It is natural for Christians filled with the love of God to greet each other with a kiss, but the cold distant forms of men have prevented Christians following the natural inclination of the heart.
Lifting Up Of Holy Hands.
In the olden time when the chosen children of God were battling in the wilderness against their enemies, as long as the hands of Moses were kept uplifted Israel prevailed, and when his hands were let down the enemy triumphed. Ex. 17:8-12. See also Psa. 28:2; 63:4; 88:9; Lam. 3:41. This signal act of triumph is conveyed into the spirit of the New Testament. Paul says, “I will therefore that men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting.” 1 Tim. 2:8. This is a single text of the New Testament teaching this ordinance. In connection with this text some have used Heb. 12:12; but to our mind it is only an exhortation to encourage the feeble and faint-hearted, and not an express command to the literally raising of the hands. However the one text quoted is sufficient for those who love the Lord, for those who love him keep his commandments.
This ceremony is suggestive of submissiveness and reliance upon God. It is natural for the Spirit-born child of God to imploringly lift his hands to God in petition or praise and thanksgiving. In the time when the spiritual battles wax hot we seek God in earnest imploring prayer, and the lifting up of our hands adds strength to our faith and draws God nearer. But, oh, let us make sure that our hands and hearts are holy. It is but mockery to spread forth your hands unto God when they are full of blood. From [pg 169] such the Lord hides his eyes, and closes his ears against their prayer. Isa. 1:15.
Feet-Washing.
To the proud heart the commandment to “wash one another's feet” is perhaps the most ridiculous ever given by the Son of God. In the semi-theatrical church entertainments men may pay a large sum for the privilege of kissing the most handsome lady, and for similar or more shameful indulgences, but to humbly wash a brother's feet would be shocking in the extreme. “If a man love me he will keep my words.” John 14:23. Where true love exists there is no disposition to spurn any of the Lord's commandments, however humiliating they may be.
The ordinance of feet-washing was instituted by the Savior, and is recorded in the thirteenth chapter of John. One objection that many bring against this sacred ordinance is that it is so seldom mentioned in the Bible. If a man does not love God deeply enough to obey him when he speaks but once, he would not obey him should he speak a dozen times. Jesus says, “If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.” Luke 16:31. It is never difficult to persuade a humble heart to believe the Word of God, though there be but one single commandment; but the proud in heart will not be persuaded by any number if they are not according to their inclinations. About the first objection [pg 170] offered against this humble ordinance is that it was a custom among the Jews to wash feet, and the feet-washing recorded by John was nothing more than the Jewish custom. There was more here than the mere custom of washing feet.
We will carefully weigh this objection. Bathing is a custom, naturally so, for cleanliness and health, and is observed by people of every civilized nation, and has been in every age of the world. Pharaoh's daughter went down to the river to bathe when she found the babe in the ark of bulrushes. Ex. 2:5. Bathing was not a custom of any particular nation, but a universal custom. God separated Israel from the world to be his own chosen people. He gave them certain laws, which stood as a partition wall between them and the Gentile world. Among the many ceremonies was that of bathing. By reading the fifteenth chapter of Leviticus you will learn of the bathings required of the Jews for certain sins and uncleannesses. These bathings were peculiar to this people alone and served to separate them from other nations. They observed the universal custom of bathing, but these bathings were additional and given by the Lord. When Jesus came he abolished the Jewish ordinances that distinguished them from the world and offers salvation to every nation. By his grace he separates his people from the world and institutes for them the ordinance of baptism. This is not the universal custom of bathing, neither is it the Jewish ceremony of bathings for [pg 171] cleansings, but a New Testament ordinance for saved people of this gospel day, representing their death to sin and consequent separation from the world. All continue in the custom of bathing, but the Christian is baptized.
All people in every age are accustomed, if we may call it a custom, to eating; but when God separated Israel from Egypt and gave them a law, he instituted a supper called the Passover. This they kept in commemoration of their deliverance from Egyptian bondage. The Passover supper was not the mere custom of eating supper, but was an ordinance peculiar to the Jewish nation, and served to distinguish them as God's own chosen people. In Heb. 9:10 we learn that these meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, were imposed on them until the time of reformation. When Jesus came he instituted a new order of things. The Passover supper was with the rest of the Jewish ordinances blotted out and nailed to the cross. Col. 2:14. Jesus instituted a supper to be kept in remembrance of him by his peculiar, exclusive people. This consists of bread, which represents his body, and of wine, which represents his blood. This is not the custom of eating, neither is it the Jewish ordinance, but a newly instituted ordinance in this dispensation of grace. All continue the custom of eating, but Christians keep the communion.
When Abraham was in the plains of Mamre he was visited by three angels, unto whom he said: “Let a little [pg 172] water, I pray you, be fetched, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree.” Gen. 18:4. Two angels came one evening to Sodom, and Lot rose up to meet them, and said: “Behold now, my lords, turn in, I pray you, into your servant's house, and tarry all night, and wash your feet.” Gen. 19:1, 2. By these instances and others we understand that washing feet was a custom in that time. It was not a law of God, but people of all nations observed it as a law of health, comfort, and cleanliness.