The Shepherd’s Hand
Text: John 10:22-30
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Of all the images in Scripture that God uses to help us understand Him and His ways, perhaps one of the richest is that of the hand of God. When the Lord sent Moses to bring His people out of slavery in Egypt, He said, “But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless compelled by a mighty hand. So I will stretch out my hand and strike Egypt with all the wonders I will do in it; after that he will let you go.” Later in that generation, when God gave the Law on Mount Sinai, surrounded by fire and thunder and earthquakes, He inscribed the commandments on those stone tablets with His very finger, as Moses informed God’s people. As they entered the Promised land, God told the Israelites, “You shall not be afraid of [the nations living there], but you shall remember what the Lord your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt, the great trials you saw with your eyes, the signs, the wonders, the mighty hand, and the outstretched arm, by which the Lord your God brought you out.” During the Babylonian captivity, when God’s people wept in a distant land, far from their home, the hand of the Lord came again and spoke judgment against that mighty empire. When the Babylonian king Belshazzar threw a feast and desecrated the holy cups of gold and silver that had once been used for holy purposes in the temple of Jerusalem, a hand appeared and wrote on the wall, right in front of the king: “Mene, Mene, Tekel, Parsin”—interpreted it means, “God has numbered the days of your kingdom and brought it to an end; you have been weighed in the balances and found wanting; your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians.” And that very night King Belshazzar died and the now-famous Darius the Mede received his kingdom. The hand of the Lord is a sign of judgment and a demonstration of almighty power. In the New Testament, the author of Hebrews writes, “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”
And indeed, when it seems that the hand of God is against us, it can be a terrifying thing. When the God and Creator of everything has stretched out His hand in judgment, it can feel like nothing is going right, none of the pieces are coming together, disaster and tragedy is continually striking like lightning. When we fall into the judgment of the hand of God, we’re ridden with guilt, knowing that He only sets Himself against wickedness, even the sins we commit. We feel ourselves covered with shame as that powerful grasp tightens and squeezes. We feel the judgment; we’re fearful of our unworthiness. The full weight of the hand of God is on the other side of those stone tablets of the Law, the Commandments we know we’ve broken, or disregarded, or explained away, or tried to hide from behind the flimsy shelter of our excuses. We know that feeling of being found wanting. At some point we’ve all been weighed, measured, and fallen short.
When the hand of the Lord is against someone it is a dreadful thing. But imagine all that power, that almighty strength, if it were on your side. Imagine the hope that surges when you hear that proud Pharaoh is about to be forced to let you go free. Picture the vindication of seeing an arrogant enemy of God and His children, like Belshazzar, judged and the promise of returning home right on the horizon because of the might of the Lord’s hand.
Imagine if God’s hand were for you. Because that is what Jesus has said to you today. “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.”
God has not set His hand against you. Yes, He might discipline you, as the hand of loving parent might grab yours to keep it from being burned on the stove or to pull a child out of the street. But that is not being against you. Rather, His hand holds you. And because of His power, His righteousness, His unchallengeable strength, no one can take you from His hand. As a sheep of His flock that the Shepherd has shed His blood and died in order to obtain—a greater love for you than that will be impossible to find!—He’s not going to let you go so easily. No one can snatch you out of His hand. As He said through the prophet Isaiah, “Can a mother forget her nursing child? Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands.” He’s hidden you in His hands, in the very nail-engraved marks He received on the cross to win you and save you.
No one can snatch you out of His hand. You can, of course, jump out and bolt, as rebellious and silly sheep are prone to do. You can decide you’d rather see what that other pasture has, or what quickly fading treats are being offered by that other enticing hand of the world or the tempter. But even then, your Good Shepherd will track you down. He’ll call to you and you’ll know His voice—the Word of your God—and you’ll recognize it.
Have you ever wondered why you react so strongly when you hear a word from Scripture that strikes you a certain way, whether you like what you’ve heard or not. You have a reaction that shoots through your entire being. You react strongly when you hear something that you don’t want to hear from God’s Word, something you disagree with, and it sticks in your craw, more than if you just heard a stranger say something you didn’t like or agree with. Or you hear something you love, something beautiful and joyous and filled with hope, and you react just as strongly in a positive way with a lump in your throat and swelling in your chest. Both strong reactions are because you know the voice of your Shepherd. You know it’s Him saying these things to you, so you know it’s true, whether you like what’s said or not. You know His hand when it’s reaching out to bring you back, either with a strong word of warning to stop fleeing from Him, or with forgiving words of healing. You know His voice. You know His nail-engraved hand. He’s calling to you and holding you even now.
And no one can snatch you from His hand. Not the world, not those who have harmed you, not another false shepherd, not even the evil one. No one can overpower the mighty hand of God that is for you, that’s holding you, that loves you. He’s protecting you with His might. He’s sending the enemies of your body and soul running. He’s giving you eternal life. He’s sharing His body and blood with you. He’s pouring out forgiveness and the certainty of salvation. Hear His voice, know your Shepherd, see His hand, and rejoice with all the flock of God, purchased with His own blood. In the name of Jesus, the Good Shepherd. Amen.
