God’s Right-Hand Man

How often do we hear someone speak of his right-hand man? We once heard a husband refer to his wife in this way, and quite seriously too. Do you know what it is to have a righthand man ? Perhaps this once familiar saying has become outmoded, like so many more which served our fathers well. And so your response may be, “What do you mean by a right-hand man?”. What we mean is this: that a right-hand man is the kind of person who is capable of performing what our own right hand does. He is one who, if our responsibilities become too great for us, can undertake them in just such a manner as we would ourselves. Or, if we wish to delegate our responsibilities altogether, our righthand man is the one in whom we have such confidence that we happily leave everything to him. And we are willing to do this because we know that he fully understands what we want, that he will be accountable to us, and will not fail. Of course, nobody in their right mind would delegate their affairs to one whom they did not trust, or to one whose capacity to act responsibly had not first been proved.

Imagine a wealthy man, and benefactor, with estates, farms and rural businesses. Think of the need for the proper administration of all his affairs. There would be the overall charge of those who worked for him; the maintenance of his property and plant; the need to ensure that industry and harmony prevail to guarantee his continuing prosperity, and so on. For such an one to have a right-hand man would mean that the burden of all he possessed and was responsible for could be entrusted to him. He would then know that everything would be faithfully and competently managed, so that, at the end of the day, the master would have no losses and no regrets. Ideally, such a man would have a son, his heir, to carry on his affairs in this way. Nothing would please a man of means more than to be able to think of his own son taking over from him. How complacent and satisfied he would be in the knowledge that all who knew them both would be saying: “Like father, like son”.

Is it any wonder then, that the Holy Spirit should refer to One of whom it is written, “and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand”, Isa. 53. 10, in order, as it were, to inform us of this amazing fact, that God Himself has His Right-hand Man? For us, who have the full revelation which God has given, it is plain that Isaiah’s message anticipated words subsequently to be spoken by the apostles of Christ.

When God raised up the crucified Jesus and made Him both Lord and Christ, and a Prince and a Saviour, He thus promoted His Right-hand Man over the heads of all this world’s great men, whether lords or princes. And when this was done, He had already tested Him to the utmost limit, and proved Him to be unfailing in His faithfulness and dependability. For, having given Him the greatest conceivable load to bear, the responsibility of putting away sin, making propitiation, and obtaining eternal redemption, this Man was proved to be equal to anything God could ask of Him. Marvellous Man, indeed ! Is it any wonder that God now looks to Him alone, for putting down all that is in revolt, for the redressing of all wrongs, and for bringing into sweetest harmony with His eternal purpose all that is now discordant to it! “What manner of man is this?” was once asked long ago. Well might we, as we think on these things, “Behold the man”, God’s Right-hand Man, and humbling ourselves, confess that oftentimes our faith has not been placed implicitly in Him.