Held by the Right Hand

“Hphou hast holden me by my right hand; thou shalt afterward receive me to glory.” This is one of the most inspiring and invigorating utterances that ever fell from any man who was under the teachings of the Holy Spirit. It is an experience, and also an assurance. For this world, an actual experience; for the world to come, a glorious assurance. The religion of Jesus Christ is an experimental thing — something to be tested by practical results. It claims an actual relation between weak, sinful man and his Heavenly Father; between the sinner and his divine Saviour. The language of this passage is not the language of excited imagination. Millions of the most profoundly intelligent men and women who ever lived have repeated this same strong declaration: “Thou hast holden me by my right hand.”

A steamer sinks in mid-ocean. One of the passengers, nearly exhausted by long swimming, sees a loaded life-boat approaching. He reaches out his weary hand to a strong man in the boat, who grasps it, and keeps the swimmer afloat until a safe ship’s deck is reached. The act of the exhausted man in the water is an act of trust. The act of the strong man in the boat is one of help and sustaining strength. The salvation of the drowning sufferer begins with the act of the clasping of those two hands. It is consummated by keeping those two hands firmly together. The withdrawal of either would be fatal.

Now the salvation of any sinner depends on his vital spiritual union to the Lord Jesus. Conversion is the act of joining our hands to the pierced hand of the crucified Saviour. The new life begins with the taking of Christ’s hand, and his taking hold, in infinite love, of our weak hands. Up to the time of his regeneration, evely sinner tries to walk in his own strength, and goes his own wicked way of disobedience. He chooses his own path, and walks in the ways of his own selfish heart. The rash and reckless Alpine traveller who should attempt to ascend the Matterhorn without a guide would not be more insane than is every human being who, in this world of temptations, attempts to live without God. Yet every impenitent soul ventures on this terrible experiment.

The beginning of the Christian life is in our grasp of faith on the hand of Jesus. Or, speaking more correctly, it is the allowing of Christ to grasp our “right hand”; for he first loved us. Observe that it is not the left hand which is to be given to Christ, but the right hand — the effective working hand. Then the new believer can sing, “He leadeth me.’7 Then he can confidently pray: “Lord, lead me in a plain path, because of mine enemies.” Henceforth his best and sweetest aspiration is:

“Thy way, not mine, 0 Lord,
However dark it be!
Lead me by thine own hand,
Choose out the path for me.

“Smooth let it be or rough,
It will be still the best;
Winding or straight, it matters not,
It leads me to thy rest.”

To every trusting soul the divine promise is: “I, the Lord thy God, will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not, I will help thee.” What a strong grasp that is which Jesus gives to poor, weak human nature. All the strength which any converted soul possesses is gotten through this contact and union with Christ the Omnipotent. Who supposes that such a man as my eloquent friend Gough, with his nervous impulsive temperament, and that latent demon of appetite for strong drink lurking within him, would ever have held out for thirty years, if the Lord had not holden him by his right hand? The fatal mistake of many a reformed inebriate is

that when he lets loose of the bottle, he does not grasp hold on God. Very few are ever permanently reformed without the help of the divine grace to steady them over the slippery places of temptation.

Not only is Christ’s grasp a strong one — it is a long one also. Here is the only foundation for the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints. Strictly speaking, it is Christ’s perseverance with the believer that ensures his salvation. Jesus loveth his own unto the end. “None shall pluck them out of My hand.” As long as my hand is clasped in my Saviour’s mighty grasp, all Hell can not sever us. This union must be continuous on my part also; for there is a constant temptation for me to draw out my hand suddenly and try to walk alone. “Just this once,” whispers pride and presumption. Selfishness whispers: “Yonder is smoother walking; go there.” Whenever I have tried this experiment of wicked folly, then came the backslider’s wanderings and bruising falls. Peter undertook once to go alone, and he fell within an hour. Afterward he said, “I will trust”; and he fell into a sweet slumber in the dungeon to be awakened by an angel.

There is a perpetual need of being held by our right hand; for life’s journey is over an untried road, with steep hills of difficulty constantly confronting us. Fear looks up the precipitous pathway, and says, “That is too much for me.” Jesus replies, “Fear not, I will help thee.’7 And, with our five fingers of faith made fast in his hold of love, we push upward to the summit. Life is full of “slippery places,77 too. We come upon them unawares, as Alpine travellers come upon a glare of ice covered by thin coats of snow. Sudden prosperity is a slippery place for any man to tread upon. Where one child of God is cast down by adversity, a score slip and tumble through the temptations of prosperity. I could name hundreds of church-members whose religion has declined in proportion as their incomes went up. Great popularity is a position of peril. “Woe unto you when all men shall speak well of you.77 Business men tell us that they are constantly exposed to slippery practices, and that it is increasingly difficult to make money with a clean conscience and the approval of Glod. Political pursuits are proverbially full of pitfalls. Sudden assaults of the Devil beset every Christian as they beset Joseph and David, and Him who was greater than either. As a child walking over a slippery and dangerous path cries out: “Father, I am falling!” and has but a moment to catch its father’s hand, so every believer sees hours when only the hand of Jesus comes between him and the abysses of destruction. When I cried, “My foot slippeth!” thy mercy, 0 Lord, held me up.

And so every pilgrim of Jesus goes on his upward way. As he climbs a rugged steep, panting under his heavy load, he cries out, My burden is too heavy for me! A Heavenly Friend at his side answers: “Cast thy burden upon me. I will hold thee by thy right hand, and afterward receive thee to glory.” Again I seem to see that pilgrim, sorely beset by evil spirits. He cries out: “Lord! save me, or I perish.” The answer comes quickly: “None shall be able to pluck thee out of my hand.77 Before the pilgrim there stretches a dizzy plateau of ice, broken by many a concealed crevasse many fathoms deep. Still the assuring voice keeps speaking — Hold fast to me, and afterward I will receive thee to glory.

Higher and still higher the trusting soul mounts upward. At length a glittering gateway opens. The gate is of solid pearl, and it opens upon a street of pure gold — as it were, transparent glass. As the pilgrim enters the overwhelming light, the last words that we catch are these: “Oh! blessed Jesus; thou hast h olden me by my right hand, and now thou art receiving me to Glory.77