“If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous” (1 John 2:1).
The Lord Jesus would have His own linked up with Himself... to have communion with Himself and the Father outside the world, which was the scene of His rejection and death.
But to have part with Him communion with Him according to that heavenly relationship, it was necessary that the individual’s walk be kept pure (feet washed).
Thus the Lord Jesus has girded Himself for this lowly service of love to His own in order to keep them in communion with that heavenly scene where He is (see John 13:1-14). He seeks to form our affections according to the revelation of Himself to our hearts as we are being conducted on our way to our portion with Him in glory.
Do we fall into sin? Do our feet become defiled in our walk through this evil world? Well, we have an Advocate with the Father whose plea for us cannot fail—One who also turns to us in blessed grace with towel and basin to wash our feet and bring us back into the communion we have lost.
By application of His Word to us, we are led to self-judgment and a walk of holy separation from evil, and this according to the truth of the cross in which sin in the flesh has been condemned.
If we have sinned and the Lord is seeking to wash our defiled feet, or if our brethren are seeking to do so in the Lord’s name, how solemn if we are resisting this action of grace! God is not mocked! He is full of patience, but if we are rebellious, He knows how to chastise and break our stubborn wills.
Selected Ministry of A. H. Rule, Vol. 1 (adapted)