Revelation 1:9-20
The Hands that Hold All Things
To anyone who is a parent out there, you probably know the struggle of reaching that toy that fell behind the furniture. It inevitably happens no matter how much we try to avoid such a situation. A ball rolls a little farther than intended and ends up stuck, or a toy car, or whatever toy a child is holding gets dropped in just the wrong spot and lands behind the furniture. The question then becomes, how are you going to get it out? Many times, this may not be a huge issue. It’s close enough that we can just reach underneath and grab it quickly. But then there’s those larger pieces of furniture that make this not as simple. The couches, sectionals, beds, or so on that are both low to the ground and larger than our arms can reach. This is where those empty wrapping paper rolls come in handy, or whatever long stick you can find. Again, many times, this is enough to help free the lost and stuck toy. But I want to up the ante one more time. It’s not only under the couch, tucked up against the wall, but it’s now also behind the leg of something that simply can’t be moved. Now what? There comes a point when we all toss up our hands and say, “Now it’s lost for good. I can’t reach it. You’re not getting it back right now.” Indeed, we know the limits of our reach and the things that simply fall right beyond it. There are many things, even figuratively speaking, that are outside our reach but we still reach for control.
Thus, I want you to consider tonight the reach of our Lord. We’ve seen him do many things with his hands and reach out to many different people. We know the “right” answer, but we often live as though it weren’t true. So, let us consider this question,
WHERE CAN THE HANDS OF OUR LORD NOT REACH?
I.
It’s one of the big lessons that we must learn growing up, that we’re not in control of everything. It’s a saying I’ve heard repeated time and again, that what we do is ninety percent us and only ten percent what others do to us. So, if someone calls you a name, you can’t force them or compel them to apologize. We can’t control others in anyway. Rather, it’s up to us to decide how we want to respond. We could call them a name in response, or we could choose to ignore them and not let it bother us. But as sinful humans, we yearn for any semblance of control. We want to control others by reaching into everyone else’s business. We try to control our friends, our work, our family, our time. We try to be masters over our own life, when in reality, we have far less control than we’re ever willing to admit. For the moment something goes wrong, our house of cards comes tumbling down. For our reach is limited. There are only so many things that we have within our power and capability. Just as Solomon writes in Ecclesiastes, “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might,” Ecclesiastes 9:10a. Our focus in life is meant to be on what has been given us to do. We can control ourselves. Our thoughts, our body, our mind to the extent that we’re able.
This is why we must consider God and his reach. For it’s these disasters, these tragedies, everything that is out of our control that causes us to question who is truly in control. I won’t beat around the bush, because we know the right answer. It’s God, of course. We know God has his hand in everything. He created the earth and the heavens, the sea and the land, plants, animals, and everyone of us. We know that God has his hand over everything. But knowing it doesn’t change how we feel sometimes. For the chaos of life makes us question whether God’s reach has grown short. We can sometimes wonder if God is even there, listening to us, caring for us. For it seems that God’s reach falls short when disasters strike. It feels as though we’re beyond God’s fingertips when life is in turmoil. It feels at times as though our sin is sometimes too heavy for his hands. Then we wonder if we’re the ones who have fallen behind the couch or out of reach, someplace where our Lord has no control.
II.
But I ask again, where can our Lord not reach? Has he not already stretched his hands over all of creation? Does not our Lord lay his hands on the sick and dying? Is not the hand of the Lord present amidst all of our life’s challenges? Indeed, he is! There’s absolutely no where that our Lord cannot reach with his hand. There’s nothing outside our Lord’s control. Hear what is written, “The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand,” John 3:35. God has given everything into the hands of Jesus. Jesus holds not only the world, but even you and me within his grasp. He has reached out to you and me, no matter where we may find ourselves. As the Psalmist also writes, “Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me,” Ps 139:7-10. There’s no place that we can go, no place where we might fall, no situation or trouble where our Lord can’t reach us.
If our Lord should hold all this in his hands, how much more does he hold you? We approach rapidly the passion of our Lord, whose hands have taken our sin. We come to see our Lord bear the weight of the whole world on his shoulders. If we should doubt that even death should be unreachable to our Lord, we first must see the hands of our Lord be nailed to the cross for us. As his blood drips from those nails, as his body aches from the agony of the cross, he’s still there holding you and me. The hands of our Lord have felt death for us. His hands have been placed into the grave, so that even in death, his hands shall be there to hold you and me. He shall be there to lead us out of death, to pull us up from our grave, and give to us the gift of eternal life! He who holds the world in his hands, holds you also. He who has felt the sting of death, now holds the key of death and the key to eternal life!
No matter where we may fall, no matter where we may find ourselves, our Lord is reaching out his hands to us, to hold us, to care for us, to bear us up from death and grave to life everlasting! So, may we in full faith place ourselves, our life, and all our being into the hands of our Lord! In Jesus’ name! Amen!