THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD.
BY
ABIMBOLA O. SALU.
The right hand of God must indeed be a wonderful place to be! When someone is described as being the right hand man of another, it connotes the image of someone who is indispensable, important, reliable, that can be trusted and can deputize for the top man. In some cultures and governments, the most trusted adviser sits at the right hand of the leader. When favors are needed from the leader, an appeal to his right hand man may yield the desired result. The right hand man may be more accessible than the leader and when you have his ear, it is as good as having the ear of the leader himself.
His son, Jesus Christ, occupies the right hand of God. Before he died, Jesus had predicted where he was going and what position he would occupy in his Father’s kingdom. This was at the time when Jesus Christ was brought before Caiaphas the high priest and false witnesses had just accused him. When asked by Caiaphas to respond to these allegations, Jesus Christ said nothing. Caiaphas was very surprised that he said in Mathew 26 verses 63and 64 “I adjure thee by the living God, that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ, the Son of God”. Jesus saith unto him, “Thou hast said, nevertheless, I say unto you, hereafter shall ye see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds in heaven”. Also in Luke 22 verse 69, Jesus Christ confirmed this when he said, “Hereafter shall the son of man sit on the right hand of the power of God”.
Many verses in the Bible confirm the place of Jesus at the right hand of God .For example Mark 16 verse 19, records,“So then, after the Lord had spoken to them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God”. In Acts 2 verse 33, the Bible says “Therefore being at the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear”. Romans 8 verse 34 us”. Colossians 3 verse 1 says,” If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God ”. Not man. ”.Hebrews 10 verse 12 says “But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever sat down on the right hand of God”. Hebrews 12 verse 2 says “ looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith: who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God”. 1st Peter 3 verse 22 says, “Who is gone unto into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject to him”
Stephen, the first Christian martyrs made confirmation of the supremacy and Excellency of Jesus in his place at the right hand of God. In Acts 7 verse 55, the Bible records that “ When they heard all these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth. But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. And said,’behold, I see the heavens opened and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God”.
Jesus is not sitting idly at the right hand of God. That is not in his nature. Even when he was here on earth, all his waking moments were either spent praying, preaching, healing or doing good works. In heaven right now, Jesus is busy interceding for us before God the Father. This is confirmed in Romans 8 verse 34, which says, “Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us”. Therefore when we pray in the name of Jesus he hears us and he pleads with God the Father on our behalf. He is in the best position to do this because he has lived on earth as a human being. He has gone through the whole gamut of human emotions. He has experienced pain [he was crucified on the cross at Calvary] and anguish [when his friend Lazarus died] .He knows what lack, loss, affliction, oppression, false accusation and death means .He has met needs before [he fed the multitudes] and he knows what disappointment and betrayal is [denial by Peter, betrayal by Judas]. He was not acknowledged as a great man by his own people- [“a prophet is without honor, save in his own country and in his own house” see Mathew 13 verse 57]. Since he is experienced, he is the best advocate or attorney we can possibly have. He knows exactly how we feel when we call to him for help and with the same feelings and emotions he intercedes for us before our Father in heaven. Hebrews 8 verses 1-2 says “ Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: We have such an high priest, who is at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens. A minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched and not man.” Jesus Christ is therefore fulfilling his role as a high priest. This line of priesthood started with Aaron and the Levites.
In the Old Testament, any prayer or intercession had to go through the priests who offered sacrifices on behalf of the people. However, with the death of Jesus Christ on the Cross, there is no need to shed the blood of bulls and rams. Jesus Christ made the ultimate sacrifice by laying down his own precious life for the forgiveness of sins. Hebrews 9 verses 6-7 paints a good picture of this” Now when these things were thus ordained, the priests went always into the first tabernacle, accomplishing the service of God. But into the second went the High priest alone once every year, not without the blood which he offered for himself, and for the errors of others” Verses 11 –17 of the same chapter continues thus “ But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, nothing of this building. Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered into once the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. For if by the blood of bulls and of goats and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh. How much more shall the blood of Christ who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? And for this cause he is the mediator of the New Testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance [Verse 22] “ And almost all things are by the law purged with blood, and without shedding of blood is no remission”.
Apart from his present role as a High priest who is at the right hand of God, Jesus will return to earth as a King who will judge the world. Interestingly, the prophet Daniel had seen the vision of the kingship of the Son of Man many years before Jesus was born. In Daniel 7 verses 13-14, it says “I saw in the night visions, and behold one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before them. And there was given him dominion and glory, and a kingdom that all people, all nations and languages should serve him: his dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that shall not be destroyed”.
A confirmation of the vision of Daniel came after the death of Jesus in the revelation of St John the Divine. In Revelation 19 verses 11-16, John records “”And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns, and he had a mane written, that no man knew but he himself. And he was clothed with vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called the Word of God. And the armies, which were in heaven, followed him upon the white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and the wrath of Almighty God. And he had on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.”
The kingdom of Christ is clearly illustrated in the Book of Revelation Chapter 11 verses 15 –18.”And the seventh angel sounded: and there were great voices in heaven, saying,’ The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ and he shall reign for ever and ever. The four and twenty Elders, which sat before God on their seats, fell upon the faces and worshipped God. Saying ‘we give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come; because thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and hast reigned. And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldst give reward unto thy servants, the prophets, and to thy saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great: and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth”
