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.