It is Time to Serve as a Foot Washer

April 9, 2008 - email from The Open Scroll email list

Greetings!

I was reviewing the thirteenth chapter of John tonight and I got some exciting fresh insight about Y'shua washing the disciples feet. WOW! This message is for us - right now! I'll show you how I came to this before I bring this writing to a close. This is simply wonderful. Thank you Lord!!!

Consider how the following passage of scripture has the foot washing as the subject of verses 3-17 and how it is wrapped within the context of the betrayal in verses 2 and 18.

Now before the Feast of the Passover, Jesus knowing that His hour had come that He would 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, the devil having already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, to betray Him,
3) Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come forth from God and was going back to God,
4) got up from supper, and laid aside His garments; and taking a towel, He girded Himself.
5) Then He poured water into the basin, and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded.
6) So He came to Simon Peter. He said to Him, "Lord, do You wash my feet?"
7) Jesus answered and said to him, "What I do you do not realize now, but you will understand hereafter."
8) Peter said to Him, "Never shall You wash my feet!" Jesus answered him, "If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me."
9) Simon Peter said to Him, "Lord, then wash not only my feet, but also my hands and my head."
10) Jesus said to him, "He who has bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean; and you are clean, but not all of you."
11) For He knew the one who was betraying Him; for this reason He said, "Not all of you are clean."
12) So when He had washed their feet, and taken His garments and reclined at the table again, He said to them, "Do you know 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, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet.
15) For I gave you an example that you also should do as I did to you.
16) Truly, truly, I say to you, a slave is not greater than his master, nor is one who is sent greater than the one who sent him.
17) If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.
18) I do not speak of all of you I know the ones I have chosen; but it is that the Scripture may be fulfilled, 'HE WHO EATS MY BREAD HAS LIFTED UP HIS HEEL AGAINST ME.'

John 13:1-18

Did you notice, too, how another reference to the betrayer was wrapped up in the middle, in verses 10 and 11? Does it seem rather peculiar that these two subjects are woven together so tightly? Here's a radical idea! What if the foot washing was related to the betrayal? What if the foot washing is part of a prophetic scenario that is most applicable at the time of the betrayal? This whole scene really is prophetic, picturing the season of the revealing of the lawless one of 2 Thessalonians 2, (as shown in detail in When Will the Lawless One be Revealed? (The Sign for the Bride - Part 2)) This revealing, as I write, is very likely a mere 11 days into the future. What does the foot washing mean to us now? Consider the following passage from Ephesians.

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her,
26) so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word,
27) that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless.

Ephesians 5:25-27

This great mystery is about Christ as the husband and the Bride of Christ as the wife. Notice how He, Christ, the husband, sanctifies His church, cleansing her by the washing of water with the word. He serves her, gives Himself up for her, expressing His love in this way, that he might present her to Himself in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing, holy and blameless. Isn't this what he does in John 13? He said to Peter, a type of the Bride: "He who has bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean." The Bride is nearly ready, right now, my friends. Yet, there is in this season some foot washing to be done, and it is for you and I to do it for each other!

It is in this season of the betrayal when this washing of the feet must happen, to make those of us who have "bathed" completely clean. It is in the 17th verse, the number of the "nested thirds" corresponding to victory over death at the Bride Theft resurrection that it is written: "If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them." Bride candidates, is the holy spirit speaking to you about this? Is there not a washing of water by the word He expects of us, after His example, in this very season as we expectantly anticipate the coming dark night of the revealing of the lawless one? We are to wash one another's feet, which is to say I am to humble myself and serve you, washing your feet by the washing of water with the word so you might be presented to the Bridegroom in all your glory!

I myself have felt a very deep encouragement in the last couple weeks especially as email has come to me seasoned with much grace! I have felt the Lord's anointing in so many of the words written, and the tenderness and love of the saints lifting me up, who know their Bridegroom's ways and who are indeed hearing His voice with joy and rejoicing! I know that many prayers have come before the throne for my sake, and I am deeply touched by this, knowing that I am completely and absolutely dependent upon His mercy. I have seen the willingness of the saints to sincerely minister life and the word of truth to others, even where it is a hard thing to be said and heard. For me, it has been a season of renewed dedication to ministering according to the gifts the Lord Y'shua has given me for you. I pray that I may find grace in this season to minister to you according to the washing of water appointed to me, for you, until this season has passed and we go to Gethsemane, where for many of us an appointed hour of trial awaits. This washing is something in reality I feel is the deepest and most genuine commitment that extends all the way to laying down our lives for the church for which our Bridgroom laid down His life.

So, how did I happen to come to this tonight? You may know I'm interested in the thematic patterns in scripture because there's treasure hidden within. I was meditating on this chaistic, or, inverted structure that is the passage of verses 18-22.

18) "I do not speak of all of you I know the ones I have chosen;
but it is that the Scripture may be fulfilled, 'HE WHO EATS MY BREAD HAS LIFTED UP HIS HEEL AGAINST ME.'
19) "From now on I am telling you before it comes to pass, so that when it does occur,
you may believe that I am He.
20) "Truly, truly, I say to you,
he who receives whomever I send receives Me;
and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me."
21) When Jesus had said this, He became troubled in spirit, and testified and said,
"Truly, truly, I say to you,
that one of you will betray Me."
22) The disciples began looking at one another, at a loss to know of which one He was speaking.

The important and focal elements are the ones the others pivot around. I think we need to be reassured of these truths, that we have received this testimony about the revealing of the lawless one in advance, so that those to whom our witness comes may believe Y'shua is the true Messiah. Truly, truly, one will betray Him. That is the job of the betrayer. And, friend, as one sent forth with this testimony, he who receives you receives The One who sent you and The One who sent Him. Hallelujah!

Bob Schlenker
TheOpenScroll.com