Ye are they which have continued with me in my temptations.
The words were spoken to the disciples at the last Passover supper on the last evening spent with them, in the last hours before offering Himself as a sacrifice for the world. At that supper Satan made a determined effort to stir contention, so they came with selfish hearts and tempers heated by disputing who should be greatest, bringing sorrow to Christ's heart and forfeiting the great blessing they might have received in a right frame of mind. Even so, in this verse He acknowledged and commended them because they had stayed with Him through His trials. That commendation was joined to His appointment of a kingdom to them, that they would eat and drink at His table and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel. With that acknowledgment and without a word, He laid aside His outer garment, girded Himself with a towel as a servant, and washed their feet to open their eyes, fill them with shame and humiliation, and teach them to serve one another instead of striving for place.
The verse is to be studied carefully as a warning against assurance and self-confidence, since even those who had continued with Him could become presumptuous and fall as Peter did. It therefore teaches the need for strong, persevering faith and entire trust in Christ as Leader, because strength lies not in what poor, finite beings suppose they are able to do but in what Christ will do for them.
The words were spoken to the disciples at the last Passover supper on the last evening spent with them, in the last hours before offering Himself as a sacrifice for the world. At that supper Satan made a determined effort to stir contention, so they came with selfish hearts and tempers heated by disputing who should be greatest, bringing sorrow to Christ's heart and forfeiting the great blessing they might have received in a right frame of mind. Even so, in this verse He acknowledged and commended them because they had stayed with Him through His trials. That commendation was joined to His appointment of a kingdom to them, that they would eat and drink at His table and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel. With that acknowledgment and without a word, He laid aside His outer garment, girded Himself with a towel as a servant, and washed their feet to open their eyes, fill them with shame and humiliation, and teach them to serve one another instead of striving for place.
The verse is to be studied carefully as a warning against assurance and self-confidence, since even those who had continued with Him could become presumptuous and fall as Peter did. It therefore teaches the need for strong, persevering faith and entire trust in Christ as Leader, because strength lies not in what poor, finite beings suppose they are able to do but in what Christ will do for them.