THE HANDS OF JESUS
Daniel 5:1-6,17-31; John 8:1-11; Mark 7:31-35
We spoke in the previous meeting about the Lord’s crucifixion as presented in Mark’s gospel. As we contemplate the sufferings of the Lord Jesus, it would soften our hearts. It is a good time to preach after speaking over such wonderful and affecting matters. We read this section in Mark’s gospel last week and it affected me to think of the fingers of the Lord Jesus. It says that He put His fingers to the ears of the deaf man and I was contemplating the fingers of Jesus, the hands of Jesus and how He used them. It would speak to us of His great affection, and also of great skill and accuracy.
So I have read in Daniel. I know that we do not preach judgment, but I do think that it is needful to warn of judgment for those who reject the gospel. I trust there are no Christ-rejectors in this room. For the Christ-rejectors their lot will be an eternity without Christ and that is an awful, awful contemplation. I think it is important to speak about this man Belshazzar because in many ways we could be like him. As I look around here in this room, I see persons who have been privileged to have been born and raised in Christian households. This man was like that. His father Nebuchadnezzar had an amazing conversion and it was a public matter. Everybody knew about it, so his son would certainly have known about it. He knew that his father was a believer in God, but Belshazzar had turned away. As having been brought up in a Christian household, raised in a wonderful area of blessing and knowing that my father and my mother and my grandparents have a link with the Lord, how sad it would be if I say, ‘That is not for me’. So Daniel, as he interpreted the writing, said to Belshazzar, “thou knewest all this”.
As the gospel is preached to a company like this, preached to young persons, I say to you that you have been given a very special privilege. But you also have a special responsibility because you have been placed, through the sovereignty of God, in a most favourable situation. Without claiming anything at all, you are in an area where the Lord Jesus is loved, where He is spoken about by persons who know that He is living. You can see people who have a living relationship with Him. So Daniel could say to Belshazzar, “thou knewest all this”. I am not going to labour the point but it is something that we should all think about. Think of the fingers of a man’s hand writing. You know, God writes things down in His books. The scripture speaks of those whose names had been written in the Lamb’s book of life from the foundation of the world. When your responsible history begins there are things that are written down about your life and what you do. That is not to scare anyone, but God is infinitely fair. At the moment, we are in the most auspicious and wonderful time of God’s grace; He is not imputing trespasses.
But there will come a time when those books will be opened, and Christ-rejectors will have to answer for rejecting Him. I remember reading a preaching in which the preacher spoke about the face of the Lord Jesus. He said that there will come a time when men will seek to flee from before His face and they will not be able to; the dead who have rejected the gospel will be brought before the great white throne1. Christ-rejectors then will be absolutely convicted that God has been righteous. Judgment is His strange work but this is the opportunity to make sure that every precious heart in this room knows that they have a living link with Jesus and they are safe for time and for eternity. That is the word that I would like to impart to you now; “thou knewest all this”. Do not reject it tonight, dear young friend.
So in John 8 we have other writing and how affecting it is. As I said, we are not preaching judgment tonight, we are preaching grace and we are preaching mercy and we are preaching salvation. Think of this woman being brought in to where the Lord was, and it says here that “Jesus, having stooped down, wrote with his finger on the ground”. In accordance with the law of Moses, this woman should have been stoned for what she had done. But the Lord Jesus was there; they brought Him to her and what a change came about. “And again stooping down he wrote on the ground”; it has been said that this was the Lord Jesus writing new legislation. This is not the law of Moses any more, but this is new writing – writing of grace and mercy, peace and love. The second writing retained the woman in the Lord’s presence and she was saved. The writing of the Lord Jesus is an indelible writing. If we write something on a piece of paper and look at it in ten or fifteen years’ time, it fades, but we might say that this is indelible writing which the Lord Jesus has written. “And again stooping down he wrote on the ground”; it was indelible writing.
We know from the teaching that the first stoop refers to the fact that the Lord Jesus came into this scene; it represents the wonder of His incarnation. Does it affect your heart? There was an address given here on commitment, when it was said that the incarnation is the unshakable foundation of God’s moral universe2. What an amazing thing that is. The address was about commitment and what young people might commit themselves to. You may see just a few souls gathered here and there, not many of them – and we feel that – but if you commit yourself to the Lord and you commit yourself to His things, you are committing yourself to what is unshakable. There is nothing to be compared with it at all in the world. Think of that, the incarnation being the unshakable foundation of God’s moral universe.
We have also been taught that the second stoop represents the Lord Jesus stooping into death. Does that affect every heart here? The Lord Jesus, the One who knew not sin, was not subject to death because of His perfection, because He is holy. Luke 1 refers to “the holy thing” (v.35) and yet Jesus went the way of death; He went that way vicariously for me and for you if you have put your faith in Him. So there was first of all the stoop into manhood and His living that life of perfection, the green spot for God on the earth, as it has been called. Think of the Father opening the heavens on Him and also declaring on that mount of transfiguration His delight in Him: “This is my beloved Son, in whom I have found my delight”, Matt.3:17. Well, if the Father finds His delight in Him, can I, can you? I am sure you can. The Lord Jesus is the most wonderful Object for our affections.
So His second stoop was into death, but He is no longer there. Think of Him going that way, lying in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights, but then raised by the glory of the Father – the selective resurrection of the Lord Jesus, as it has been called. So that the One whom we present to you tonight as Saviour is risen and living, He is available and He is coming soon for those who love Him and He will claim them. We can read about that in 1 Thessalonians 4. He will not ask anybody else to do that, it will not be delegated to anyone else; “the Lord himself, with an assembling shout, with archangel’s voice and with trump of God” will come (1 Thess.4:16). That is the hope of the believer. What are you waiting for? If you have your trust and faith in this One, like this woman had, you are safe for time and for eternity. And as I say, this writing is indelible. It is new writing; it is new legislation, the Lord Jesus wrote in grace, and He is speaking to your heart tonight in terms of mercy and grace. He is not speaking in any accusatory way at all. We were reading on Wednesday night as to the conversion of Saul and what a hard, difficult man he was. We spoke about the fact that the Lord Jesus broke him down in love, and that is what He would do tonight. If anybody’s heart is hardened, if you are not responding to His claims, then the Lord Jesus would not be angry with you, but He would speak to you in terms of love.
In Mark chapter 7, we have another most remarkable matter of a man who was deaf and who could not speak right. It says, “they bring to him a deaf man”. What a divine provision for this man that he had persons who cared for him. And, dear young ones, be thankful that you have parents who care for you, who would say, ‘Come to the gospel, come and hear about the Saviour, come into an area where you can be blessed’. These persons brought to Jesus this deaf man “who could not speak right, and they beseech him that he might lay his hand on him”. You may have grandparents, you will have parents and you may have other people in the local meeting who pray for you, who speak to the Lord Jesus about you. We would desire to bring you into His presence. They “bring to him a deaf man who could not speak right, and they beseech him that he might lay his hand on him”. The Lord would not reject an appeal like that. It says of Jesus, “And having taken him away from the crowd …”. How important that is. The crowd is never going to help you; it represents a bad environment to be in. I would say to you, young people, keep out of crowds; they can be areas where Satan moves. So the Lord Jesus took this man away from the crowd.
That is what the Lord would do to you tonight. He would have a personal transaction just with you. You will not come into blessing simply because your family has been converted; you have to come individually. “And having taken him away from the crowd apart, he put his fingers to his ears”. Think of the Lord Jesus coming so close to this man. In the previous section, a young girl was healed at a distance, but here the Lord Jesus comes so close to this man. He puts His fingers to the man’s ears “and having spit, he touched his tongue;” – His whole essence was involved in it – “and looking up to heaven he groaned, and says to him, Ephphatha, that is, Be opened”. I think these men had very great faith in the Lord Jesus that He would heal this man. Think of Jesus groaning. It would be anticipative of His sufferings; He would be anticipating the cross. What feelings were involved – the holy feelings of the Lord – that He put His fingers to the man’s ears. It has been said that the Lord Jesus healed the ear because that was the way by which man was lost to God; Eve gave her ear to the serpent; she listened to what the enemy said (Gen.3:1). Dear young ones, I would urge you to be very careful about who you listen to. Give your ear to the Lord Jesus, give your ear to the local brethren. Do not give your ear to the enemy of your soul.
So the man is healed. He hears correctly and he speaks correctly. It has also been said that this man’s hearing was given to him by the greatest Hearer that there ever was. Think of how it could be said of the Lord Jesus prophetically that “He wakeneth morning by morning, he wakeneth mine ear to hear as the instructed”, Isa.50:4. What a Saviour! And then another has said that the man was given his speech by the greatest Speaker that there ever was. I am often affected by the Lord Jesus opening the scriptures and standing up and speaking: “To-day this scripture is fulfilled in your ears” (Luke 4:21), and it then says that they “wondered at the words of grace which were coming out of his mouth” – the greatest Speaker.
So if you want to hear correctly and to speak correctly, then you must come to Jesus. He is a wonderful Saviour. He has done everything. We have spoken about His groaning as indicating what it involved for the Lord Jesus to heal the man. He went all the way
to the cross. It says in John that He went out bearing his cross (John 19:17). In the reading we spoke about His atoning sufferings during those three hours of darkness. It is very important for us all to understand what was accomplished there. It is no wonder that the sun was darkened; the whole land was darkened. That was a transaction, a holy transaction between a holy and righteous God and our Lord Jesus. We said in the reading that the Lord Jesus was “made sin for us”, 2 Cor.5:21. It has been said by another that He was made what He could never become. He was “holy, harmless, undefiled, separated from sinners” (Heb.7:26), but He was made sin for you and for me, and for all who trust Him, and He has borne and exhausted God’s judgment on sin. The whole moral question was dealt with and He went out in power. So He died. What a miracle it was that He went into death of His own volition. We do not get the blood in Mark’s gospel but we get it in John; the soldier piercing His side, and “immediately there came out blood and water”, John 19:34. And, dear friend, I can tell you that if you put your trust and faith in Jesus and in His precious shed blood, you are safe for time and for eternity. ”When I see the blood, I will pass over you”, Exod.12:13. It is critical – we do not know how long it will be until the gospel ceases to be preached. You might say ‘I hear the preacher say that every week’ and that may be so, but tonight may be the last gospel preaching that any of us will hear, so be sure. The Lord Jesus is available, He is propitious, He is towards you tonight in love as a Saviour, a Shepherd, a Friend: as has been said, He is ‘an all the way home Saviour’.
It is my desire that you would have a living link with a living Saviour. Then, if you are saved and you know that you have a living link with the Lord Jesus, it is very important to have one further matter confirmed, and that is to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is not just an influence, He is a divine Person, He is a Comforter. The Lord Jesus has gone on high and it is consequent upon the glorification of the Lord Jesus that the Spirit has come and indwells believers. And what a tireless, remarkable, wonderful service the blessed Holy Spirit has rendered throughout this long dispensation. He has rendered a service that involves the glorification of the Father and the Son and the securing of all believers who comprise the assembly. If you have the Spirit, you will know; your tastes will change, you will begin to be interested in the things of God, you will begin to love reading the Bible, you will get a taste for the ministry and your whole life will become one of meaning and purpose.
So this man became active. That is one of the things that we have been noticing in Mark’s gospel, that the evangelist has in mind that persons may be active in service. The young girl in the previous section was left lying on the bed, but that is not the main thought in Mark’s gospel. The intention is that we become active and we have our part in testimony. If we are asked to do something in relation to the Lord’s things, then we just say, ‘Yes, I will do that’, and that is what the Lord wants. He wants persons who are ready to partake in His service, and there is one thing that He has asked us to do above all, and that is to remember Him in the breaking of bread. What a special privilege that is, to have our part in remembering Him. If you want a life of meaning and purpose, commit yourself to the Lord Jesus. Ask for the Holy Spirit, and commit yourself to the Lord’s people. Believers in Him are the greatest people on the face of the earth.
I trust that these few words may encourage our hearts. The Lord Jesus is available for us tonight and He takes infinite care of us and has infinite interest in us. He is interested in every single one of us individually, as Peter said: “Repent … each one of you”, Acts 2:38. It is a personal matter.
Well, may each of us make sure of it for His name’s sake.
Preaching of the gospel, Linlithgow
19 September 2021
Colin Seeley