?

• What did Jesus do?

• When was Judas influenced wrongly?

• Where?

• Why did Jesus wash the disciples feet?

• How did He display His love?

Observation: Numbers 19

What: What does today’s study reveal to you about the nature of God? What truth do I need to apply to my life today?

The Brazen Laver

“and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.” 1 John 1:7

“that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word.” Ephesians 5:26

The Brazen Altar was inlaid with the looking- glasses of the women and filled with water to wash the hands of the priests. The purpose of the Laver was twofold: to reflect the image of the priests as they washed their hands, leading to self-condemnation and to cleanse the stain of the sacrifice from their hands. 

Now, Jesus is our reflection. “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus,” Romans 8:1. The only reflection we should see when we look at ourselves is of Christ because He is our Laver. The water in the Laver of Christ is the Word. We are cleansed by His Word. Jesus is the Word. When we see Jesus, we see our very own reflection because “as He is, so are we in this world.” 1 John 4:17.

“For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.” Romans 5:17

Jesus washing the disciple’s feet is a crowning moment. We must take a minute and break up what is happening to understand the significance; otherwise, the story is ambiguous and reduced to a foot-washing ceremony between Christians.

This scene begins by revealing to you, the reader, what Jesus knew in His Spirit. He would be betrayed by one He loved “to the end.” Meaning, He loved him with an unmeasurable love; even knowing Judas had come into agreement with Satan. In the Jewish culture, to eat a meal with someone who would betray you was the ultimate form of betrayal.

In verse 3, we have already established that Jesus came from the Father, and He is returning to Him, so I will not belabor this point.

Jesus “rose from supper and laid aside His garments, took a towel and girded Himself.”

Rose from Supper: This is a picture of His resurrection, a memorial of his death and rising from it victorious.

Laid aside His garments: He wore the garb of a servant. Only the lowest servant was tasked with washing dusty feet, yet Jesus, Son of God, came as man and served us. As Barbara Richmond explains in her 1996 book, Jewish Insights into the New Testament, there were customs governing how one should act when visiting a Jewish home. The proper way to express gratitude after an evening of fine food and fellowship was to crumple your napkin casually. However, if you had an unpleasant evening and wished to express your displeasure, you would fold the napkin and leave it as you found it. A folded napkin was a slap in the face of the host, an unmistakable sign that you would never return to his house.

Knowing that many pairs of eyes would look into the tomb, Jesus took the time to fold the napkin as if to say, “I’ve been to the grave, I didn’t care for it, and I will never return.” Jesus, who faced death on our behalf and was raised to new life, will never die again.

Took a towel: The Greek word for towel is “lention.” Lention means linen cloth. In the Bible, linen is a picture of righteousness. Isaiah 11:5 prophecied, "And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins."

Girded Himself: In the Book of Revelation, when John saw Jesus (this John who leaned on his bosom and called himself the disciple whom Jesus loved), he fell at his feet like one dead and saw him girded with a golden girdle. (Even in Heaven, Jesus is still serving us.)

After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet: Under the Old Covenant, when priests washed their hands at the Brazen Laver, it symbolized cleansing from sin. They not only cleaned the blood from the sacrifice off their hands, but as they looked into the reflective mirror of the basin, they would look at their reflection to remind them of their sinfulness and need for sacrifice and cleaning.

Removing sandals was a significant covenantal upgrade in inheritance. Jesus, our High Priests, lowered Himself to a servant, removed their sandals (the sandals of slavery), and washed the dust off with water. Feet represent authority and walking out what God has given us. “And He put all things under His feet and gave Him to be head over all things to the church” Ephesians 1:22

Dust: In the Garden, when God cursed the serpent, He said, “On your belly, you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life.” And to the man, He said, “For you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” Dust represents the flesh. Satan is the accuser. His number one job is to accuse us. He does this by getting us to focus on our flesh- sinfulness, inability, and lack. He succeeds in His assignment if He can get us to become more aware of our flesh. “To be carnally (flesh) minded is death.” (Romans 8:6-7)

Water: In your pre-work assignment, you are to read Numbers 19. While the Israelites were in the wilderness, Moses instructed the people, “Speak to the children of Israel, that they bring you a red heifer without blemish…You shall give it to Eleazar, the priest. Eleazar will bring the red heifer outside the camp. It shall be slaughtered before him and burnt to ashes.” (summarized). They were to take the blood and sprinkle it seven times before the temple. Then they put the ashes into the water to cleanse an unclean person who touched death.

The red heifer sacrifice was a type and shadow of Jesus. The red heifer represented Jesus, without spot or blemish (sin), being led to the cross (slaughter). Eleazar means helper (The Holy Spirit is our helper). The burning of ashes represented judgment, and the water represented living water (Holy Spirit). The ash-infused water was sprinkled on those who touched death.

And to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded… (I will put this all together in a moment.)

“Then He came to Simon Peter. And Peter said to Him, “Lord, are You washing my feet?” Jesus replied, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand. “No,” said Peter, “you shall never wash my feet." Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.” “Then, Lord,” Simon Peter replied, “not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!” Jesus answered, “Those who have had a bath need only to wash their feet; their whole body is clean.”

“When He had washed their feet, taken His garments, and sat down again.” - “Who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.” Hebrews 1:3

He said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you?”- Do you understand yet? Let’s put this all together.

Jesus died once and for all died, for the world to forgive sin- past, present, and future. Those who believe in Him and receive His life, the life of the Holy Spirit, are cleansed and have been given Christ’s righteousness. “For our sake he made him be sin who knew no sin so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Cor 5:21). There is no need for re-cleansing, re-forgiving, and re-salvation. Jesus is our salvation. Jesus demonstrated this when He rose from the table and took off his garments.

What Jesus was showing us when he washed the disciple’s feet with water was the continuous cleansing of the truth of Jesus that we need as we live in this world. We do not need re-forgiving every time we sin. This is what Jesus meant when He said our whole body is clean. Because the enemy’s job is to get us to focus on our flesh, we will face times when we sin; we become sin-conscious, feel condemned, and face times of sickness and oppression. That is the dust that gets on our feet that needs washing. When we listen to Jesus only and His finished work on our behalf, we wash our minds with the Word (Jesus), and the dust gets washed away. We must declare over ourselves, “I am the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.” to remind ourselves that we are secure and hidden in Him, we must always keep Jesus before us as we live. This is what disciples do and what Jesus instructed us to do for one another.

Like the Old Covenant picture of the red heifer, there was only one sacrifice. The heifer was burnt until it became ash. This was a picture of a complete and thorough sacrifice. The ashes were put in the water to cleanse those who touched anything that died. Just as Jesus’ death was complete, our salvation was complete. The water represents the Holy Spirit which washes our minds of a guilty conscience and empowers us to walk out of that reality.

When you are born again, you put off your old man. The old was crucified with Christ. A new person (a new species) was created. ( Peter did not understand this because Jesus demonstrated it before it happened.) Only one cleansing for the whole spiritual body was needed. There are no levels of cleanliness. Under the New Covenant, we no longer look at the reflection of sin from the laver but the reflection of Christ as our righteousness. When we become righteous-conscious, our minds are cleansed from condemnation and guilt. That empowers us to live like Christ and gives us power over sin. The authority that was lost by Adam’s disobedience was restored in Christ. He gave the church the authority over the enemy's works- sin, accusation, oppression, and sickness are the enemy’s work. As believers, when we become aware of our new nature and the authority Jesus restored to the church through the power of the Holy Spirit, we reign in life.

“For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.” Romans 5:17