The Hands of the Saviour - Kyle Boyd

The first meeting of 2017, saw a good crowd of young people gathered into the hall as we welcomed back Kyle Boyd to speak. Opening the Word of God in Mark chapter 6, where the miracle of the feeding of the five thousand was recounted, Kyle began to consider the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ.

In this passage, Christ showed that He had compassionate hands. Despite the exhaustion of the day, the hunger of his own body and that of His desciples, the Lord used His hands to produce a miraculous abundance of food. Not only were the people satisfied, but they were completely filled. The compassionate hands of the Saviour are infinitely abundant in reaching out to help His people.

Moving over to Luke 22, Kyle then considered the praying hands of Jesus Christ. In coming to His Father, with the shadow of the cross looming over Him, Christ's humanity is in full view. He is in need of support from His Father, desiring the comfort that comes from Heaven. In this action, the Lord not only shows us His human nature, but sets before us an example of prayer. We must bring our needs to our heavenly Father, trusting Him to take our troubles and cares upon Him and perform His perfect and wonderful will in our lives.

The working hands of Christ are found back in Mark 6. Verse 3 reminds us of His working background, as a carpenter, no doubt working alongside His earthly father in Nazareth. This paints a very interesting picture of a man who works with His hands, shaping and moulding the wood to create beauty, yet who's hands were in turn cruelly taken and nailed to the old wooden, rugged cross. As a carpenter, Christ also showed us an example of dedication and motivation to work, a lesson which is of great benefit in church, in school and in our employment.

In Matthew 14, as Peter cries out to the Lord to save Him, we find the saving hand of Jesus reaches down and saves Him out of the water. Christ was nearby, He was willing and He was ready. All Peter had to do, in verse 30, was to cry out for help and he would get it. Even today, the Lord is waiting, listening for the cry of the sinner's heart. He is nearby, He is willing and He is ready to save. We just need to cry to Him for the salvation that He freely gives us. Salvation from sin, salvation from eternal separation from God and salvation from hell. Christ's hands are ready to save.

Finally, turning to John 20, Kyle reminded us that the hands of the Saviour were pierced hands. Christ's hands, right now in heaven, retain the marks of the brutal death He suffered on the cross. The Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, suffered, bled and died for the sins of the world. His nail-pierced hands are the eternal evidence of His love for men, women, boys and girls. When we see the hands of the Saviour in Eternity, we will be compelled, as Thomas was in verse 28, to utter the words 'my Lord and my God'. Will you see those hands in glory? Will you see the Saviour face-to-face?

The hands of the Saviour are compassionate, praying, working and saving hands. THey are hands pierced by the brutal nails on the cross. If you have accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as your Saviour, they are also the hands that will welcome you into hands, and the hands that will place that Crown of Glory upon your head. What a wonderful thing to look forward to. The hope of every believer.