If you were told to stretch your hands wide and sustain it like that for hours in order to save your family from an obvious serious challenge… can you do it? Before you brag about your physical strength, may I suggest you hold on a bit with your answer…as this post will show you how uneasy that exercise could be! Enjoy this.
There was a time Moses had the opportunity to stretch out his hands in order to ‘save’ Israel… The Israelites were fighting a tough battle and all they needed to win was for Moses to LIFT HIS HANDS AND STRETCH IT SIDEWAYS!
‘…And it came to pass, when Moses HELD UP his hand, that Israel PREVAILED…’ (Exodus 17:11)
So in this case, Moses was the ‘SAVIOUR’ of the Israelites…but there was a little issue with this ‘saviour’!
‘…and when HE LET DOWN his hand, Amalek prevailed…’ (Exo 17:11)
Oh no… He couldn’t uphold his hands for long in that position! This Saviour needed support! Or else, the Israelites cannot be guaranteed their victory… In fact, the next verse explains that:
‘…But MOSES’ HANDS WERE HEAVY; and they took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat thereon; and AARON AND HUR STAYED UP HIS HANDS, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side…’ (Exo 17:12)
Wow! Aaron had to uphold his hands by one side while Hur upheld it by the other side! Stretching those arms will determine if their physical lives would be SAVED, yet Moses couldn’t sustain his hands for them! How much more if the stretching was for their ETERNAL LIVES! Their salvation will simply remain ‘INSECURE’!
Well, that was Moses! But… This was not the case of your Saviour! While that of Moses was for their physical lives, Jesus had to stretch his arms for your ETERNAL LIFE! No man upheld His hands for you to be guaranteed victory… Instead, NAILS held his hands… the one on the one side, and the other on the other side! He had the power to remove the nails and let down his hands! For He said:
‘…I have power to lay my life down, and I have power to take it again…’ (John 10:18)
But no… He chose the nails and stayed on all through the battle…just for YOU! He was nailed by 9am (Mark 15:25) and was there with his ‘outstretched arms’ till 3pm (Mark 15:34). Six solid hours of suspended arms without human assistance… In fact, between 12noon and 3pm, everywhere went dark as the battle got fiercer… (Mark 15:33) He came out of the darkness shouting
‘…my God, my God, why has thou forsaken me…’ Mark 15:34
He must be forsaken, so that God can now tell you
‘…I WILL NEVER LEAVE YOU OR FORSAKE YOU…’! Hebrews 13:5
Yet He sustained his arms still with those nails! Oh what a fierce battle it was! Glory to God, it all ended with these words: ‘IT IS FINISHED’! (John 19:30) And sealed the deal up by resurrecting on the third day! I love how the Amplified Bible explains this:
‘…Who was betrayed and PUT TO DEATH BECAUSE OF OUR MISDEEDS and was RAISED TO SECURE OUR JUSTIFICATION (our acquittal), [MAKING OUR ACCOUNT BALANCE and absolving us from ALL GUILT BEFORE GOD]…’ (Romans 4:25)
Our account is now balanced! Our sins cleared, our eternal justification guaranteed! In fact, after He resurrected, he still had the ‘nail-pierced’ hole in His hands…so you can remember that your victory is constantly guaranteed! (John 20:25,27) Don’t you just love this Saviour? Where Moses failed, Jesus prevailed! (Romans 8:3) Now we can be sure of constant victory!
‘… thanks be unto God, which ALWAYS causeth us to triumph IN CHRIST…’ (2Cor 2:14)
All praises to this Saviour like no other. Amen.
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