"HIS HANDS AND HIS SIDE"
“HIS HANDS AND HIS SIDE”
“And having said this, he shewed to them his hands and his side”. In Luke’s gospel we find that the Lord takes everything into His hands on man’s behalf. Here in John we find He takes everything into His hands on the Father’s behalf. His side indicates the way He came to us; He came by way of death. All that had been put into His hands by the Father could not be brought to us merely by incarnation. It was necessary that He should come by water and by blood. This is emphasised in John’s gospel and John’s epistle, and is of great importance. The blood is for God; the water is for us. The blood cleanses us in the eye of God. Water is that aspect of the death of Christ applied to us for our cleansing, so that we may be delivered from man in the flesh. We need to be cleansed in our spirits from what we are as in the flesh. Water is the death of Christ applied to the man. The man went in the death of Christ.
We cannot understand what is in His hand unless we understand what is the meaning of His side. If the Lord comes in that way (by water and blood) He can bring in in His hand all that is in the Father’s heart; that is what He carries in His hand.
“The Father loveth the Son and hath given all things into His hand” (John 3:35). That is the key-note of the whole of John’s gospel. Everything that the Father wished to have brought to men was put into the hands of the One He loved. And there is now no obstacle, because He came by water and blood. That is the importance of seeing and of understanding the way He came.
Several things come into prominence in the Gospel as being in His hand.
[p. 251] Chapter 4 speaks of the Spirit. The Father had given the Spirit into His hand that He might give the Spirit to man as Living Water. That is not to meet our need, but it is the outcome of the thought of the Father’s love.
The Spirit turns our affection in the direction of eternal life (verse 14). All the action of the Spirit in the believer carries him in the direction of eternal life, so that what is before God’s heart is before man’s heart, and we are brought into line with the purpose of the love of God. God’s love has thought of eternal life for us, and it is a very great thing. Eternal life means complete deliverance from all evil and supreme happiness — a happiness that no power of evil can ever bring to a termination. It is a question then how far are we in eternal life. John 17 speaks of His giving life eternal. It is one of all the things given to Him that He might bestow upon man. It is not a question of what we have, but of what is in the hands of the Son of God according to the Father’s pleasure, and in His hands for men. In coming to Him and believing on Him we become possessors of these blessed things. There must be personal contact with the Son of God by faith, “We believe on the Son of God”.
Besides these two (the Spirit and eternal life) there is sonship (John 8:35, 36). He is able to confer sonship as put into His hands by the Father. We are not put into the presence of the Father as servants. We might be turned out if that were the case. But a son is there in virtue of an abiding relationship, and we have the freedom of God’s house because of having received sonship. It is imparted by the Son — His own place and relationship. In the epistle to the Galatians it is insisted that the time of sonship has come. We receive it. Everything is on that principle. Christianity is a great system of supply, not of demand. You are brought to everything that is made good in Christ.
In chapter 10:27 and 28 we see that the sheep are in His hands. We can look upon ourselves as the Father’s [p. 252] property, and He has put us in the hands of the Son. The sheep are held in that hand — that is their security — not against judgment in another day, but against all the efforts of men and of the enemy in the present time. He holds the sheep for the Father’s pleasure. And we are held secure for the blessed things which are in His hand to bestow. The blessing and the blessed are in His hands. The blessing is kept for me and I am kept for the blessing by the same hand. All this is on the side of divine sovereignty. There is nothing outside of those blessed hands.
“Part with me” (chapter 13, verses 3, 4 and 5). This is another action of His hands. He takes the feet of His saints in His hands and washes them. The object is that we might have “part with me” (verse 8). This is a blessed service of His love, necessary for us, so that we may have the full enjoyment of part with Himself. This washing is not like the cleansing spoken of at the commencement, removing the sinner from before God in the death of Christ, but His service that His own may be fitted to enjoy great nearness to Himself. It is the Lord presenting Himself to us in such a way that we are detached from everything here, so as to enter upon “part with him”. He wants His own to have company with Him as the One who has gone to the Father. It is the closest intimacy. If we see the wonderful character of the Person and of what is in His hands, what could be more blessed than to have part with Him where He is gone. By the feet-washing, we get our spirits refreshed. Feet-washing in the east, where sandals are worn, would not simply remove the dust, but would be most refreshing after a journey through the desert. The Lord conveys the thought that He is able spiritually to refresh His people, so that nothing hinders them from joining Him in His own place with the Father. This is the true privilege of the assembly. The Lord brings us together to eat the Supper. When we do so we say that we have no part in this world. Both baptism and the Supper [p. 253] mean this. The Supper is partnership with the death of Christ. Well if we have no part here, where is our part? It is with Him who has gone to the Father. He would lead us into the consciousness of the Father’s presence. When this is so it is the witness of the blessed activity of His hands. This is true christianity. We must come to Scripture for our conception of it. John’s Gospel was written when evil doctrine and practice had come into the assembly, and it gives us what cannot be corrupted, the Son of God and that which is in His hands.
In chapter 17:11 we find He was given the Father’s name. The Father gave His name to the Son (John 17:11) and He brought it for revelation. And this is something far greater than our blessing. It is the name of the source of our blessing. And that blessing is bestowed that we may be free to enjoy the love of the Father, from whom it came. He has a people to whom He can make His name known. It is the name of that sacred Person who loves the Son. The Son prays that they may be kept in it. Let them be wrapped up in the sweetness and blessedness of it.
Then there are the Father’s words. He, the Lord, passes them on to His own. They are all those communications which the Father could make to His Son. He could speak freely to Him. The whole Gospel gives them to us. We need to read them in spirit upon our knees. We learn in that way to know the Father and His Son Jesus Christ.