Commentary on the Gospel of John

                                   Chapter Fourteen

                                                                                                                                               Verses 1-4

Jesus began to teach His followers what His Church really means to Him. His Church is His family. After His Church has completed its mission on the earth, Christ will come back to earth to Rapture His Church to Heaven to live with Him there forever. I Thessalonians 4:14-17.

When any of Christ's believers saved by grace dies and faces Christ in judgment, He will immediately allow their souls and spirits to go straight to Heaven. II Corinthians 5:6-8. But believers cannot possess complete joy and peace and sinless pleasures until they obtain a spiritual body like that of Christ's. Philippians 3:20-21; I John 3:2. Christ will provide a spiritual body for every believer in the Rapture of the Church. II Corinthians 5:1-5. Spiritual worship of God happens to be far deeper and more powerful than physical worship. This means that in the great worship services in heaven, believers must transform themselves into spirit and soul in order to properly worship God. John 4:23-24. But Christ desires that His believers also be able to enjoy the physical pleasures of Heaven such as a walk through the beautiful countryside or friends and family being able to hug each other. Christ will provide a great feast for His Church after the Rapture, and His believers must have physical bodies in order to be able to taste that delicious food. Matthew 26:29; Revelation 19:9.

God created earthly families to be a lot like His family, the Church. Earthly families can have wayward children who may even destroy themselves in sinful lifestyles. But good parents never stop loving their children no matter what happens. Loving parents will discipline their children in order to try to get them to choose to live safe and healthy lives. Loving parents will always forgive wayward children who return home with a humble and repentant attitude. The same happens to be true of God and His family, the Church. God will discipline His children who backslide into sin in order to correct them. Hebrews 12:5-13. Human parents may not be able to save their children living in a destructive lifestyle, but Christ knows exactly how to cause every backslider among His believers to repent and humble themselves to Him in the Rapture so that He can cleanse and forgive them of their fleshly sins. I Corinthians 1:8; I Thessalonians 3:13; I Thessalonians 5:23; Ephesians 5:25-27. Christ will present to His Father a clean and glorious Church to be His Bride. Revelation 19:6-9; Romans 7:4. Christians should never judge a backslider as being unsaved because God has every right to save by His grace whomsoever He wills. Matthew 7:1-5; Romans 9:14-16.

Commentary on the Gospel of John

                                  Chapter Thirteen

                                                                                                                                              Verses 36-38

After Jesus had taught His disciples about the basic doctrines of the Church, and He had commanded them to love one another, He demonstrated His love for them by washing their feet. By doing that, Jesus symbolized that the members of His Church should always show love and forgiveness for each other just as He had forgiven them. Everything Jesus taught His disciples also applies to His Church.

Peter asked Jesus where He was going. Jesus replied that Peter would not ascend with Him to Heaven, but Peter would follow Him to Heaven after his physical death. The Church understands this better than Peter did. Peter did not quite understand what Jesus meant, but the Church understands. Jesus clearly taught His Church that their souls and spirits would go directly to Heaven following their physical deaths. Since spirit is the same as consciousness, then the souls and spirits of believers in Heaven will be conscious. II Corinthians 5:6-8.

Peter answered Jesus not in faith but with a prideful display of his own manly courage. Peter thought he was man enough to die with Jesus. Jesus taught Peter that manly courage can fail when He told Peter that he would deny Him three times before the cock crowed. The Church understands that Jesus taught Peter that true faith means having complete trust in the power of Christ to save by His grace and no confidence at all in anything that weak humans can do to save themselves. Peter actually told Jesus that he thought his strength was equal to Jesus', but Peter had no idea that there was no way that he could suffer and die the way Jesus did.

Commentary on the Gospel of John

                                  Chapter Thirteen

                                                                                                                                              Verses 30-35

Judas Iscariot immediately left the assembly. Only after the traitor was gone could Jesus begin to teach His disciples all of His instructions for them to believe and to do after He ascended. Also, through His written Word, Jesus taught His Church all that they should believe and do during the Church Age.

Jesus taught His disciples that He would be glorified, and God would be glorified in Him. Jesus made sure that His disciples and His Church would believe that He was God in human form. Jesus also taught them that His glorification would happen very soon so that they would know that His glorification would be in His death, burial, and resurrection.

Jesus called all of His disciples "little children." Jesus considers all of His believers to be like little children. This comports with Jesus' teaching that a person must humble themselves to God like little children in order to enter into the kingdom of Heaven. Matthew 18:1-4. Jesus also taught that if anyone offends His "little ones," then it would be better for them to be cast into the sea. Matthew 18:6. Clearly, Jesus meant any of His believers when He said "little ones," not just small children. Since "the sea" happens to be one of the regions of death, then Jesus warned anyone who harms and persecutes His believers that they will receive a harsher punishment for their evil acts after their physical deaths. According to His judgment, He will probably cast most of them into the fires of Hell. Revelation 20:13; Hebrews 9:27.

Jesus further taught His disciples that He would not allow them to follow Him into Heaven when He ascended. Everything Jesus taught His disciples, He also taught His Church through His written Word. By this Word, He also taught His Church that they would not immediately ascend to Heaven as a spiritual body like His following their conversion, but they must wait for the Rapture of the Church. Jesus left His Church in the world to carry on His mission, through the power of the Holy Spirit, to be the "light of the world" just as He is the "Light of the world." Matthew 5:14; John 8:12.

Jesus then gave His disciples a new commandment that happens to be the basis for all holiness and righteousness. Jesus taught His disciples, and His Church, that they all should love one another. The whole world would know that the Church is different from the world by the holy love that its members show for one another. God loves the world, meaning all living humans that He creates. John 3:16. But Jesus never taught His disciples to love the world. In fact, the Holy Spirit inspired the Apostle John to write that His believers "Love not the world," meaning the sins and evil within every human who has not been saved by grace. I John 2:15. But the Holy Spirit gives God's Love to every believer saved by grace for the living souls and spirits of every human soiled by sin and evil so that the believer can lead them to Christ who will cleanse them and forgive them of all their sins and evil and save them by His grace the moment they repent and believe. Galatians 5:22. God's Love never causes harm to anyone. Romans 13:10. Christ's Love that He gives to His Church replaces the law in His Church because the law condemns all living humans soiled by sin and evil to the regions of death. Matthew 5:17; John 8:23-24. But God's Almighty Love cannot fail. I Corinthians 13:8. God has devised a plan that will cause all living humans confined to the regions of death to repent and believe in the Lamb of God of their own free will so that He can save them with a lesser form of salvation than that of grace. Revelation 5:11-14; John 5:28-29; Revelation 21:1-5; Revelation 22:11-12; II Peter 3:9-13.

Commentary on the Gospel of John

                                 Chapter Thirteen

                                                                                                                                              Verses 27-29

After Judas Iscariot received the piece of bread from Jesus, Satan himself entered into him. The Devil seeks to completely ruin the image of God in any human to the extent that it becomes totally evil and demonic and lost from God's Love forever. If the devil can do that to just one living human, then he could prove that God's Love can fail, and if God can fail, then the Devil could cause Jesus to be unable to rise from the dead. The Devil would succeed in his plan to murder God.

The book of Job reveals the Devil's plan to ruin God's Love and Holiness, and thereby, give the Devil the ability to murder God. Job 1:11; Job 2:5; Job 2:9. God created His image in every human to be good which means He put faith into every human. Genesis 1:31; Romans 12:3. The Devil sought to turn the image of God in Job to total evil by causing him to "curse God and die." Job represents the suffering and despair of the entire human race in the Devil's attempt to completely ruin the image of God in at least one human. Satan did not care about Job. Job was only the means by which the Devil could find a way to weaken God and find a way to murder Him and take control of His universe. The Devil's real aim was to destroy God. Isaiah 14:12-17. The Devil must have thought that surely he would be able to annul the good image that God had put into the traitor of Jesus and thereby cause him to become totally evil and lost from God's Love forever. Ecclesiastes 3:14; I Corinthians 13:8.

But the Devil himself inside of Judas Iscariot failed to cause his living nature to become totally evil. Legions of devils inside of the maniac of Gadara failed to cause his living nature to become totally evil because he ran to Jesus to get healed. Luke 8:26-33. Judas Iscariot became remorseful and threw down the thirty pieces of silver in the Temple. Matthew 27:3-10. Only the good and living nature of a human can become remorseful. Near the end of the world, Christ will appear to Judas Iscariot, and all other living humans confined to the regions of death, and He will cause them all to repent and believe that Christ the Lamb will save them from eternal death. Revelation 5:11-14; John 5:28-29. While sociopaths often express no remorse for the evil that they do, a close examination of their entire lives will always show that they have done some good which will prove that their living natures have not become totally evil. Jesus promised that whoever gives a cup of cold water in the name of a disciple will not lose his reward. Matthew 10:42. Since God only makes positive creations, then He can only give positive rewards. God will give positive rewards to all repentant, living humans whom He will raise from the dead. Revelation 5:11-14; Revelation 20:5; John 5:28-29; Revelation 22:11-12.

Jesus told Judas Iscariot to do his evil deed quickly. Jesus wanted no delay in the suffering He would have to do on the cross.

Jesus' disciples completely missed the fact that Jesus had indicated who the traitor would be. They thought Jesus had instructed Judas Iscariot to buy more food for the feast or give something to the poor. They indicated that they still thought of Judas Iscariot as being a loyal disciple. Judas Iscariot had conned them all except for Jesus.

Commentary on the Gospel of John

                                    Chapter Thirteen

                                                                                                                                               Verses 21-26

Before Jesus could begin to teach His true disciples about how He would sanctify and purify His Church, He first had to excommunicate the unbeliever. The thought of what He had to do troubled Jesus and caused Him grief. Jesus loved Judas Iscariot just as He does all humans. Jesus informed His disciples that one among them would betray Him.

Jesus' disciples looked at each other, and they doubted Jesus' word. Apparently, Jesus' true disciples had complete confidence in Judas Iscariot that he was also a true disciple. One of the strange facts of life is that evil people are often well known to be so by good people, but extremely evil people are quite often accepted by good people because extremely evil people happen to be very good at pretending to be good people. Good people have often been conned out of millions of dollars by extremely evil persons, and they have even been able to become the leaders of nations who have caused wars and mass murder.

Peter asked the Apostle John, who was the youngest disciple and who was leaning on Jesus' chest, to ask Jesus who the traitor was. God loves all humans equally, but He has His favorites, and apparently John was Jesus' favorite disciple. John asked Jesus who the traitor was. Jesus answered that the traitor would be the one to whom He would give a piece of bread after He had dipped it in some kind of sauce. Jesus dipped the bread and gave it to Judas Iscariot.

In all three of His synoptic gospels, Jesus taught that the wine that He gave to His disciples represented His new covenant with His Church in that His shed blood would remit their sins and save them by His grace. Matthew 26:26-29; Mark 14:22-25; Luke 22:14-20. Jesus also gave them the broken bread which represented His broken body, but He did not teach His disciples that His broken body would be a part of His new covenant with His Church. This fact could mean that the broken bread symbolically represented not only Jesus' salvation of His Church from eternal spiritual death, but also the salvation of the rest of humanity from eternal spiritual death. Hebrews 2:9-15. When Jesus gave the broken bread to Judas Iscariot, Jesus could have meant by that gift that a day would come when Jesus will cause even Judas Iscariot to repent and believe in the lamb of God and be saved from the regions of death. Revelation 5:11-14. Jesus did teach that He would lay down His life for His friends. John 15:13. Jesus called Judas Iscariot "friend" when he came with a mob to have Jesus arrested. Mathew 26:50.

Commentary on the Gospel of John

                                 Chapter Thirteen

                                                                                                                                               Verses 16-20

In verses 16-20, John relates Jesus' teaching of His true disciples before and during the last supper. Jesus washed His disciples' feet after the last supper. John 13:2. Apparently, John desired to relate about how Jesus would sanctify and purify His Church in the Church Age before he related about how Jesus would cast out unbelievers. If the last supper in-itself constituted a prophecy about the great feast that God will provide for His Church after the Rapture, then perhaps God will not cast out unbelievers from His Church until that time. Matthew 26:29; Mark 14:25; Matthew 7:21-23.

Jesus taught His disciples, who represented His entire Church during the Church Age, that they would preach and teach about Him to the same extent that He would Himself. In other words, Jesus' Church will represent Him in the world after He returns to His Father. John thought that he should first relate how the Church should purify itself with daily repentance so that it could best represent Christ to the world. John 13:1-15.

Jesus further taught that God will give joy and happiness to those churches that best represent Him.

Jesus then prophesied that He would cast out Judas Iscariot who represented all unbelievers who will have joined themselves to His Church.

Jesus also taught His Church that He knows whom He has chosen. Jesus did not mean that God has chosen some people to be saved and all others to be lost from Him forever. God planned the history of the world, and Jesus' salvation of it, before He ever created it. Acts 15:18. God planned to purge all sin, evil, and the Devil himself from all of His creations in the end of the history of mankind, and from the beginning He planned to recreate it all to be righteous. Genesis 3:14-21; Revelation 21:1-5; Revelation 22:11-12; II Peter 3:9-13; John 12:31-32. As God allowed His history of the world to unfold in His Mind, He noticed that some living humans were capable of believing in the power of His Son to save them from sin, evil, and the Devil while they were still alive in the flesh. God chose to save all of those who would so believe by His grace. He would cleanse them with the blood of His Son and give them the perfect righteousness of His Son so that He could accept them into Heaven to live with Him there forever. Revelation 1:5; II Corinthians 5:17-21; I Peter 1:1-5; Genesis 3:21. God will purge all sin, evil, and the Devil from His entire creations in order to save the entire human race. John 12:31-32; II Peter 3:9-13; Revelation 21:5; Revelation 22:11-12.

Jesus had taught His disciples before about His death, burial, and resurrection that would save them if they believed. But He also knew that their faith would not become absolutely certain until they would see Him after His resurrection. This fact would hold true for His Old Testament saints whom He would Rapture after His resurrection, and for His future Church, and for His Tribulation saints who will not come to full faith in Him until they see Him in Heaven. Matthew 27:52-53; Luke 24:36-45; Revelation 7:13-17.

Jesus told His Church that He will send them to represent Him in the world. The Holy Spirit preaches the gospel to every human who will ever live, but Christ also uses His Church, empowered by the Holy Spirit, to be a witness of salvation to all who will believe. All who believe through the witness of His church will come to a full, spiritual awareness of the salvation that God has provided for them, and they will become sanctified, and they will join themselves into churches to further spread the gospel. But those whom the Holy Spirit saves by grace who never hear the preaching and teaching of the Church will not become fully aware of their spiritual salvation until they get to Heaven. Colossians 1:23; Matthew 28:18-20.

Commentary on the Gospel of John

                                   Chapter Thirteen

                                                                                                                                              Verses 1-15 continued

When Jesus came to wash Peter's feet, Peter complained that he needed to be thoroughly cleansed by Jesus. Peter provided an example of the need for salvation by grace and daily repentance. Jesus answered Peter by telling him, and all of His disciples, that He had already cleansed them of all their sins and evil except for their feet which symbolized their fleshly natures which could still sin. Jesus would need to daily cleanse their fleshly sins with the water He would shed on the cross as they daily repented of them. Jesus washed their feet to symbolize this fact. Jesus did not ordain a foot washing ceremony for His Church. Jesus symbolically taught His disciples that they should forgive each other for their sins against each other as they daily asked for forgiveness, just as He will daily forgive His believers as they daily repent. I John 1:8-9.

Jesus also taught that "the Father had given all things into His hands..." John 13:3. Since God created all things and Christ has promised to "make all things new," then Jesus could only have meant by saying that that He will recover and recreate His entire creation, including all living humans. Being Almighty, God knows exactly how to cause all living humans eventually to repent and believe in the Lamb of God of their own free will so that He can save some by His grace and all others in a great worship service in the end of the world. John 5:24; Revelation 5:11-14. After His salvation of the entire human race, Christ will recreate Heaven and earth to be righteous. Revelation 21:1-5; Romans 8:18-23; I Corinthians 15:20-28; Colossians 1:15-23; II Peter 3:9-13; Ecclesiastes 3:14. In Colossians 1:21, all living humans saved by grace are now reconciled to God, but in Colossians 1:20, all things that God has ever created will be reconciled to Him.

Commentary on the Gospel of John

                                   Chapter Thirteen

                                                                                                                                              Verses 1-15

When Jesus realized that His time had come for Him to make His sacrifice and return to His Father, He turned from preaching the gospel to the lost, and He began to directly minister to His disciples. Jesus had a lot to teach His disciples so that they would be able to write their gospels and epistles and prophecies for the instruction of His followers during the Church Age. Jesus loved His disciples to the end of His earthly ministry, and His Spirit will love His Church until the end of the Church Age, and God will love His entire recreation of the world and of all humanity into eternity. Romans 8:35-39; Revelation 21:1-5.

John records Jesus' teachings of His disciples after their supper had ended, and Judas Iscariot had already left, up to verse 15. This can only mean that Judas Iscariot was not present when Jesus washed His disciples' feet. After verse 15, John returns to Jesus' teachings of all of His true disciples during the last supper after Judas Iscariot had left.  

John desired to relate Christ's message about how His Spirit will sanctify and purify His Church until Christ returns to Rapture His Church before he related how that God will excommunicate unbelievers who have joined His Church. God will provide a great feast for His Church immediately following His Rapture of His Church, and it may well be that God will not excommunicate unbelievers from His Church until this feast. Matthew 7:21-23; Matthew 24:48-51.

For this reason, John related first about the method God will use to sanctify and purify His true believers during the Church Age. Jesus taught His disciples that He had already completely cleansed them of all sins and evil except for Judas Iscariot who had already left. John 13:10. In His teaching, Jesus referred to His shed blood which had completely cleansed His disciples' souls and spirits of all their sins and evil, but He had left their flesh, represented by their feet, with the ability to sin as they walked through a wicked world. God is eternal and that means that Christ can send His Spirit with His shed blood into the past from His cross to cleanse and forgive just as He can send His blood into the future. With their fleshly natures still able to sin, Jesus' followers would pick up dirt from the world as they walked through it and sometimes would yield to its temptations. Romans 7:18. But Jesus so thoroughly cleanses sin and evil from the souls and spirits of His believers with His shed blood that their souls and spirits can never sin again. I John 3:9. For their fleshly sins, Jesus' true believers would need to be washed in the water that Jesus shed on the cross as they daily repented of those sins. Jesus washed His disciples' feet to symbolize their need to be daily cleansed with the water of His Word. I John 1:8-9. But even those backsliders who fail to daily repent, Christ will thoroughly wash with the water of His Word in the Rapture of His Church. Ephesians 5:25-27. Christ may have to punish them by temporarily consigning their souls and spirits to the regions of death to make sure that they repent so that Christ can take them to Heaven. Matthew 5:25-26; Matthew 18:32-35.