I have entitled this message – “The Hands of Christ Jesus.” You may think I am nit-picking or just nit-witted, but I see a difference between “Christ” and “Jesus.” Oh, I know those names refer to the same person, but they approach Him from two different angles. “Jesus” is the human name of the Son of God – it means “Jehovah saves.” This was the name that Joseph and Mary gave to their son, at the direction of God’s angel. It is never mentioned in Old Testament prophesies, but its equivalent is found in the man Joshua. “Christ” speaks of the anointed of the Lord, the Messiah – the divine Saviour. I often shy away from the name “Jesus” because, to my way of thinking, it can minimize the Lord. But I will use it when speaking of Jesus in some human sort of way. And sometimes, as in this case, I deliberately tie together “Jesus” and “Christ,” because in my mind they better describe the Theanthropic Person – “the God-man.”
My subject today is “the Hands of Christ Jesus.” Did Christ have hands before His incarnation? I suppose that He did, but it was probably in some sort of special way. Does God have hands? Linguistically He does, when He uses the Bible to tell us about some of the things which He does. Anthropomorphically God has hands. But generally speaking, God is a spirit. Does a spirit have hands? Jesus the Christ definitely had hands, and what a blessing those hands have been.
Where was Jesus the last time that the disciples, Christ’s church, physically saw Him? On that occasion how did Jesus leave them? What interrupted their gaze? What was Christ Jesus doing at the time? What was His bodily position or posture? There is a debate about the location, but we can say that He was last seen by the eleven at His ascension. And as far as His hands were concerned, they were somewhat raised. Luke 24 says, “And he led them out as far as to Bethany, and he lifted up his hands, and blessed them. And it came to pass, while he blessed them, he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven. And they worshipped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy.”
Those up-raised hands were a part of the last things the disciples saw of their Saviour. I would guess that until their deaths, they did not forget those hands and the face of the Lord. Perhaps neither should we.
We have no physical description of the hands of Jesus.
Were they small hands, big hands, or massive hands? Were they delicate like a musician; rough like a carpenter’s – calloused and hard? Were they strong or limp? How did it right feel, when people shook His hand – if that was ever done? Were the backs of His hands hairy or smooth? And what were their color? Light? Lighter than His face? Darker than face?
We know nothing of the physical condition of those hands. But physical condition is not why we love them. I suppose they are like lips – it’s not their shape which is important; it’s about how they are used. What was it that the Lord did with His hands?
They were the hands of a workman.
Undoubtedly, at an early age, those hands were trained to use a hammer, a plane and a saw. If we assume that Joseph lived long enough, he would have seen to it that his eldest son was learning the trade which his father had taught him. When Christ had finished His first Biblical lecture in Nazareth, the people were dumbfounded. “Is not this the carpenter’s son? is not his mother called Mary? and his brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas?” I wonder if Jesus ever used His hands to make something – maybe a gift for his mother as children do. Did He ever fabricate a birdhouse the way many of us did? And if so, was it as exquisite as the first tree which He created so many centuries earlier? It doesn’t matter, because this is not about what we remember with those hands.
His were the hands of a divine physician. Again, this is characterizing the Theanthropic Person – the God-man. Hands are appendages which belong almost exclusively to mankind – dogs and cats don’t have hands. Just because God gave to certain primates – monkeys – similar kinds of hands, that doesn’t mean that they evolved from human beings. I think the Lord may have had a smile on His anthropomorphic face when He created the chimpanzee. Hands are certainly not necessary in the persons of the God-head. The Lord merely thought and spoke creation into existence. He didn’t need hands and fingers to mold, form and shape Creation. And the divine physician doesn’t need fingers and hands to heal Creation either.
We are told that Christ miraculously healed many needy people. The hands of Jesus are the hands of the divine physician. And of course, we realize that His healing power could have been conveyed completely without hands. But to put it bluntly that was simply not Jesus’ way as a rule. Not only was “He touched with the feelings of our infirmities,” but He deliberately touched those infirmities with His divine/human hands.
For example, Christ touched the fevered hand of Peter’s mother-in-law. And when the daughter of synagogue ruler lay dead on her couch, Jesus took her up her hand. Some blind men came by, and He touched their eyes. Luke basically summarized Jesus’ entire healing ministry in his chapter 4 and verse 40 – “Now when the sun was setting, all they that had any sick with diverse diseases brought them unto him; and he laid his hands on every one of them and healed them.” That touching of the sick is not without significance to this unhealthy heart of mine. Out of all the sicknesses that the Saviour touched – the most significant was leprosy. No one was supposed to touch or be touched by a leper, because that rendered the person unclean. He was unfit to serve God until that uncleanness was washed away with blood. But Matthew seems to go out of his way to point out – “And Jesus put forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will; be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed.” – Matthew 8:3. It is only by the identification of the Saviour with the sinner that any of us be healed. We must put our hands on the head of the sacrifice – by faith. And He must put His hands on us, before we can be cleansed.
If those hands have not touched you, ye are yet in your sins.
A similar illustration can be seen in Matthew 14:29-31.
After the miraculous feeding of the crowd of five thousand, which by the way involved Christ’s taking of the bread with his hands and breaking it apart continually until there were enough for everyone. After the feeding of the five thousand, Christ immediately constrained His little church to get into a boat in order to cross Galilee, while He remained behind to pray. And then a storm came up which stopped the little boat in its tracks. But “in the fourth watch of the night, Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea.” Eventually, Peter asked for permission to join his Saviour out there on the surface of the water, and an invitation was extended. “But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me. And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt? And when they were come into the ship, the wind ceased.”
Jesus’ hands were, and continue to be, those of a sure and qualified rescuer. Was it necessary for the Saviour to touch Peter in order to save him? Of course not! He who spoke the laws of the universe into existence could have spoken once again and suspended them, suspending Peter just above the waves. Well then, why did He save the man in the way in which he did? Do we need to know why? I am not sure that we do.
Nevertheless, the hands of this Physician – this Lifeguard – speak to us in heavenly sign language. They say, “Peter, you numbskull, I love you. I love the leper enough to touch his leprosy, and if I must reach into the sewer to rescue a man, I will do it.” We could look at nearly all of Christ’s miracles and see Him connecting Himself to them with His hands. How can anyone not love hands like these?
These are also hands of possession.
If you ever come up behind my wife and me out walking, don’t be surprised if you see us holding hands. I may shake your hand once in a while, and under some special circumstance, I might hold it for a second or two. Unless you are seriously ill, I’ll not hold your hand very long. But when it comes to my wife, daughter, or grand-daughter, we hold hands. There is a message conveyed between Judy and me when we hold hands – love, helpfulness – even possession.
Isn’t John 10:28 a wonderful thought? “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.” I admit that this verse leads us in metaphorical and allegorical directions, but that is just fine. John 10:28 reminds us that the hands of Christ are full of spiritual muscle and divine authority. Like Peter in the sea, I am a sinner, saved by grace. Not only is this sin-cursed world filled with rocks, pot holes, mud slides and earthquakes. And my feet are covered in the slickest, dirtiest grease depravity has devised. But I cannot fall. It might appear that I am standing on my own two feet, but the reality is that any stability I have is due to the fact that my hand is in Christ’s hand. I am “kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” “Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.”
This verse reminds me of muscle AND authority. The hands which the disciples saw, when Jesus was rising into glory, were going to soon be holding the royal scepter. The hands of Christ are the hands of the King of kings and Lord of lords. “The Father judgeth no man but committeth all judgment into the hands of the Son.” And why is it that no man, demon or angel can pluck the saved out of Saviour’s hands? Because “all power and authority is given unto him in heaven and in earth.”
And that points us towards another kind of muscle.
In our world of fallen Christendom, so many professing Christians see Christ in a very confused sort of way. Many people have not yet learned that Christ is not a sugar daddy – a beneficent and bountiful source of free gifts. He is not a constant source compliments; pats on the back and hand-shakes. John the Baptist said “I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire: Whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” In one of the hands of Christ is a judge’s gavel, and in the other is a pen ordering the sinner’s execution. “Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.” He will rightly give to multitudes, the back of His hand rather than the palm. Pray that you never see his hand in such a fashion. Fear lest you see that hand! And Christian, by the way, don’t forget that “whom the Lord loveth, He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.” The child of God may not feel the back hand of Christ, but in a sense he may experience the slap of His palm.
What the disciples probably never forgot about hands of Jesus, was His final blessing.
After a few days of post-resurrection appearances, it was time for the Lord to return to His fully glory. “And he led them out as far as to Bethany, and he lifted up his hands, and blessed them. And it came to pass, while he blessed them, he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven. And they worshipped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy.”
No well-instructed Jew could miss the implication of High Priest blessing His people. After the sacrifice of the Atonement, when all the blood been applied and priest removed his blood-stained clothes. At the close of the most important day of the Jewish year, the high priest would appear before the people and both pray and convey God’s special blessing and gift upon the nation. It was declaration that sacrifice had been accepted; the Lord had been propitiated – satisfied. As Jesus ascended into glory to occupy the office high priest after order Melchisedec… He offered the High Priestly blessing, once again indicating; “It is finished!” “Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him.” “Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many, and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.”
Christ Jesus’ uplifted hands were a promise to the disciples, and to us, of His continued intercession for us. The ever-flowing blood from the wounds in those hands demand an audience with Father. How can God the Father ignore the prayers of the One with those nail prints in hands?
Jesus’ uplifted hands declare unequivocally that the resurrection is real. “Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.” Thomas had his doubts until John 20 – “Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. And when he had so said, he shewed unto them his hands and his side. Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord. And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you. Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing.” Those hands with the nail wounds told the disciples that Christ had defeated grave. And when He showed them to the eleven upon his resurrection, they silently said, “And you too shall follow me.” The resurrection is real.
Those hands uplifted for all the world to see, speak of the permanence of Jesus’ salvation and of our relationship to him through Christ’s wounds. Let me borrow a verse from Isaiah 49; it’s verse 16 – “Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands.” Theologians might debate where and how those names were engraved upon hands of Lord. In one sense the names of the elect were engraved upon the hands of Christ in eternity past. But I’m picturing an engraving tool made of the rough and ugly material of a nail. Those scars are still in the hands of the Saviour and they still speak my name. Do they also speak of thee?