Tehillah Generation Chapel
Daily Manna | Wednesday, April 4, 2018 | Reading: Exodus 33:1-11, Exodus 4, Gen 3:1-21
Topic: The Tabernacle of God 399
Scripture: But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say not of this building. (Heb 9:11)
Note: Matt 16:18, “And I say also to you, You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” Peter must have been unbelievably shocked at the level of condescension of Jesus in His decision to take the lowliest servant position to wash the feet of His disciples. Never being one at a loss for words and never shy to voice out his opinion, Peter protested vehemently: “You shall never wash my feet!” as he felt embarrassed by the lowly gesture of Jesus to wash his feet.
The response from Jesus to Peter was pretty much unexpected from the latter, as it was something that must have further shocked Peter: “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me” (John 13:8), prompting Peter, whose passion and love for the Saviour was unmistakably genuine, beyond any shadow of doubt, until his triple denial of Jesus under extreme circumstances that Jesus had already spoken of ahead of time and gone ahead to pray for him, to request a complete washing. This request necessitated Jesus having to explain the true meaning of being washed by Him.
The washing of feet gesture that was ordinarily a long standing tradition among Jews, administered by the lowliest servant in the household, was used as a symbolic gesture by Jesus to communicate deep spiritual truth to His disciples. Peter had experienced the cleansing power of salvation at the hands of Jesus and did not need to be washed again every whit whole in the spiritual sense.
Salvation is a one time act of justification by faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary. However, the lifelong process of sanctification is one of washing from the stain of sin that Christian believers experience as they walk through the world; with all the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life (1John 2:16). Peter and the rest of the disciples except Judas, who never belonged to Christ, needed only this temporal cleansing of sanctification.
Food for thought: It’s only the cleansing power of the blood of Jesus that has the efficacy and the root capacity for sin.
Declaration: But of Him are you in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption. 1Cor 1:30
©Author: Rev Fred Aboe
