The Nail-Pierced Hands
Today’s Verse:
For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet. ~Psalm 22:16
The story is told of a boy who was trapped by a fire on the second floor of his house. The rest of his family had perished in the fire. A man, seeing the boy’s desperate situation, climbed his way to the boy’s bedroom by way of a metal pipe attached all the way to the roof of the house. The man was successful in reaching and rescuing the boy, but not without severely burning his hands. Weeks later at a custody hearing for the boy, he rejected the court’s decision to place him with the boy’s nearest kin. Instead, the man, whose hands were severely burned, appealed to the court for the boy’s custody. Upon seeing his rescuer, the boy ran to him and told the court, “The man who saved my life is the man I want to live with.” This morning, let us see the wounded hands of the Lord Jesus Christ.
We see the indictment.
An indictment is an accusation or charge of being guilty of the commission of a crime. As sinners, we have sinned against the Creator of the universe. “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” “As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one.” Sin must be punished. “For the wages of sin is death….” Those wounded hands point at you and me as sinners who should be punished for our sins.
We see the injury.
Jesus’ hands were pierced. Nails were thrust into His hands, tearing ligaments and puncturing veins. The scars from the nails remain permanent. The wounds remain open. The permanence of these horrific wounds is a vivid reminder of the incredible pain and loss of blood endured by Jesus. Revelation 1:7 tells us that one day “every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him.” Thomas saw those wounds and was invited to place his hands in them to see, first-hand, the injuries sustained by our Lord Jesus. Let us be reminded that “he was wounded for our transgressions.”
We see the indemnification.
Those pierced and wounded hands testify that our sin was paid in full. They testify that Jesus shed His blood and suffered, the Just dying for the unjust, that He might bring us to God. All of God’s demands for sin were met by our Lord Jesus. The requirement for our sin payment had to include the wounds of His hands, feet, and side. One day, we will see those wounds and give Jesus glory for suffering such agony, shedding His blood, and redeeming us from all of our sin.
We see the invitation.
Those wounded hands are open to every sinner. Jesus does not close His hands in a clenched fist to hide them. Instead, they are open as an invitation for every sinner to come to Him for the forgiveness of their sins and the free gift of salvation. Jesus was wounded for every sinner so that our sins would be paid in full. If you have not, by faith, received the Lord Jesus Christ for your sins, do so today. Place your hand in the nail-scarred hands!
Have an inspired God Morning!
Bible Reading Schedule: Jeremiah 7-9