This message was adapted from the CPH Lenten Series The Hand of the Lord for delivery to the people of Emmanuel Lutheran Church in Adell, WI.

The Hand of the Lord Who Is Risen

Text: Luke 24:1-12, Psalm 16

Let us pray: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be

acceptable and pleasing in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer.

          On this joyous Easter morning we focus our attention on the resurrection Gospel according to St. Luke and the words of David from Psalm 16. Hear now the words of the Psalm:

          I bless the Lord who gives me counsel;
in the night also my heart instructs me.
⁸ I have set the Lord always before me;
because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.

⁹ Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices;
my flesh also dwells secure.
¹⁰ For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol,
or let your holy one see corruption.

¹¹ You make known to me the path of life;
in your presence there is fullness of joy;
at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

Christ is risen! [He is risen indeed! Alleluia!]

He is alive and lives today. He is with you and will never leave your side. This is the hand of the Lord at work.

Christ is risen! [He is risen indeed! Alleluia!]

Over the course of Lent and Holy Week, our theme has been “The Hand of the Lord.” We’ve explored several ways that the Lord uses both the language of hands and literal hands throughout the Scriptures. Our hands are central to the ways that we interact with the world. Hands have become symbols of strength, work, authority, ability, creativity, and even more. In the Scriptures, the Lord uses “the hand of the Lord” as a constant reminder to us of just what He can do. We saw the many ways that Christ, the Hand of the Lord, was at work as He saved Peter from the deep, defeated the devil by the finger of God, healed diseases, raised the dead, and held all things in His hand. Today, we see that Christ’s ever-present hand delivers on all His promises. He protects us, saves us, and guides us into life eternal.

King David, nearly a thousand years before Christ, writes in Psalm 16,

“You make known to me the path of life;

in Your presence there is fullness of joy;

at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”

David has the quiet confidence found at the right hand of his Lord. In the Lord’s presence, there is life. He is the Lord of life. How was it that David could write those words of joy and peace a thousand years before Jesus’ resurrection? What do they have to say to us, now nearly two thousand years after His resurrection? Where does this peace at the right hand of the Lord come from?

We live in a time when peace appears to be in short supply. We’ve seen the hands of this world at work. We live in a time when restlessness and anxiousness and spitefulness and even downright hatred are blasted across our screens on a daily basis. People recognize that there’s something wrong. Of course, many are quick to offer remedies with cures like “self-care” and “do what makes you happy” and any number of therapeutic fixes. People will say things like, “There’s nothing wrong with you. You need to put yourself first to solve any problems you have in this life.” But how is that working? Is the answer to the problems of this world just to turn in on ourselves more and more? Are we to seek comfort and refuge in the work of our hands? That would be to make ourselves the god of our own lives. For a god is anything or anyone in which we seek refuge.

David writes, “The sorrows of those who run after another god shall multiply.”  And David knew what hardship and heartache was. His predecessor, King Saul, tried to put him to death. His own son, Absalom, wanted him dead. He knew the gravity of the work of his hands in his own sin, the internal toil of his own dreadful actions after taking another man’s wife. He didn’t shy away from confessing his sin before the Lord. David knew it all, and he knew the judgment that he deserved. And yet, in the midst of that, he speaks of peace and joy.

David’s answer for us is not “Look inside yourself to find your inner strength.” It’s not “Try harder.” It is not “Grin and bear it. It’ll get better eventually.” David knows that the work of your own hands won’t do. David tells you instead to look to the One who has been right there all along, even if you tried to ignore Him. “I have set the Lord always before me; because He is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken”  David speaks as if the Lord is right there by his side at his right hand. If the Lord is with you, then you can place your confidence in Him and Him alone. If you know that the Lord is holding on to you, then you know that nothing in this world is greater than Him. You are not alone. Even if you’ve neglected His presence, He hasn’t neglected you. His promises remain true for you today, no matter how long it’s been!

And here it is: “Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices; my flesh also dwells secure. For You will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let Your holy one see corruption.”

The Lord is with David, holding him in His hand—the Lord who led Israel time and time again. The Lord who has given him the promise that even if he should die, he will be raised. He would not be abandoned to Sheol. That is the pit where all those who die go. That is where we deserve to be abandoned in an eternal death. But David knows that he won’t be left there. Even his flesh dwells secure, because God has the final say about this bodily life as well. God will bring him back to life on the Last Day. David’s hope—his faith, his belief—was all bound up in the Lord. Bound up in what the hand of the Lord can do.

You see, this psalm of David has been pointing forward to Jesus all along. David’s hope was all in Jesus and even though it was written a thousand years before Christ, this Psalm is all about Jesus’ resurrection. The hand of the Lord is no vague or mere metaphor. When the Son of God took on our human flesh, He took on human hands. In Christ, the hand of the Lord has become literal. Because of Jesus, we can say, without a doubt, that God’s hands are at work in this world. Real hands that can accomplish what He sets out to do. And everything that He set out to do, He accomplished – all for you.

Christ came to a world fallen which was in disarray. A world under the curse of sin. He was delivered into the hands of sinful men, and Christ’s hands were nailed to the cross. He took all this world’s sin and fallenness; even though He “knew no sin,” He became sin, and He took it all to the cross, where He died for it all of us.

But that’s not the end. The women carried spices to the tomb in their hands, expecting the need to add fragrance to a corrupted and decaying body. Instead, they found the stone rolled away to reveal an empty tomb! David’s Psalm is really about Jesus. He says, “For You will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let Your holy one see corruption.” David’s tomb was still present at the time of the apostles to testify that he had died and had not yet been raised. But Jesus was not abandoned to Sheol, the place of the dead, nor did His body decay and see corruption. And because of that we can confidently say:

Christ is risen! [He is risen indeed! Alleluia!]

He was raised on the third day. He was raised to new life to never die again. This is what the angels are talking about to the women at the tomb: “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how He told you, while He was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.”

These angels were reminding the women of the promises of Jesus, reminding them to remember His words, reminding them that the hand of the Lord had been at work all along, and reminding that He is alive just as He said. This is all the hand of the Lord.

And now He lives to this day. He ascended to the right hand of the Father, where He reigns over the whole world. He lives today in order to deliver the forgiveness that He’s won to you. You have been united with His death and resurrection in Baptism and He therefore will always be with you. He’ll never leave your side. He’s with you all the time. And now, because Jesus is with you, you know that what applies to His resurrection also applies to you! When He returns, He will raise you and all believers to be with Him forever.

But even now, He’s promised you that you will never be abandoned. Even death does not have the final say. He’s holding you in His hands. In His hands, He still has the glorious marks that prove His love for you.

Christ is risen! [He is risen indeed! Alleluia!] Amen.

The peace of God which surpasses all understanding guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.