A Man’s hand

Daniel 5: 5; 1 Kings 18: 44, 45

These passages present the idea of a man’s hand—firstly, in the way of ­judgment, and, secondly, in the way of blessing. A man’s hand represents his power for the accomplishment of things. In the fingers of the hand ­coming into evidence, when that which is to be accomplished is judgment, we are ­confronted with the suggestion of detail. All judgment is committed into the hands of Christ, because He is the Son of man. He purposes to go into the occasion or cause for the judgment in the minutest detail.

God is infinitely just and fair, and, so, in undertaking the solemn ­matter of judgment, which, indeed, is His strange work, He would give us to understand that He does so on the ground of the most careful examination and enquiry. And this examination and enquiry involves each man and woman on the face of the earth—not only those who are now on the face of the earth, but all who have been upon it from the very outset of the history of the race. No one can undertake to say what the total number may be, what the population of the ­antediluvian [before the flood] world may have been, or what the sub­sequent populations may have been. But, if God enters into judgment with men, He will take them up one by one—an under­taking that seems impossible to us finite creatures, for the trial of one criminal oft-times takes a long period in the courts of law, but when God undertakes to judge, He works in His own way, and He does so in righteousness, and, hence, He reminds us of the fingers. We all know how our fingers come into use, as we have to look into books, and, as God takes up the question of judgment, He will have recourse to books, and those fingers of a man’s hand will be employed, whether directly or indirectly, to bring into evidence the doings—not only the name or names of all in the race—but their doings, so that you read of the books being opened.

I suppose that, as each one is born into this world, his name is recorded, and the book is closed until another entry has to be made, and so as one enters on the period of responsibility, account is taken of his conduct, and the most minute records are made. But, again, the books are closed, for we are not living in days of judgment; we are living in the most auspicious period in the ­history of our race. We are ­living in a day when God is not ­imputing trespasses. It does not say that He is not recording trespasses, for He is. The books are all there, and records are being made constantly. It does not say, as I said, that He is not recording trespasses, but it does say that He is not imputing trespasses, so that we are living in a wonderful time. God is presented to us in the gospel as ­righteous, as just, and the Justifier of him that believeth in Jesus. He is ­presented to us in the Lord’s own language to Simon, in which He says: “Having nothing to pay he frankly forgave them both”. It is a wonderful time—the time in which God in not imputing but, on the contrary, is proposing forgiveness for all. “That repentance and remission of sins should be preached… among all nations”, says the Lord. That is this moment in which we live. It is like the south wind. It is the period of the south wind—a favourable period, in which men are held in rec­onciliation. ‘What!’ you say, ‘reconciliation?’ Yes, dear friends, through the fall of the Jews the world is in reconciliation, so that it is the time of closed books, but these books shall not remain closed. The time is fast approaching when the Lord Jesus, who is now presented to you in the gospel, in whose name salvation is announced, in whose name forgiveness is announced, in whose name peace is announced, the time is fast approaching when He shall become the Judge. As the prophet says: “I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God”. I say to you, sinner, think of standing before God in your sins. Some young ones may be afraid to stand before their parents in their sins, but think of having to stand before God in your sins. “I saw the dead”, he says, “small and great, stand before God”. You see, that is the end of the course of those who “neglect so great salvation” as is presented to us now, in Christ, and so, it says, “the books were opened”. They are not open now. We are not yet arrived at the time of opened books. The books exist, as I have said, how many I cannot say, but enough to contain all the records of the race. All the untold millions and billions of people are taken account of, and not only the persons are there, but their deeds are in the books. These records are all kept with divine accuracy. They are kept, not for present reference, but for future ­reference, but kept securely, so that, as the time arrives for opening books of judgment, the books are opened.

Think of it, friends, as I present Christ to you, a Saviour, whose hand is stretched out to you. Think of that hand opening those books—those ­fingers. Think of them by way of contrast as He stood there in the synagogue of Nazareth, and they handed Him the book, the Bible as it was then, how He turned over roll after roll. He found the place where His ­ministry of grace was recorded. Those blessed fingers of Christ turned over those leaves until He found the place where it was ­written: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor”. He read down the Scripture until He arrived at the place of judgment, and then He closed the book—He closed the book. He arrives at the place where the gospel is found, where the prophet announces Him as the Anointed Preacher, and He says: “This day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears”. What a wonderful opportunity for those ears!—as is your case, ­sinner, today. This day is this Scripture, the one He read, the one He had carefully found—this Scripture—the announcement of the gospel fulfilled in your ears.

The gospel is being fulfilled in your ears at this moment, but it is one thing to have it fulfilled in your ears, and another thing in your heart. It has to go down into the heart, and we see in the instance at Nazareth, that it was only in their ears, for when He spoke to them about God going outside and blessing the gentile, they all rose up, we are told (it was a general, spon­taneous movement), and they thrust Him out of the synagogue, and led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city was built to cast Him down therefrom. So you see, you may have the gospel fulfilled in your ears, and your heart be untouched. Hence, the Lord appeals to the heart. He says: “Son, give me thine heart”. Unless the word enters the heart nothing is accomplished. But then, as I said, He closed the book, and the book of judgment remains closed. But that does not mean, as I have already said, that records, that entries are not made in them. I dwell on this, because we have arrived at a time in which men are ­rejecting the idea of divine wrath and judgment. The apostle is most explicit when he says: “the books were opened”, and every one, the dead, were judged according to their works. So that God, as I said, is fair. No one shall be consigned to eternal punishment without being convicted. If you remain unconvicted now, you shall be convicted then. There shall be such a mass, an ordered mass, of ­evidence against you, that your conscience will have to assent to the righteousness of the divine verdict, so that as we are told: “Death and hell were cast into the lake of fire… and whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire”. So that you see the import of this remarkable Scripture in the book of Daniel. It deals with con­ditions such as we find ourselves in at the present time.

The world, having been favoured by the gospel all these centuries, has turned away from it, even as Belshazzar did, who had the advantage of an enlightened, yes, of a converted father. Daniel says: ‘You knew’; and so I say to you young people: ‘You know’. Your fathers have believed in Christ, your mothers have believed in Christ, and you are without excuse, if you are rejectors of Christ. If you turn aside into the world, and partake of its follies, and worship its gods, there is no excuse for you. As Daniel said to Belshazzar: “Thou knewest all this”. He knew that Nebuchadnezzar had been converted—one of the most remarkable conversions of which we have any record. It was not done in a corner, it was a matter of ­public history, and Belshazzar, of all others, knew what God had done for his father, Nebuchadnezzar, but he had neglected his opportunities, and had turned away from them. He had turned to his gods of silver, of gold, and of iron, and of stone. He had turned to wine, to worldly ­pursuits, and there he is, like thousands of young people who have been born into the light. Daniel says: “Thou knewest all this”; and so I say to you young people here, how are you going to face those fingers? How are you going to stand up before them in that day? Your mouth shall be stopped then. You shall have ceased to criticise the people of God. You shall have nothing to say. You shall be convicted. The ­evidence against you will be overwhelming, and you shall go into perdition, into the lake of fire, prepared for the devil, and his angels. So I beg of you to face this matter. Those blessed fingers of Jesus would turn over the Scriptures for you, and show you the way of salvation.

Well, now, I go to Elijah for a moment, so that you may see how the man’s hand appears there. Elijah represents the ­ministry that asserts the rights of God. That is what Elijah represents. He appears suddenly in Israel, and he asserts that there shall be no rain except at his word. He was a man of great authority, and, as the epistle of James tells us, he was a man of prayer. He represents the Lord Jesus Christ in his great solicitude for the welfare of man, and his ministry results in the recognition by all that “The Lord, he is God”. It is not now a question of judgment, dear friend. His assertion of the rights of God at the present time does not mean judgment. It means salvation. I can thank God constantly that He asserted His ­sovereign right over me, and so can hundreds of Christians who are living today. You say: ‘What does it mean to assert the rights of God?’ Well, He has a right, as I said, to cast you into perdition, but that is not the ­assertion of the rights of God at the present time. God asserts His right over you in commanding you to repent. He “commands all men everywhere to repent”. It is not that He asks you to do so, but commands you to do so. Are you prepared to recognise His rights? That command belongs to the rights of God in mercy. That is a matter of the ­greatest importance to every sinner. If God has a right to judge, He has also a right to show mercy, and He does. So Elijah represents the assertion of the rights of God, and in asserting His rights he brings God into evidence. But how, dear friends, is He brought into evidence? In a sacrifice! Who is the sacrifice? Why, the Son of God is the sacrifice. God asserts His right to give His Son for you and for me. Are you prepared to ­quarrel with such rights as these? Think of what it means for us that God should assert His rights, even if He shuts up the ­heavens for three years and six months, to save you. As we read, Elijah prayed, and the heavens were shut up for three years and six months. It was a ­preparatory measure. Do you not think that God has reverted to preparatory measures at the present time? I may say that there is not a Christian that would have been a Christian, were it not for the preparatory measures of God. Think of how He is watching us from our very beginnings. He has ordered things. He has “hedged us about”, as He says to Israel. Why? That we might turn to Him! So, as I said, in the assertion of His rights God shows that He is God. “The Lord”, it says, “He is God”. How has God come out to us, dear friend? In the gift of Christ. “God so loved the world, that he gave his only-­begotten Son”. How majestically He asserts Himself in the gift of His Son, so that we are made to say: “He is God”. Elijah builds an altar, and in that altar he had in his mind every one of God’s people. The twelve tribes were all in it, but when we come to our altar, when we come to Christ, dear friend, not only did He die for that nation, but that the children of God that were scattered abroad might be gathered into one, yea, more than that: He gave Himself a ransom for ALL. So that every one in the human race is in view on the altar on which Christ laid down His life. He gave Himself a ransom for all. Can ­anyone emphasise that too much? Every member of the race was in view when the Son of man, as it says, the Man Christ Jesus, gave Himself a ransom for all. It is one of the greatest statements that can be made. Every member of the race, I repeat, was in view in that offering, and, in that offering, He has brought out the greatness of God, not only the rights of God in mercy, but the rights of God in love. He has brought out the righteousness of God, the love of God, and the power of God, and all these are available in the Mediator, for every member of the race of man.

Is it not marvellous? And so, as I said, Elijah brought out in asserting the rights of God in Israel that: “The Lord, he is God”. It is part of the gospel to make clear how that God has asserted Himself, and how that He stands out before men as a God that justifies. He justifies the ungodly. It is possible to justify the ungodly. He can do so. He has been glorified in the offering of Christ. As we see in the type of Elijah’s burnt-offering, the fire, we are told, came down and consumed the offering and the water. Heaven accepted the offering.

One feels, in seeking to announce the gospel, how little one knows of it, for I know of nothing greater to present than to present God in His assertion of Himself according to His nature, in the death of Christ. No one can lift up a voice against Him. “The Lord, he is God”. How majestically it stands out in that hour of Israel’s apostasy. God stands out in mercy in the sacrifice, and so Elijah says: “There is a sound of abundance of rain”. Oh! there is, friend—not a sound of ­judgment, now, but of abundance of rain. The prophets of Baal were judged, and it was right, but God is going to show, in the assertion of Himself, that He means to bless, and so there is a sound of rain. All of us who have been through a drought understand it a little, but, three years and six months! Think of what that meant to man. I do not ­suppose any one of us has had any such experience as that. Think of a drought of three years and six months! The heavens shut up, no rain, and then think of the sound of rain!

Oh, I say, if your soul is thirsty, the sound of rain is sweet in your ears. But the sound of it is not enough. We need more than the sound of it, and, hence, the great agony of Elijah brings before us the great solicitude of Christ for the welfare of our souls. Think of what a Head we have, we men, in the Son of man. He is on our side. He yearns for the race. He has given Himself for it. I think of that instance in which Peter cut off the ear of the ­servant of the high priest. You may say it served him right. Oh, beloved friend, that ­servant of the high priest was a man, he belonged to the race, he belonged to the race for which Christ died. You say, but he was Christ’s enemy. Yes, my friend, so have you been, and so have I, but He died for us, nevertheless. He died for the ­wickedest, and so He puts forth His hand, you see, His hand is for the race. It is for the wickedest of the race. You are His opponent; you are His murderer; but He puts forth His hand, and touches your ear, and heals it. He will not give up His rights as the Head of the race. He will see to it that the race comes in for what he died for. That is the gospel.

And so, Elijah’s great exercise here. Look at him, as he puts his face between his knees. If you are ­indifferent about the welfare of your soul, the Lord Jesus is not indifferent about it. He is yearning for you, and so are others. It is most pathetic to see young people, and old ones, too, indifferent about their eternal welfare, and others putting their faces between their knees for them. What a spectacle! It is the solicitude of Christ for you. He died for you, and He wants you. The servant says: “There is ­nothing”. We do not give you up because there is no sign. The very prolongation of the day of grace means that God is not giving you up. Notwithstanding the absence of signs, God knows, and the prayer goes on, and the gospel goes on, and the solicitude goes on, for we want you, as Christ wants you. As Paul says: “I seek not yours, but you”; and so Elijah prayed, and the ­seventh time, as the messenger goes up, he sees a cloud rising out of the sea, as, he said, the size of a man’s hand. What news! It may be that it is just coming into your soul now in that dimension, but ­presently it will fill your whole being. So, as we see in Luke’s gospel, the Babe, how small outwardly—how small—but, nevertheless, Simeon, as he takes Him in his arms, says: “A light for revelation of the Gentiles”. The whole gentile world should be unveiled by that Person. So the heavens are covered with clouds. They are not clouds of judgment. The book of Job speaks of God loading the thick clouds with plentiful ­moisture, Job 37: 11. Universal blessing has come down from heaven through the death of Christ, and is announced in the gospel. James says that Elijah prayed again and the ­heavens gave forth their rain, and the earth yielded its fruit—a beautiful touch in the book of James that we do not get here. One can understand it, for Christianity is the fruit of the Old Testament. The fruit is appearing now, dear friend, and I appeal to you: Is it going to appear in you? The earth brought forth its fruit. It is a solemn thing that the rain should be descending on you day after day and there should be no fruit. The end of those in whom there is no fruit from the rain is spoken of in the epistle to the Hebrews. How is it going to be with you young people? You have been to hear the gospel, and you have been brought up under it. God has lavished His rain, so to speak, upon you—what about the fruit?

Let me entreat you now, as you look up, as it were, and see that man’s hand. It is the hand of Jesus. By His hand the rain has come down, for He received from the Father the promise of the Spirit, and He shed it forth. Have you confessed the Lord? The confession of Christ means that He will give you the Spirit. The most wonderful thing conceivable is given to us. The Son of God has been given FOR us, the Spirit given TO us, and God ­proposes now that you will submit yourself to Christ. The Holy Spirit, it says, is given to all those that obey Him. Will you not join with us now? There are those who have obeyed Christ—have received the Spirit, and, by the Spirit, have borne fruit for God, and intend, by the grace of God, to continue to do so.

Let us entreat you to come. You see the rain is in abundance for you. Let it enter your soul. Let thoughts of Christ, thoughts of heaven, enter your soul.

May God grant this! One yearns for the young ones. It is not a question of ­property now, it is a question of persons, and the gospel is for persons, and the Lord is craving for persons.

James Taylor

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