Wednesday, January 28, 2009

THE TWO HANDS OF GOD

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How often I have had to endure the foolishness of my friends still bound by the traditions of man and the orthodox church systems. Nowhere is this more trying than when one, speaking of an unpleasant event or circumstance come to their life, rails on Satan as though he reigns unfettered and free to raise all havoc in their world. Often time, to my astonishment, these Christians, of whom, some fancy themselves as teachers, will profess the sovereignty and omnipotence of their God and then make Him weak by giving unwarranted power to the prince of this world. By God! Satan is but a prince ...... a prince that does the King's bidding. He can do no more than allowed, and truth be told, He is directed of our King and Lord in all that he performs.

Yes, it is oft frustrating and even painful to see those you love espouse a large devil and a little God. No wonder, these deluded souls can believe Satan steals the majority of mankind for Hell. With such an erroneous belief system, God is made impotent rather that omnipotent and Christ is marked as failing, as the Saviour of the World. It is my belief this "big Satan, small God complex" is "blasphemy and it is high time it be labeled as such!


Satan steals none! Instead, to God's Glory, all are reconciled and brought to peace through His shed blood and sacrifice on the cross. Lord help us to see and proclaim You as all powerful and all knowing, in your benevolent purpose of creating a loving family full of sons and daughters in your very image.

"Through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His Cross; through Him, I say, whether things upon earth or things in the heavens. Col 1:20

"For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive" 1Cor 15:22


Even a child could read the two verses above and understand that "all" means "all"
Christ is the "Saviour of All" and that my friend is the "Good News!"

With that said, please allow me to share part of an enlightened message by Preston Eby. Here, our good brother, who knows the same wonderful Saviour as I do, defines Satan as but a tool in the left hand of God.

"There is a wonderful lesson in nature observable by the biophysical scientist. When one adjusts the lenses of his microscope to watch the individual cells of an organism he sees tremendous struggles going on within those cells with only particular successes and failures, victories and defeats in what appears to be a ruthless "dog-eat-dog" battle. But when he changes the level of magnification to observe the organism as a whole, he sees that what was conflict at the lower level is harmony at the higher: that the very health and wellbeing, the ongoing life of the organism is precisely the OUTCOME of this microscopic turmoil. Ah, my brother, my sister, when our consciousness is raised high enough in the Spirit to see the WHOLE PICTURE, to SEE AS GOD SEES about all the circumstances and events that touch our lives, rather than dwelling upon the particular events themselves with their apparent negativeness, becoming irritated, worried, and upset by what is happening, we will see and know by the understanding HE GIVES that indeed, all these things ARE WORKING TOGETHER FOR OUR GOOD and the ongoing development of our spiritual life is precisely the OUTCOME of all the conflict. Praise His name!

THE HIDDEN HAND

In the New Testament the Greek word for "right" as used with "hand" means THAT WHICH USUALLY TAKES. That is, it is the one that reaches out to take and we can also know that it is the one that usually reaches out to give. It is the far more active hand of the two in the vast majority of people. The left hand seems to be the subordinate member, helping the right hand. There is a wonderful and meaningful statement made by Jesus in Mat. 6:3, often passed over unnoticed. Jesus said, "But when you do alms, don't let your LEFT hand know what your RIGHT hand does." In other words, keep your left hand in the dark as to what your RIGHT HAND is doing! And remember, the right hand is the one that REACHES OUT either to take or to give. Jesus said hypocrites gave their alms openly to BE SEEN OF MEN, and the joy of being seen WAS THEIR REWARD. Such people had their reward already and no further reward would be given them. Their left hand, as it were, had full knowledge as to what their right hand had done and their ego and self-righteousness were fully rewarded in the praise of men received.

But Jesus cautioned His disciples to not let their left hand have knowledge of what the right hand was doing. Their reward would come FROM GOD and not from men. Therefore their left hand, or their ego, self-nature with its self-interests and self-love, would be kept in the dark, left unsatisfied and unfulfilled in the good that was being done. Thus the left hand could in no way deprive them of the far greater reward THE FATHER HAD FOR THEM for their deeds of compassion and love.

In applying this principle to the actions of God's two hands, we find that Satan, wicked men, and all the forces of the negative realm have absolutely NO UNDERSTANDING of what the right hand of God is doing. Those of the left hand cannot perceive or know the PURPOSES AND INTENTIONS of the right hand in doing what it does. With this in mind, what a world of truth opens to our understanding from these inspired words of the apostle Paul, "Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect: yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to nought: but we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory: which NONE OF THE PRINCES OF THIS WORLD KNEW: FOR HAD THEY KNOWN IT, THEY WOULD NOT HAVE CRUCIFIED THE LORD OF GLORY" (I Cor. 2:6-8). None of the princes of this world KNEW! They were the negative force in God's left hand moving against the Christ, that the purpose of God in giving His beloved Son for the redemption of the world might be fulfilled.

"Him, being delivered BY THE DETERMINATE COUNSEL AND FOREKNOWLEDGE OF GOD, YOU have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain" (Acts 2:23). Pilate said to Jesus, "Don't speak to me? Don't You know that I have power to release You?" Hear the answer of Jesus! "You could not have any power at all against Me except it were GIVEN TO YOU FROM ABOVE" (Jn. 19:10-11). For God to bring His redemptive plan into effect, there must be a balance, there must be a negative force opposing the positive power and force of God in Christ Jesus. There must be a Judas, CHOSEN to bring all things to a head in the fulness of time when Jesus must be crucified. There must be a Pilate, GIVEN POWER FROM ABOVE, to take care of the legal side of all that happened on that dreadful night. There must be the soldiers selected to nail Jesus to the cross. There must be those who ridiculed Jesus, who scorned and mocked and cursed Him. Without a Satan, without a Judas, without a Pilate, without a rebellious, hateful nation of Israel, there would never have been a blessed Redeemer DYING FOR US!

Yes, GOD was doing this thing, GOD was in control of each and every action, it was all the work of HIS HAND! But those He moved upon at His left hand moved in darkness and did not know anything of what the right hand was doing, they knew not who the Christ was, why He was here, or what He was doing or would do. Never did they dream, in their wildest imaginations, that He really was the Son of God, that He actually would rise from the dead, that He would pour out the Holy Spirit in mighty wonder-working power and spread His Kingdom from pole to pole! They were doing what God had raised them up to do but they walked in darkness, they didn't KNOW! The left hand was at a great disadvantage. Today, as then, these evil forces do not even realize that it is the hand of God that is directing all of their actions. The forces of evil and the people under their control, have the false idea that they are directing their own steps and doing all things of themselves, and God allows them to think so! So we see them going their way boasting of all they are doing and believing themselves to be masters of their own destiny, marking out their own pathway!

The right hand of God is the ANOINTED HAND of God, for Christ (the Anointed) sits AT THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD. It is this hand of God, the Christ, Head and body, that reaches forth to all mankind bringing redemption, restoration, and blessing. How we praise God for HIS RIGHT HAND, HIS POSITIVE FORCE, and that it is the more active and the stronger of the two! While the left hand is kept in ignorance of what the right hand is doing, the right hand is not always ignorant of what the left hand is doing "Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices" (II Cor. 2:11). "But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. You are all the children (sons) of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness" (I Thes. 5:4-5). When we realize we are in the light of God and know at least a little something of what is going on, then it is amusing, at times, to be able to watch the foolish moves being made by those used by the left hand of God. Foolish, perhaps, but so necessary to God's plan! How we rejoice to be able to stand by in assurance and confidence, watching GOD work, knowing that God is the One who is the author and finisher of all that happens in between. It is wonderful to be able to walk in at least a measure of light during all those times of testing, trial, proving, and judgment.

There is a further and enlightening application of this truth which we would share briefly. In the Song of Solomon 2:6 the Shulamite maiden says of her beloved King, "His LEFT HAND is under my head, and His RIGHT HAND embraces me." The meaning is clear - the left hand of God is under our head, it is hidden, unseen, the less visible working of God upon our lives, upholding and undertaking for us in all the ways and circumstances in which we do not see the hand of God. God has manifested Himself in history in the figure of the "left hand" - unseen and invisible, when men did not recognize Him. Elisha's servant (II Kings 6:13-17), as well as the prophet Habakkuk (Hab. 1:1-4), and many others, did not see the hidden hand of God, behind the head, away from the front of the eyes, working His plan and will. However, there are other times when the "right hand" of God works in an obvious fashion, before the eyes, in front of the face, performing the supernatural and the miracle right there for all to see. But keep in mind that if we had eyes in the back of our heads, so to speak, we could see both the right and left hand manifestations. We would see that God is there working ALL THE TIME. And all those blessed ones who have the "eyes of their understanding ENLIGHTENED" do see HIM IN ALL THINGS!

How often, in the midst of testing and trouble, we, like Peter, look at the billowing waves and behold not the Lord! When the blessings come pouring in and the glory waves sweep through our souls, we know it is the Lord and we acknowledge and bless Him. But when trouble surrounds us, when adversity comes, calamity strikes, and all hell breaks loose, we fail to see where God's hand can be in THAT! But without that, we could not receive all He would give and do for us with His right hand. The right hand is the hand of His manifest grace and power, His inward love and joy, the smile of His approval with which He encourages and equips us. The left hand, under our head, holds us fast and secretly deals and works upon the clay of the earthen vessel in ways we understand not. The embracing of His right hand is so precious, as He lets His love fall upon us like dew, as He leads us into deeper revelations of Himself and of that which He has prepared for us. As we behold the King in His beauty He perfects that which concerns us and gets us ready to shine forth in His image.

While we rejoice in the embrace of God's right hand of love, let us not despise His left hand; let us yield to Him though He would use the knife upon us and pour the wine into the wound; for He will then pour in the oil and soothe us; He may wound, but He will heal us. Let us not forget, however, that He not only holds us fast and comforts us in trial, but He holds us fast in the fiery furnace, and on the swiftly moving wheel of His purifying and molding processes. How many times we would get out of His hands if He did not hold us fast when He puts us into the purifying furnace, out of which we would take ourselves if it were possible. It is His precious unseen left hand that holds us still as the dross is being consumed."
J Preston Eby

The whole of Eby's four part message on "THE TWO HANDS OF GOD" can be read here:

http://hisremnant.org/eby/articles/kingdom/twohands/twohandsof.html

May God bless you to know all is under His control and all is being worked for good in your life. Praise His Holy Name!

Jack



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3 comments:

Anonymous said...

This was a great article and very thought-provoking. Where Eby referred to this:-
"There is a wonderful lesson in nature observable by the biophysical scientist. When one adjusts the lenses of his microscope to watch the individual cells of an organism he sees tremendous struggles going on within those cells with only particular successes and failures, victories and defeats in what appears to be a ruthless "dog-eat-dog" battle. But when he changes the level of magnification to observe the organism as a whole, he sees that what was conflict at the lower level is harmony at the higher: that the very health and wellbeing, the ongoing life of the organism is precisely the OUTCOME of this microscopic turmoil. Ah, my brother, my sister, when our consciousness is raised high enough in the Spirit to see the WHOLE PICTURE, to SEE AS GOD SEES about all the circumstances and events that touch our lives, rather than dwelling upon the particular events themselves with their apparent negativeness, becoming irritated, worried, and upset by what is happening, we will see and know by the understanding HE GIVES that indeed, all these things ARE WORKING TOGETHER FOR OUR GOOD and the ongoing development of our spiritual life is precisely the OUTCOME of all the conflict. Praise His name!”

.... it reminded me of this article by Lillie Cowman (you referred me to her excellent writings the other day):-
"Men see not the bright light which is in the clouds" (Job 37:21).
The world owes much of its beauty to cloudland. The unchanging blue of the Italian sky hardly compensates for the changefulness and glory of the clouds. Earth would become a wilderness apart from their ministry. There are clouds in human life, shadowing, refreshing, and sometimes draping it in blackness of night; but there is never a cloud without its bright light. "I do set my bow in the cloud!"
If we could see the clouds from the other side where they lie in billowy glory, bathed in the light they intercept, like heaped ranges of Alps, we should be amazed at their splendid magnificence.
We look at their under side; but who shall describe the bright light that bathes their summits and searches their valleys and is reflected from every pinnacle of their expanse? Is not every drop drinking in health-giving qualities, which it will carry to the earth?
O child of God! If you could see your sorrows and troubles from the other side; if instead of looking up at them from earth, you would look down on them from the heavenly places where you sit with Christ; if you knew how they are reflecting in prismatic beauty before the gaze of Heaven, the bright light of Christ's face, you would be content that they should cast their deep shadows over the mountain slopes of existence. Only remember that clouds are always moving and passing before God's cleansing wind. “
Thanks – for everything!

Jenny

Anonymous said...

"How many times we would get out of His hands if He did not hold us fast when He puts us into the purifying furnace, out of which we would take ourselves if it were possible. It is His precious unseen left hand that holds us still as the dross is being consumed."
J Preston Eby"

I love J.Preston Eby.
He is such a precious brother.
Thank you Father for all that you speak through your Son in J.P.Eby.

This was a blessing my brother John....
We love you,
The Schulz Family

Jack Hennessey said...

Bless you Jenny and thanks for the Cowman message. Her writings are a delight as you have shown.

Eliyah, Oh my, do I know this to be true (below). Sis, you certainly have a knack for cutting to the chase.

"How many times we would get out of His hands if He did not hold us fast when He puts us into the purifying furnace, out of which we would take ourselves if it were possible. It is His precious unseen left hand that holds us still as the dross is being consumed."
J Preston Eby


Thank you both for sharing your comments,

Jack/John