What kind of cross did Jesus bear

What cross did Jesus bear?

The true meaning of the cross that Jesus Christ bore for us is almost lost. If you were to ask someone, what knowledge they have of that cross, I think in most cases, it’s very little. Most of us have seen pictures of a man they call Jesus, arms spread out, nails in each palm, and a crown of thorns on his head, with a trickle of blood running down his face. I was also taught that Jesus had to carry this huge wooden cross on his back up to where he would be crucified. That’s about all I was ever taught. This is exactly what the devil wants everyone to think. The reason most Christians are spiritually crippled is because they have not been taught the truth.  What do I mean by being spiritually crippled? Feeling inadequate, insecure and not good enough for God. Guilty because your life hasn’t been pleasing to God, your works haven’t been good enough to stand guiltless before God. Being sick and taught that God is testing you. Having the thoughts of fear constantly in the back of your mind.  You might or might not go to heaven, depending on if you were good enough. God is holding all your sins against you. Being powerless in almost all aspects of your life.  Without an understanding of what Jesus Christ accomplished for us, your life will always be a guess work, instead of being a believer, you become a hoper, hoping something better will happen, hoping God still loves me, hoping I will go to heaven, hoping God forgives me. Hope doesn’t give you results, believing does. Hope doesn’t bring you deliverance.  This is what I mean by being spiritually crippled.  Some may ask, what difference does it make what Jesus did, or what kind of cross he bore? It makes all the difference to God; his only son died so that we might have life. The last couple of teaching has been about Jesus Christ, his life as a man and our savior.  The entire bible is regarding Jesus. Old Testament talks about his first coming, Gospels is when he is here upon earth and then the New Testament talks about his second coming. The whole bible is about Jesus, yet we know very little about his purpose.  One of Satan’s goals from the very beginning was to water down the Word of God and to make it non-effective. It’s been made to sound like some parts are more believable than others. Religion has watered down the beatings Jesus endured and has hidden the meaning of the real cross that he bore. Our minds have been tricked into thinking that Jesus bore a wooden cross. Why you might ask? Because if you really knew and understood the meaning behind everything he did, you could claim the power and benefits given to us. You would know what is spiritually yours, you could live life more than a conquer, along with having peace and health.

 It’s interesting to note, that after Jesus died, and was laid in a tomb, it says in  Matthew 28;11-15, They (chief priests) didn’t want anyone to come and steal his body so they had the tomb sealed and set up guards to watch it. After three days, the seal was broken, boulder thrown out of the way, because God had raised him up from the dead. The guards went and told the chief priests what had happened and that his body was gone. The chief priests paid-off, bribed, the guards with money not to tell anyone but to say his disciples came by night and stole the body. It says they took the money, and did as they were taught; and this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day. Fact is, there are still people to this day who believe that lie. If you believe that Jesus suffered very little and carried a wooden cross, then his life to you has very little meaning. Therefore your walk as a Christian is pretty much powerless and easily to be defeated. What can you claim in something wooden with no meaning whatsoever to it? When God talks about the torture and suffering Jesus went through, he isn’t telling us to make us feel bad, he’s telling us so we can fully grasp the meaning that behind every whipping, beating, spitting in the face, being mocked and ridiculed was so we can be healed, and that every sin has been forgiven. The adversary wants Christians walking around weak, sickly, full of guilt and questioning whether or not God loves them and whether or not they will make it to heaven. The devil has pretty much succeeded. That’s why I asked at the beginning of this teaching is, how much knowledge you have of the cross that Jesus bore. Without a knowledge of Jesus Christ and what he accomplished for us, then you will never know your rights, what you can claim, how to stay strong and in what.

We will now go to the Word and read about the cross Jesus bore, and we will also read about the cross Simon of Cyrene bore.  First I want to explain about the wooden cross. The wooden cross Jesus was nailed to was not at all like the pictures you see or like the jewelry people wear. The wooden cross was more like a huge stake; it was a tree trunk with the branches knocked off. When they would crucify criminals they would take their arms, stretched them above their head, fold one palm over the other, and then drive a stake between both palms. The stakes were driven through the top of their feet.

We are going to read Matthew 27;27 this account shows us it was Simon of Cyrene who was compelled to carried the wooden cross.

^Matthew27;27 Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the common hall, and gathered unto him the whole band of soldiers. (A band of soldiers is between 400 to 600 men)

²⁸And they stripped him, and put on him a scarlet robe. (The scarlet robe mocked him of being a king)

²⁹And when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head, and a reed in his right hand: and they bowed the knee before him, and mocked him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews!

³⁰And they spit upon him, and took the reed, and smote him on the head.  (between 400 and 600 soldiers beat and mocked Jesus, they put a hideous looking crown of thorns on his head and after spitting on him, they took the reed and beat him profusely in the head while the thorns were digging deeper inside his skull. This is the second time they did that to him.  In front of crowds, they stripped him, tore off his bloodied clothes; they totally mocked him, bowing down in front of him, making him look like an idiot. At this time it had  been over thirty some hours of continual beatings, he was so bloodied, so exhausted and yet they enjoyed making him look like a fool. Bowing down to him, laughing.  Can you imagine 600 soldiers taking their turns spitting and pounding him in the face and head? A translation of Isaiah 52;14 says his form, disfigured, lost all the likeness of a man, his beautify changed beyond human semblance. Jesus didn’t have a trickle of blood running down his face, his face and skull was mutilated, he had no human form by this time. Still the soldiers were not satisfied and continued spitting and mocking him. Jesus Christ went through unspeakable physical and mental torture. I am not saying this to make you feel bad, it’s recorded so you understand he was enduring this shame and torture all for you. He remained silent, never argued, never begged them to stop, he endured. It is a shame and a disgrace to ever think and promote that Jesus didn’t go through the utmost degree of pain.

^{Matthew 27; 31And} after that they had mocked him, they took the robe off from him, and put his own raiment on him, and led (dragged/carried) him away to crucify him. (Ripping off his blood soaked robe, releasing even more flesh, they dragged or carried him away. He couldn’t walk, he was too weak to stand on his own two legs, there was a soldier on each side of him dragging him up to be crucified.

³²And as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name: him they compelled to bear his cross.

³³And when they were come unto a place called Golgotha, that is to say, a place of a skull,

Simon of Cyrene was coming out of the country, probably to celebrate the Passover. People from all over came to partake in this special event. Simon is walking by, talk about being at the wrong place at the wrong time. They grabbed him and made him to carry the cross that Jesus was about to be nailed to. There is no possible way that Jesus could have carried the wooden cross, he had to be dragged by soldiers, he couldn’t walk.

Mark16; ²⁰And when they had mocked him, they took off the purple from him, and put his own clothes on him, and led him (dragged/carried him) out to crucify him.

²¹And they compel one Simon a Cyrenian, who passed by, coming out of the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to bear his cross.

Here again in Mark, it was Simon who carried the cross.

^{Luke 23;23}And they were instant with loud voices, requiring that he might be crucified. And the voices of them and of the chief priests prevailed.

²⁴And Pilate gave sentence that it should be as they required.

²⁵And he released unto them him that for sedition and murder was cast into prison, whom they had desired; but he delivered Jesus to their will. (It was customary that once a year during the Passover a prisoner would be released. They didn’t want Jesus Christ released, instead they chose another prisoner, his name was Barabbas. The crowd’s decision was final. Pilate did not want to inflict capital punishment on Jesus. He never found any fault in this man. Three different times Pilate tried to spare his life. Pilate became fearful of the mobs who were now full of hatred of Jesus, and they started accuse accused Pilate of not being a friend to Cesar.

²⁶And as they led him (dragged/carried him) away, they laid hold upon one Simon, a Cyrenian, coming out of the country, and on him they laid the cross, that he might bear it after Jesus.

It had to of been one of the most horrible, degrading days ever for Simon. He has to cancel out all his plans for that day and the following days. Simon was forced to carry the instrument of death. It would of made him unceremonial unclean to participate in the Passover. Simon, minding his own business, being made to carry the cross of death. He wouldn’t have wanted to do that it anymore than you or I.

All the top religious leaders were present throughout the beatings and torture of Jesus Christ, they hated him, and they themselves beat and mocked him endlessly. The lop leaders of the church. The chief Priests, entire Sanhedrin, the Scribes and Elders, these were the chief leaders of churches who hated Jesus Christ, they set up false witnesses against him, they lied and cheated on every level to have him killed.  These were the people who were supposed to love God, so the question is, which God. The Word says we have two Gods. The God of this World which is the devil, Satan, who kills and destroys people and the God and father of Jesus Christ. Their father, their God is the devil. It’s not the things you say that make you a Christian, anyone can call themselves that, it’s the way you live. We are known by our actions, by our fruit, it’s not what is on the outside but what is on the inside. As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. You should always be aware about people, or the people you spend time with. Do their actions line up with the words they speak? Does someone tell you I love you but their actions are cruel? Do you get confused when a person confesses how great they are, or how much they adore you but nothing they do lines up with their words? Don’t allow yourself to be mis-guided by sincerity. Sincerity is a front; it’s the biggest con game in the world. A sincere person telling you how much they like you or what they can do for you but yet over and over again their actions do not line up with their words. Don’t tell me you love me, show me, don’t tell me you will do all kinds of things for me, do it, don’t tell me how hard you work, show me. These chief elders were sincere, they wore the correct robes, they lit the candles in certain order, closed their eyes when they pray, shed a few tears, they use choice words of sincerity when they talk. They fool everyone present but their hearts are far from it. God says in vain do they worship me. Always remember, sincerity is no guarantee of truth.

 Now go to John 19. ¹⁴And it was the preparation of the Passover, and about the sixth hour: and he saith unto the Jews, Behold your King!

¹⁵But they cried out, Away with him, away with him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Shall I crucify your King? The chief priests answered, we have no king but Caesar.

¹⁶Then delivered he him therefore unto them to be crucified. And they took Jesus, and led (dragged/carried) him away.

¹⁷And he bearing his cross went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha:

Three clear scriptures telling us Simon bore the cross that Jesus was nailed to. What do you think this cross was? It was spiritual, the cross Christ bore for you and I was spiritual.

Isaiah 53 ³He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows (sorrow is pains), and acquainted with grief (grief is sickness): and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

⁴Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

⁵But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. (Every beating, every fist pounding in his face, every punch he took, was for our healing. We are healed. We are healed; we can claim that, it’s our right to claim health.

⁶All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned everyone to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. These iniquities are sins, sicknesses, pains and bondage. God made him to be sin who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God. He bore all those cruel beatings, the whippings with metal at the end ripping out his flesh so you and I can have health.

In Dr. Wierwill’s book called Jesus Christ our Passover, I need to quote how he worded about our Savior; I cannot say it any better.  Psalms 129;2-3 Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth; yet they have not prevailed against me. The plowers plowed upon my back: they made long their furrows.    When being whipped in this way, the condemned man would be stripped and tied to a stake. The whipping on his bare back would hideously gouge the flesh, literally plowing it loose from the ribs and vertebrae. Large ugly welts would be raised on the body as the rows of plowed flesh lined his back. Bleeding would be profuse. Pilate’s soldiers beat and whipped Jesus over and over again with their whip-like rods and placed a crown of thorns on his head. There is no record of Jesus getting any sleep between the time of his arrest until the time of his death. His disciples were too weary to pray with him as early as the time of his arrest. Think how weary Jesus must have been by the time he appeared before Pilate. Isaiah 52; 14 his form disfigured, lost all the likeness of a man, his beauty changed beyond human semblance. Jesus Christ was beaten so badly that he was changed beyond human semblance. The mob’s reply again under the influence of the religious leaders was to crucify Jesus. Pilate tried to appeal to the crowd. After conceding to the crowd, Pilate washed his hands, a symbolic act of ridding himself of the responsibility of Jesus death. He placed the responsibility on the Judeans who readily accepted it. Although the execution was carried out by Pilate’s Romans soldiers. They mockingly dressed him in a royal purple garment and a scarlet military cloak. After braiding a crown of thorns, the soldiers mercilessly pressed it into his scalp and stuck a reed in his hand as if it were a royal scepter. They began bowing down before him as if he were a king. Then they spit on him, grabbed the reed, and began beating him on the head with it. Each blow drove the thorns into his head with agonizing pain. Head wounds are known to bleed profusely. Every garment put on him would become stained and soaked with blood.  As the blood collected on his scalp, his hair would be grotesquely matted down, along with the torture, the mocking continued. When the soldiers left the Praetorian, they singled out a man passing by, Simon of Cyrene. Him being compelled to carry the cross. Jesus could not possibly have had the strength to carry; he was so weak and badly beaten. Going through the streets of Jerusalem, the throngs saw a completely battered man, one who was a bloody mass of beaten, torn flesh; one who was beyond human semblance; one who was hardly recognizable as a man; one who had been thrashed savagely with whips and rods, pounded with fists, cuffed with palms and repeatedly beaten with sticks; one who had his face and head covered and beaten savagely while being taunted to name his unseen strikers; one who had his dried scabs repeatedly torn off by those changing his garments to mock him.; one who had two crowns of thorns placed on his head, at least one of which was beaten into his scalp; one who in the face of all this physical torture was accused and interrogated in a manner totally illegal, unfounded and relentless; one who was spit upon repeatedly, dressed and undressed by others at will, paraded as a fools king before a multititude clamoring for his death.  This was the ultimate sacrifice. This was a man who had done nothing but love people, healed people and declared Gods truth. This was the man who could have summoned over 72,000 angels to free him at a moment’s notice, but rather chose to bear the full pain and humiliation. This was the man who did it all because he so loved you and me. This was Gods only begotten Son.

During his last hours on the cross, Jesus entrusted his mother to the disciple whom he loved. Then he finally requested a drink with short statement, I thirst. One of his friends or one of his family with the use of some hyssop, lifted up a drink to Jesus lips. Then he cried, “It is finished” he had finished the work God had sent him to do. With that he proclaimed, “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.” He bowed his head and gave up his life. After approximately forty hours of relentless mental and physical torture, the Son f God was dead. At that moment, the veil of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom, eliminating the separation between God and man; our sins had been atoned for. He had hung on that cross for approximately six hours before his death. Compounded with the pain, blood and wounds prior to crucifixion, the experience of our savior’s last six hours of life from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm was the ultimate degree of agony.  Up to this point he had endured over 40 hours of torture.

Colossians 2; ¹³And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses; (having forgiven you all sins, all means all)

¹⁴Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; the ordinances are the laws, he got rid of them, so we can be free, nailed it to the spiritual cross.

¹⁵And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it. (And not just the laws but he destroyed all principalities and powers, evil powers, he triumphed, he won, he beat every evil power there is by his death on the cross.

¹⁶Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath days:  (let no man judge you, you are not under the law)

IPeter 2; ²⁴Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed. (His own body, his physical body, God laid on him all our sins, he made him to be sin for us, by his stripes, all those beatings, we were healed. Isaiah was talking about the coming of Jesus and what he would bear for us on the cross, Peter is after Jesus had done it, Isaiah says were are healed, Peter says we were healed.) Jesus bore a spiritual cross. We have been made completely free from sicknesses, bondage of the law, sins, free from all judgments, free from all frustrations and fears, and absolutely free from defeat. Jesus Christ defeated the adversary.

Do you know that if the devil would of known that we would be set free from all this garbage, he would of never of had the Lord Jesus crucified. Had he known, he would have never had him taken. All he wanted to do was to get rid of that man of God once and for all.  The devil thought if he could just get rid of Jesus he would of won, he had no idea that in the near future people would be able to get born again and have the Power of God in Christ in them. Instead of only having one man to go after, he now has millions.

ICorinthians 2;8 Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. If the adversary would have known, he would not have crucified the Lord of Glory. God would have lost out; we all would have lost out. If he kept Jesus alive then there would have been no way to redeem man back, God would of lost. We would never have the chance to live life, we have eternal damnation. But God didn’t lose, and Jesus Christ paid the price, he did it out of love, he endured the most horrid torture in the world, all so you and I can be brought back to God, so God could have his family, he wanted kids and wanted to be a father to many. We are saved by Grace, our God knew we weren’t good enough, he knew we didn’t have enough good works, he knows that! It’s by grace. Our sins, every one of them, he forgave. How dare any one not forgive someone else for the wrong they have done. It should be pretty easy for anyone of us to forgive others; all you have to do is look at your own life and look at what you have been forgiven for. I have no problem forgiving, I have screwed up so much it’s not funny, yet God has forgiven me. Believe me, I am so grateful. It’s really sickening when I hear people criticize others and refuse to forgive them. I don’t think there is anything uglier than an unforgiving person. People like to remember the wrong things you did, they hold them over your head for days, and many times years, being forgiven releases us from the death penalty. Literally, God has forgiven us and remembers our sins no more. None of us could ever carry that burden. Yet so many people believe that God beats them over the head cause of the wrong they have done.  You really need to stop doing that to yourself if you are. Otherwise Jesus died in vain; otherwise all that extreme torture he went through would have been for nothing. But it wasn’t for nothing, your life is valuable, your life has meaning to God even if no one likes you, you are valuable to God. If whole world hates you, it hated Jesus Christ also; he says not to get shook. Now you have an idea about the cross Jesus bore for us. How thankful we are. We are here to love others for God, so men and women everywhere can be set free from all their burdens. Jesus Christ bore all our burdens once and for all, amen.

How Jesus really loved

For people who really want to know God’s Word, we have to let the Word speak for itself and not the traditions we have been led to believe. How often we see pictures of this beautiful man they call Jesus with a crown of thorns on his head and a trickle of blood running down his face. According to God’s Word that is not true. A True picture of him after being beaten before he was dragged to be nailed on the cross would make a person sick to their stomach. He was so badly beaten and tortured that God’s Word says you couldn’t tell who or what he was. He looked like a piece of grounded up meat, unrecognizable. He was a man; he was a human like you and me. He wasn’t a puppet, or a clone or some strange person who didn’t feel, cry or hurt. He was a man; the difference with him was that he had pure blood, perfect soul life. God created the seed in Mary; he was a man yet without sin. Yet I was raised to think that Jesus didn’t get hurt too bad, the pictures I saw of him were beautiful enough to hang on my wall. Next week I am going to teach on the cross that Jesus Christ bore. Once again we have these pictures showing this man hunched over carrying this great big huge wooden cross. The wooden cross cannot do anything for anyone except be a good source of wood for your fire pit, other than that it causes splinters. He didn’t carry a wooden cross; he never touched the cross until they hammered him onto it. The cross he carried was for our sins, condemnation, sickness and so much more. We will cover more details of that next weekend. What I really want to focus on today is the heart and love Jesus displayed up and into the final hour before they dragged him away to be severely beaten for 40 hours.` Throughout my life I was never taught how loved I was by God and never was I taught all my sins are forgiven. I truly thank God for his Word and I am grateful to have been taught how to separate truth from error. What does religion teach verses what does the bible say.
There are several days of preparations that people must perform before the Passover is to take place. I am going to briefly explain the Passover and why it was given by God to perform. You need to have some background on this subject so you can get the full impact on what Jesus was doing before he was lead away to be crucified.

Joseph had brought his father; his father’s name was Israel, and his eleven brothers with their families to Egypt. There was a great famine in Canaan where they had come from. Many years later, Israel, Joseph and his brothers had all died. As did the king. Throughout the years the number of children increased greatly. The Egyptians had become threatened by the children of Israel and made slaves of them. God chose Moses to lead them out of bondage and back to the Promised Land. Moses had repeatedly asked the Pharaoh of Egypt to let the people of Israel depart from his land. The Pharaoh was extremely stubborn and refused. As a result of his refusal a series of plagues fell on Egypt. The tenth and final plague was the angel of death. It was called the destroyer. It has passed through the entire land of Egypt and killed the firstborn of every household, both humans and animals. To provide the children of Israel protection, God instructed the people to sprinkle the blood of a sacrificed lamb on the two side doorposts of the house and on the upper doorpost, called a lintel. The destroyer, upon seeing the blood, had to "pass over" that house and could not destroy its firstborn. The sacrificial lamb was called the "Passover "lamb. Read Exodus 12;1,7-13,21-27. I do not have the space to write it all out for you. Throughout these scriptures, God is explaining all the details that must be performed. Two significant aspects of this Passover lamb; its flesh and its blood. The flesh was to be roasted and eaten. In eating the lamb’s flesh the believing children of Israel were in reality eating physical health to themselves. While partaking of the flesh of the lamb, it brought health to the people. The sprinkling of the blood of the lamb was also significant. It was the lamb’s blood sprinkled on the lintels and doorposts which caused the destroyer to pass over them, sparing them. The shedding of the blood was an atonement or covering for their sins and consequences of their sins. Read Leviticus 17;11 and Hebrews 9;22. The lamb was a male of the first year, without spot and without blemish. Its blood was put into a basin and then hyssop was dipped into the blood and used to strike the blood across the lintels and doorposts. The flesh of the lamb was roasted and eaten along with bitter herbs. This was the first meal of the seven-day feast of Unleavened Bread. In the killing of the sacrificial lamb, no bone was to be broken. If you will remember that when Jesus was on the cross, none of his bones were broken. Shortly before the children of Israel entered the Promised Land, God instructed Moses to declare unto them all the procedures necessary for the Passovers. There were some changes made. Read Deuteronomy 16;4-7,16. Some of the changes that were made, was the lamb was to be killed outside the gates of the city, the lamb was to be killed, roasted, and eaten at the

place God would choose to place His name. The area was Jerusalem, the city where the Temple was located. Now you have a small basic idea about the Passover. We know that Jesus Christ was our perfect Passover. He was sacrificed for us; he totally fulfilled the law that was established by Moses. Jesus was without spot and blemish, he was without sin. He saved our lives by his blood, every one of our sins are forgiven. People will remind you of your wrong, but not God. Jesus Christ died that we might have life and health. I will give more details about Jesus Christ being our total perfect sacrifice when I teach about the cross he carried next week.

Now, we are the time where it is getting closer to the Passover. Jesus at this time is being sought out to be killed. He has become America’s number one public enemy. The chief priests, Pharisees, all of the top rulers have come together in wanting him killed. They hated him; he embarrassed them in front of multitudes of people with his flawless wisdom. The anger they felt in their hearts towards him had no bounds. Time and time again they conspired on how they might kill him. Also during this time, Judas’s life was mixed with frustration. He had allowed Satan to fill his heart with anger and internal confusion to the max. Judas had been reproved from Jesus a couple of times and he had resentment towards Jesus. The Word clearly states Satan filled his heart and because of the impulses of his emotions he made arrangements to betray him.

Luke 22 1Now the feast of unleavened bread drew nigh, which is called the Passover.

2And the chief priests and scribes sought how they might kill him; for they feared the people.

3Then entered Satan into Judas surnamed Iscariot, being of the number of the twelve.

4And he went his way, and communed with the chief priests and captains, how he might betray him unto them.

5And they were glad, and covenanted to give him money. (Covenanted means the amount they agreed upon to pay)

It says the chief priests and captains were glad that Judas conspired with them. They have been frantically trying to frame Jesus and condemn him to death, and now they had Judas’s help. They offered Judas 30 pieces of silver. See Matthew 26;13-14. That was the mere price in the East to free a slave. That was the price of betrayal of our Savior of the world. The 30 pieces of silver came out of the temple treasury. Treasury money came from the tithes of people. It was mainly used to buy things for sacrifices and offerings.

Jesus himself had wanted to participate in the Passover; several days are involved in planning and preparation.

Mathew 26;17 Now the first day of the feast of unleavened bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying unto him, Where wilt thou that we prepare for thee to eat the passover?

18And he said, Go into the city to such a man, and say unto him, The Master saith, My time is at hand; I will keep the passover at thy house with my disciples.

19And the disciples did as Jesus had appointed them; and they made ready the Passover. Also read Mark 14;12-16 Jesus expressed to eat the Passover with them.

Over and over again Jesus expressed his desire to eat the Passover with his disciples before his sufferings. He saw to it that arrangements were being made. Between the time Jesus sent peter and John into Jerusalem to make preparations and the time they ate the last supper, God by revelation revealed to Jesus when he would die. He now knew that he would not be alive to eat the Passover with them. Following the last supper began to unfold the most harrowing hours any human had ever experienced in their life. We are not going to cover that in this teaching.

John 13;1Now before the feast of the passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end.

2And supper being ended, the devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him;

3Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he was come from God, and went to God;

He now knows his hour is come. What would you be doing if you knew your final hours in life were about to end? Can you imagine the mental pressure and deep thoughts you would have? Would you want to be around many people? My answer is no. Now it is down to the final hours in Jesus’ life and he is going to show them how to love by serving. By his own demonstration, he is teaching them the most important of all acts to live by and that is how to love. Even more important, we are told to love our enemies. If Jesus can do it, we can do it. It took someone to love me, and I was not a lovable person. It took someone to see beyond my ugly behavior and love me. The only way God can get into a person’s heart is through a person to love for him.

In the East if someone betrayed you after you fed them and the food had salt in it, it was considered unforgivable. The sop Jesus gave to Judas was salted. A salt covenant meant you would be committed to honor and protect that person even if it meant giving up your own life. It was given to only special people in your life. That last summer had some tremendous principals of love in it. Jesus was now about to break all traditions in the Eastern Culture, he washed his disciples feet, and Judas was one of them and he is about to wash his feet. To note, in the East the lowliest bond slave, the son of a bondslave, was responsible to wash the feet of his master’s family or guests anytime they entered the house. Even if it happened 50 times a day. Occasionally when a person of high rank visited the home, only the head of the house was allowed to wash his guest’s feet. This was a very high compliment for a man to give a guest. Jesus did this humble task and set an example of love, service and humility.

4He riseth from supper, and laid aside his garments; and took a towel, and girded himself.

5After that he poureth water into a bason, and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded. The towel was a linen cloth. Jesus would, as a servant, tie this about his waist and use the ends of it for wiping the disciple’s feet. The verb "wash" is the Greek word nipto, meaning "to wash one part of the body.

Another great point is being made here by him washing his disciples feet, which brakes their traditional custom is that these were lowly men and not worthy of being treated like royalty, and they knew it. But this shows the extent of God’s love for us. Read the next scripture as this bothered Peter.

6Then cometh he to Simon Peter: and Peter saith unto him, Lord, dost thou wash my feet?

7Jesus answered and said unto him, What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter.

8Peter saith unto him, Thou shalt never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me. Peter who loved and respected Jesus could not accept the humility from his master. But, Jesus reproved him, if he did not wash Peter’s feet, then Peter could not share in Jesus’ work.

9Simon Peter saith unto him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head.

10Jesus saith to him, He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit: and ye are clean, but not all. Basically he is saying you as a group are free from impurity, but not all of them.

11For he knew who should betray him; therefore said he, Ye are not all clean.

12So after he had washed their feet, and had taken his garments, and was set down again, he said unto them, Know ye what I have done to you?

13Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am.

14If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another's feet.

15For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you.

These are examples our Lord demonstrated for us to do. Down to his last remaining hours he is teaching people how to serve in love.

16Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him.

17If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.

This is an example that we should do as he has done. It’s not a matter of washing ones feet; it could be doing a menial task for someone. God is not a respecter of persons; we don’t put others in high esteem over other people of low degree. We love the un-lovable. Look what Jesus was doing down to the end of his life, he was giving and so loving. He treated them like royalty. A servant isn’t greater than his master. An employer isn’t greater than his employees. Yet people with a title act like it. People who have a little more sonority act like it. It’s not so in God’s eyes, he loves us so much, Jesus loved us so much, that we ought to love others like he did. If you haven’t been, now you can. I was not worthy to be called of God, yet he did it. Jesus loved to such a degree he gave his life. Sometimes this just doesn’t sink into my head. I have never been loved like that before. None of us have. But thank God we were loved and now we are able to love and serve others, we need to, there’s a lot of hungry people in the world. God bless you, remain thankful for what Jesus Christ did for us, and how he gave an example for us to live by. Amen