John 18:12
In the Gospel of John there is one fact relating to the arrest of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane that is not found in the other gospels. We learn from verse 12 of Chapter 18 that our Lord was bound that night. This means they tied up His hands. And so for this message, I would like to use the theme: "Think of the gospel with Jesus's hands tied and crucified!"
As we begin to consider that theme, are we not reminded how human our Savior is? Jesus is God's only Begotten Son coming in the flesh. He had human hands; He had flesh and bones. Even after His death and resurrection, He showed the disciples, saying, "Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have" (Luke 24:39).
Perfect man. To be the Mediator between God and man, Jesus was in one person both very God and very man! This qualifies Him to be the wonderful Savior that He is for sinful people like you and me. Who of us could ever approach God in all His infinite glory and majesty? He is a consuming fire.
But, behold, God humbled Himself and took on the form of a servant; He was made in the likeness of men. And He now invites us to approach Him in and through His Son, Jesus of Nazareth, Jesus the human being! Oh, Jesus's hands remind us that He was and is so like us in every way, sin excepted!
Useful on earth
Jesus's hands proclaim to us not only how human He is, but how useful they were and are. Jesus never ever did any evil with His hands, but only always good. In your and my life, how much wrongdoing, how much sin and evil have we committed with our hands! But Jesus's hands were only and always holy helpful hands!
In the home as a boy, and again as the oldest boy, surely, how helpful Jesus was for baby-sitting His younger brothers and sisters, for doing chores around the house, and later, working with Joseph in the wood shop.
Healing and blessing. In addition, consider how helpful Jesus was with His hands in His earthly ministry! See Him touch little children in tender love with His hands, blessing them and embracing them. See Him with His hands break bread to feed thousands. See Him touch and heal those that were ill, even those with the most serious and contagious diseases and those who were under the power of the devil. And more than once, see Him touch and raise to life someone who had died!
Even just before He was bound, He healed the ear of the high-priest servant Malchus that had been cut off by Peter's wildly swinging sword. We read in Luke 22:51, "And he touched his ear, and healed him." And just before He ascended to heaven, He lifted up His hands and blessed the disciples.
Why would they want to tie up Jesus's hands when He had been so helpful to others with those hands?
The answer: Being sinners controlled by Satan, humans by nature hate God. Hence, even though when God came in the flesh, always doing what is right and good, the people bound Him to have Him killed.Voluntary submission. We must understand, though, that Jesus willingly permitted them to tie Him up. He allowed Himself to be led away as a lamb to the slaughter. Jesus could have easily freed Himself and overcome His captors, but He meekly allowed Himself to be arrested and bound.
The verse before our text surely brings this out. After Peter had cut off Malchus' ear, Jesus said to him, "Put up thy sword into the sheath: the cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it? (v. 11)
Yes, Jesus purposely let Himself be bound because He came to earth as a human to give His righteous life in perfect payment for sin before God in the place of believers like you and me. Jesus knew full well that if sinners should ever be reconciled to God, then not only must a holy, sinless life be lived on their behalf, but a complete and perfect payment must also be made for their sin. So Jesus, knowing the time was at hand, gave Himself over even unto the death on the cross!
Painful at the Cross
That Jesus's hands were bound also proclaims to us how horribly He suffered for His people. How horribly Jesus suffered! Indeed, for we know that His hands being tied was not the end of what was done with Him. They took His hands and stretched them out on a cross hammering spikes right through those
hands into the wooden beam of the cross. And so Jesus hung for hours on that cross by the nails driven through His hands and feet.Think of Jesus's crucified hands! I read about a hand surgeon in an excellent book entitled, Ten Fingers for God. He writes in this book and I quote: "It hurts me to think of a nail being driven through the center of any hand, because I know what goes on there, the tremendous complex of tendons and nerves and blood vessels and muscles. It is impossible to drive a spike through its center without crippling it. The thought of those healing hands being crippled reminds me of what Christ was prepared to endure!"
Indeed, Jesus would go to all lengths for the complete salvation of sinners. Perfect salvation for guilty sinners requires nothing less than Jesus's death on the cruel cursed cross! Behind that physical suffering, most importantly, was His enduring spiritually the full wrath of God the Father for our iniquities. That was the cup that He had to drink. So, let Jesus's hands remind us how Jesus willingly sacrificed Himself to atone for the sins of us believers.
Helpful in salvation
If your and my hands were tied and then nailed to a cross, we would be utterly helpless and useless. But the gospel message is that with Jesus's crucified hands, He accomplished what He was sent for and what He ultimately came for. Hear Him say, with hands outstretched on the cross, "It is finished!"
By that, He is effectively saying, "As many as come to me, even the worst of sinners, the work of salvationall that is required to save
themis finished!"To better illustrate how the healing hands of Jesus are for the needs of soul and body, note what the Savior did after He had arisen from the dead. On the very day of His resurrection, He met with His grief-stricken disciples and said to them: "Peace be unto you...Why are ye troubled?" (Luke 24:36,38) He then showed them His hands and feet, and said, "Behold my hands and my feet" (v. 39). A week later, He said to doubting Thomas, "Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side" (John 20:27).
Seeing Jesus's hands with those nail-hole wounds still there satisfied the disciples, for they knew that Jesus was not only alive again, but He was alive as the all sufficient Savior of sinners! Through what He has done as crucified and risen Savior of sinners, there is now complete forgiveness of sin, and everlasting righteousness before God, and eternal life with God! It is freely and fully granted to all who come to Him with repentance, a broken heart and a contrite spirit.
Our hands. In contrast, what sinners we are through our hands. How many graven images have our hands formed? How many false gods do our hands serve? How many ways have our hands desecrated the Sabbath Day through transgressions? How many wicked acts have we committed through the wrong use of our hands?
Our evil hands can indeed do much harm to others. Adultery is through wickedness by our hands mostly. Theft comes by taking with our hands that which is not ours. Just looking at your own hands, are you convicted what a transgressor of
God's law you are, left to yourself?But looking to Jesus, how blessed it is to know and believe that through His crucified hands flows out the complete remission of sin to all who come to Him. Know this for sure, whoever you may be: "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (I John 1:9). We are not given to see Jesus's hands physically here, but Jesus tells the disciples, "Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed" (John 20:29).
Your Response
Are you among those who do believe in Jesus as the crucified and risen Savior? Have you personally repented of your sins, and come to call on the name of the Lord, acknowledging Him as your Savior and Lord, and daily living in faith and obedience before Him? Does it melt your heart when you hear again about Jesus's suffering for sinners, how He was tied up and led away to be crucified, and how, with His hands nailed to the cross, He cried out to His Father, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?"
If you answer "Yes", then let me ask you further (for many unbelievers have been fooled into thinking that they have become saved): Do you respond with love and gratitude to the Lord Jesus, and do you earnestly desire to obey God's word, never again to sin against Him in your thoughts, words, and deeds, as well as with your hands? Are you sorrowful and repentant when you still do?
Tangible fruit. The mark of true believers is that they love their Savior so much that they want to live their whole life to God's honor and praise, and to carry out the Great Commission.
While many times you may still fail in this, and there are sins and shortcomings all along the way, yet this becomes the thrust and direction of your life: Christ focused and God honoring and Spirit dependent every day anew.
In the Savior's hands, our defiled hands become whiter than snow; our weak hands become strong and steady. Think of the gospel with Jesus's hands tied and crucified and more. May what you do with your hands this week prove that you truly believe this blessed and only gospel of Jesus Christ, the Savior of sinners. o