The Day of New Beginnings

A New Commandment I Give You

 

Marin Luther once said that the Pope he feared most was not the one on the literal throne, but the one that ruled his own heart. He was referring to his old nature and its capacity for duplicity. Christianity as a whole has not understood the deadliness of our Adamic natures except in theological theory. But Paul understood, as well as the early church fathers that the old nature is an ever-present threat that must be ultimately be dealt with (Rom. 6-8). 
 
In Romans six through eight Paul describes the old nature as a rebel entity within us, with an independent mind, set continually against the purposes of God. All mankind is born with this nature. It’s only in Christ that we receive a new nature. His life comes forth in us through the Holy Spirit. Until we receive Christ, we have no capacity to change or choose. We are what we are (Jer. 13:23). In Christ we have the capacity to choose. We can yield our wills to the purposes of God, thus letting His nature operate within us, or we can embrace the various impulses and desires of the Adamic nature and fulfill Satan’s purposes.
 
Fulfilling Satan’s purposes may sound extreme, but he is the father of our old natures. When Adam and Eve opened their hearts to his deception, they doomed the human race to a corrupt nature. Something of Satan’s nature penetrated into the Adamic bloodline through their disobedience. Some people believe that Satan is the only enemy, but if he were gone tomorrow, things would not look any different. Mankind is well able to continue perpetrating the mass deception Satan has sown because he has it within his own nature. 
 
The corruption of our old natures must not be viewed only in terms of sins committed. The man who openly commits adultery is labeled a sinner, but the man who appears pious is called a saint. Yet the same nature operates in both. This is why people are continually shocked when upstanding members of their communities are found to be child molesters, serial killers, etc. The old nature is a master of disguise but its root is always against the purposes of God (Rom.8:5-8).
 
We have come to an hour when we must come to grips with what is within us. Until our flesh natures are dealt with by God, we are hindered from moving into higher realms in Christ. John 13 contains the story of Jesus washing the disciples’ feet. It also contains the story of Judas and his betrayal of Jesus. The entire chapter, while factual and true, is also an allegory dealing with the Adamic and Divine natures. 
 
In Judas Iscariot we have the old nature personified to its ultimate corruption—betrayal. Verse two states, “And during supper, the devil having already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, to betray him…” Satan seeks to destroy God’s purposes by moving through the hearts of God’s people. That’s a heavy statement, but true. Satan moved through the duplicity of Judas’ heart in his attempt to destroy Jesus. How did Satan gain such access to Judas’ heart? John 12:3-6 says Judas was a thief. His interests were self interests, not God’s interests.
 
All our interests are self interests until God begins to dig deep within us, uncovering all that is deceptive and false. This is not about consciously choosing to serve the Lord or the devil. Even when we sincerely love the Lord and desire to please Him, there are still unconscious motives of the Adamic nature that drive us. We can’t understand what we are really all about until God shines His light and begins to expose. Verse 18 states, “I do not speak of all of you. I know the ones I have chosen; but it is that the Scripture might be fulfilled, ‘He who eats my bread has lifted up his heel against Me.’” Judas partook of Christ’s bread. He was a partaker of Christ. Peter, in Acts 1:16-20, said that Judas was counted among the apostles and received his portion in the ministry. There must have been at least a part of Judas that loved Christ and believed in Him. It’s significant that Judas betrayed Christ with a kiss (Luke 22:47-48). Jesus Himself called attention to this irony.
 
Surprisingly, in the same chapter we have another example of betrayal. This one involved Peter. Peter boasted of being willing to lay down his life for Jesus. But Jesus said, “You will deny me three times before the cock crows.” And it happened just that way. Why was that? Jesus knew that the self-preservation instinct of Peter’s old nature was still too strong in Peter’s life. It played into the hands of Satan. Though there was no conscious choice by Peter, his flesh still inadvertently served the purposes of the devil. Fortunately for Peter, his life turned out much different than Judas’. Verse 36 is the key. “Simon said to Him, ‘Lord, where are you going?’ Jesus answered, ‘Where I go you cannot follow Me now; but you shall follow later.’” Jesus was speaking of the cross. He meant that the time would come when Peter’s Adamic nature would be dealt with by God and crucified. Peter would then have access to abide with the Lord on the same spiritual level (John 14). 
 
By the Last Supper, which was occurring in John 13, Jesus had come to know all things that the Father had ordained concerning Himself (vs. 1-3). It was in that intense, concentrated hour in which the purposes of God were going to be manifested that the coals of betrayal were stirred. It was also when Jesus chose to wash the disciple’s feet. In that moment, when the Adamic nature, typified by Judas, was revealed to be utterly corrupt, Jesus through the act of foot washing, revealed the Divine Nature. 
 
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." 
 
Jesus told the disciples that what He as doing wouldn’t be understood at the time. More than simply washing their feet, Christ was revealing the divine nature to them. 
 
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.’
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.
23  There was reclining on Jesus’ bosom one of His disciples, whom Jesus loved.
24  So Simon Peter *gestured to him, and *said to him, "Tell us who it is of whom He is speaking."
25  He, leaning back thus on Jesus’ bosom, *said to Him, "Lord, who is it?"
26  Jesus then *answered, "That is the one for whom I shall dip the morsel and give it to him." So when He had dipped the morsel, He *took and *gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot.
27  After the morsel, Satan then entered into him. Therefore Jesus *said to him, "What you do, do quickly."
28  Now no one of those reclining at the table knew for what purpose He had said this to him.
29  For some were supposing, because Judas had the money box, that Jesus was saying to him, "Buy the things we have need of for the feast"; or else, that he should give something to the poor.
30  So after receiving the morsel he went out immediately; and it was night.
31 ¶  Therefore when he had gone out, Jesus *said, "Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him;
32  if God is glorified in Him, God will also glorify Him in Himself, and will glorify Him immediately.
33  "Little children, I am with you a little while longer. You will seek Me; and as I said to the Jews, now I also say to you, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come.’
34  "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.
35  "By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another."
36 ¶  Simon Peter *said to Him, "Lord, where are You going?" Jesus answered, "Where I go, you cannot follow Me now; but you will follow later."
 
Jesus told the disciples to love one another even as He had loved them. How did He love them? Verse one says He loved them to the uttermost (literal). Christ also said in verse 35 that the ultimate proof of discipleship was having the same love. Only through Christ’s nature reproduced in us can we love the same way. Washing the disciples’ feet revealed the root of His nature. Just as the root of the old nature is betrayal, the root of the new nature is love. When Jesus gave His disciples a new commandment to love, He was in effect commanding them to attain a new nature, His. The ultimate proof of discipleship is appropriating Christ’s nature into our lives. The love that flows from His nature will neither bend nor break. This love is all together faithful. It is the opposite of the weakened love that existed in Judas and even Peter, as exhibited in John 13. This love will not bend because it flows from the divine nature. The cross operating in our lives puts to death the old nature’s self-instinct and opens the door for Christ’s nature to live in us.
 
Jesus indicated in verse 36 that the disciples had not yet moved into the divine realm. His nature had not yet been fully created within them. When Peter boasted that he would lay down his life for Jesus, he was assuming a love that did not yet exist within him. This is confirmed by Jesus’ response: “Will you lay down your life for Me? Truly I say to you, a cock shall not crow, until you deny Me three times.”
 
Christ’s nature operating in our lives is our only safeguard. John 14 confirms this principle:
 
30  "I will not speak much more with you, for the ruler of the world is coming, and he has nothing in Me;
31  but so that the world may know that I love the Father, I do exactly as the Father commanded Me. Get up, let us go from here.
 
Jesus said the ruler of the world (Satan) had nothing in Him. He meant there was no open door or weakness within Himself that was vulnerable to Satan. We too want to be able to confidently say, “Satan may come, but he has nothing in me.” This will only be accomplished as we allow God to deal with us and manifest His nature within our lives.