Dec | 10 | Leading Hands

Key Word:- CLEAN

Title:- Leading Hands

Psalm 24:3,4
Who may ascend into the hill of the LORD? Or who may stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands…...

A clean handed person according to our text, may begin to ascend the hill of the Lord; that is, may approach the precious and powerful presence of the living and loving, gloriously effulgent Almighty God! Ah, clean hands. Have you got them today?When examine my hands I see evidence of previous involvements, articles of participation if you will, writings of recent history. The calloused palms of hard labor, the nibbled nails of present anxiety, and the deformed finger protruding from the damaged knuckle, all say something. Hands tell stories you know? Take just a few minutes of quiet to examine your hands. What stories do they tell? Ah, clean hands. Have you got them today?


Hands spread disease, germs cling to them, especially in the cracks and creases of the bending joints and the tips of touching fingers, that have been in our ears, or up our nose, or on our clothes, taps and toilets, terriers and toys, you know what I mean, after all, the tips of our little feeling fingers have touched and awful lot of stuff, haven’t they! Hands communicate with the world and all things in it. Hands spread disease. Place your hands under the ultra violet light of your careful conscience. What dis-ease have you spread with your hands? Ah, clean hands. Have you got them today?

I am supposing that Jesus never bit His nails. I am supposing that He never got a splinter from working in His carpenters shop, never hit His thumb with a mallet, never shouted or uttered any expletive whilst sucking air through His gritted teeth and dancing around on one foot shaking the retreating blood back into the damaged ends of battered fingers. I am assuming that Jesus had no rope burns from fishing, no net gnarls, cuts, or scars; no grains of gravel still under the skin from falls as a rushing child pushed over in the Galilean dirt. I am assuming that no germ could survive a moment on those powerful little pinkies, those tender tendons. I am assuming that He never had to de-wax His ears or pick His nose, but then again dear friends, who knows, who knows? But we do like a disinfected Jesus don't we? You know, all pristine and clean in the colouring books of all the little children. What do you think though? Yes, let me ask of you this question? Were the hands of Jesus always clean?

If we could take the hands of Jesus and just hold them, palms up you know, palms down, what testimonies would they give? I’d like to do that. I’d like to examine the hands of Jesus. Rub my thumbs around the whirlpool of flesh in the centre of His palms and let them rest on the nail holes, where once upon a time, there opened, right there, in the middle of His blood stained, split and tender tendons, two violent vortexes, two deeply devouring, all engulfing, sin sucking vengeance crushing black holes of all consuming judgment! Down which all the sins from my North and South, East and West poured themselves away. All that’s left now are healed scars, reminders to those who examine His hands, that though now healed and clean, they once carried in their hole-pierced centre, all of our dirty and disgusting crimes. All of them. How lovely. How awesome.

It seems to me that we all need Jesus to take our grubby little hands, hold them tight in His, as He leads us up the Hill of the Lord. There is no other way to ascend the Hill of the Lord unless our hands have been held and made clean in the tight and manly grip of the Saviours loving palms. Ah, His clean hands. Have you got them in yours today?

Listen:- For Christ did not enter a man-made sanctuary that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God's presence. Nor did he enter heaven to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own. Then Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But now he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him. Hebrews 9:24-28 NIV 

Pray:- Oh lead me, to the place where I can find you, Oh lead me to the place where You will be. Lead me to the cross, where we first met. Draw me to my knees so we can talk. Let me feel your breath. Let me know you're here with me. Amen.