THE TWO HANDS OF GOD
Part 1
"All things are of God " is declared over and over again in the Bible. Didn't the Lord say to
Pharaoh, that wicked man of rebellion against all that was of God, "Even for this same purpose I RAISED YOU UP, that
I might show MY POWER in you, and that MY NAME
might be declared throughout all the earth?" (Rom.9:17). The infinite wisdom of God's mind cannot be ascertained
by these carnal little heads of ours. We must banish our childish theology and our superstitious concepts of God and bring
our minds into harmony with the mind of Christ. We must begin to look through the mighty telescope of divine wisdom as
it looks through the vast universe of good and evil until heavenly light bursts through with blazing brilliance upon our inquiring
spirits and we see with crystal clear vision that God is in all things, and is responsible for all things, including
the so called evil things as well as the good things. Is it not a fearful thing to say that evil is of God? There is nothing
fearful about this view unless the TRUTH is fearful! I would not be surprised if some of the compatriots of the prophet
Amos may have thought he was speaking blasphemy when by the Holy Spirit he said, "Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and
the people not be afraid? Shall there be evil in a city, and THE LORD HATH NOT DONE IT?" (Am.3:6). There are
millions of Christians who do not like to believe that ALL THINGS ARE OF GOD including evil. Most prefer to believe, as the harlot system has taught
them, that God created good, and the devil created evil!
There is a great
wondrous work that God is getting ready to perform through His many membered body, the sonship company, and can we not see
that ALL THE NEGATIVE OPPOSING FORCES WE NOW ENCOUNTER are working together for our good, to develop the strength,
character, wisdom, and power we must have? The chastening, and judgments of God too are negative, though they do bring forth a
positive result. The positive work of God from His right hand lies in the inner anointing, guidance, enlightening,
ect, and in the precious outward ministries, those who the Lord sets in the body for our exhortation, edification, and comfort.
The scriptures speak a lot about these positive ministries, which are all wonderful, sweet, and of great importance in the
eyes of God. However, there is the work of purging, pruning, discipline, and training which must be accomplished in each and
every one of God's sons; therefore in the work of God there is an additional part, the negative, opposing forces, from the
LEFT HAND OF GOD! The positive work of God's RIGHT HAND is brought about directly by the Holy Spirit within
or by the Spirit through His anointed agencies. The negative work of God's LEFT HAND is brought about by satan (the
adversary) and his instruments, the whole negative realm of evil. All the people, things, and happenings used in the chastening
and judgments of God are of satan's manipulation. For example, if someone is opposing us for righteousness' sake and causing
us trouble, this opposition or trouble is directly the work of satan - or the adversary. Again the thief who steals our money,
or the fire that burns down our house, is the work of the adversary. The word "satan" simply means ADVERSARY. Adversary
means "one who opposes or fights against another; opponent; enemy." Satan is not a monster out of control, as multitudes of
Christians imagine. NOR IS HE THE ADVERSARY OF GOD!! God is OMNIPOTENT
and has NO ADVERSARY!! But God has ordained an adversary in our experience for our development. If someone is obstinate,
rebellious, and sins against God, and as a result becomes seriously ill, or suffers some loss or complication, this trouble
is the work of satan - the adversary. Therefore, all the people, things, and happenings involved in the discipline and judgment
of God are measured to us by God according to our need. But the one who is manipulating or acting upon us in order to harm
us is satan. BUT - that which is the action BEHIND ALL the people, powers, things, circumstances, and events
is the HAND OF GOD, CONTROLLING ALL the play and interplay till HIS PURPOSE IS ACCOMPLISHED and HIS NAME
IS PRAISED! The purpose of our experiencing the disciplines of the Father is to teach us the fullness of HIS LIFE.
If there was only the discipline, but not the manifestation of HIS LIFE,
it would be meaningless. The TWO HANDS of GOD brings beautiful
BALANCE in the lives of all God's elect!
We see the left hand of God revealed in the
life of Job. God had blessed this man with great wealth and a large family. He had seven sons and three daughters. He owned
seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she-asses. His household was very
great with many hired servants so that this man was the greatest of all men of the east. The only reliable testimony we have
of Job's true state of being is that spoken by the Lord Himself, for the testimony of satan, the testimony of Job's friends,
and at times even the testimony of Job himself as he reasons in the crucible of testing, are not to be trusted. The all wise
God Himself declared that Job was a PERFECT AND UPRIGHT MAN, one that feared God and eschewed evil. Perfect yes, UNTRIED,
UNTESTED, and UNPROVEN, as Job himself admitted in the midst of his ordeal, declaring, "He knows the way that I take: when
He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold" (Job 23:10). His perfection remained to be fully proven, tested, and demonstrated.
Now, what does
God do but deliberately hand over this perfect man into the hand of satan to do his worst upon him. It was because God desired
to test Job that He brought forth "the smith to blow the coals upon the fire."
Please note, it was not satan's idea to persecute poor old Job! Oh, no! It was God Himself
who brought up the subject. There satan was, presenting himself before the Lord, appearing for duty, and God asked, "Where
have you been?" Satan replied, "Walking up and down in the earth" (no mention of Job at all). "Well, Satan,"
the Lord asked, "have you considered My servant Job? Have you noticed that he eschews evil, and fears God? Have you noticed
that, Satan?" You can be assured dear friends, that satan had noticed Job, but he wasn't doing anything to him. Satan responds,
saying, "Have you not made a hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he has on every side? You have blest
the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land. But put forth THINE HAND now, and touch all that
he has, and he will curse you to your face!" And the Lord said to satan, "Behold, all that he has is in YOUR POWER;
only upon himself do not put forth your hand THINE HAND." Having received these orders, satan departed from the presence
of the Lord. HEAR IT!! "But put forth THINE HAND now." What was that that satan said? Did he ask permission
to put forth his OWN HAND and touch Job? Not at all! He said, "THY HAND," or "God, you put forth YOUR
HAND and touch him." He is not even asking to be allowed to touch Job. Satan is initiating nothing in this exchange. But
in response to God's question put to him, satan challenged God to stretch out HIS HAND, and that if He touched Job
and took away his blessing, Job would curse Him to His face. Then the Lord said to satan, "All that he has is in your power;
only upon himself put not forth THINE HAND." Can we not see by this that satan was the NEGATIVE FORCE THROUGH WHICH God was moving upon Job, and is it not clear that this was the LEFT HAND
of God as He was working with Job to bring him into yet a higher place than he had occupied before? Futhermore, is it
not true that the hand of satan stretched out against Job was also the hand of God? Though satan moved swiftly against Job,
GOD WAS DOING THIS and His intention was to do Job good. This was not satan acting out his own little plan of intrigue
and rebellion against God, but this was satan as the LEFT HAND OF GOD doing it!
In the second
chapter of Job we find all this repeated. Again the sons of God have come before God to report on their activities, and again
satan comes among them. Again Job is presented to satan by God as a perfect and upright man. And again satan suggests, "Skin
for skin, yea, all that a man has will he give for his life. But put forth THINE HAND now and touch his bone and his
flesh and he will curse you to your face." And the Lord said to satan, "Behold, he is in THINE HAND; but save his life."
Job has already suffered the sudden and catastrophic loss of his sons and daughters, his houses and lands, his cattle, sheep,
camels and oxen. Now Job's body will be racked with disease and tortured with pain, and he will lose his reputation before
all men. His good works will be forgotten and he will become the object of ridicule from those who were formerly his friends.
Job's reaction to all this was amazing. "Then his wife said to him, do you still retain your integrity? Curse God and die!
But he said to her, you speak like one of the foolish women. What? Shall we receive good at the HAND OF GOD and shall
we not receive evil? IN ALL THIS JOB DID NOT SIN WITH HIS LIPS" (Job 2:9-10). Notice! Job never did recognize
any such person as satan in all his trouble. He recognized ONLY GOD in this and said that even as he had received good
from the HAND OF GOD wasn't it logical that he should receive evil also FROM GOD? What faith! What marvelous
understanding! Job actually attributes all this evil to the work of God. He doesn't even recognize satan as doing anything,
no sitting on the ash heap moaning, "The old devil has been after me all week!" It will be a tremendous shock to many precious
people to learn that in this Job DID NOT SIN (miss the mark) with his lips! We have every right to conclude from this
that Job was speaking the absolute truth when he attributed all this evil to God. He was, in fact, "right on!" WHAT HE
HAD SAID WAS RIGHT ON IN THE SIGHT OF GOD. No place did the Lord rebuke Job for his words in any way. In fact, in the
end of the experience God said that Job had spoken RIGHTLY of him and ALL OTHERS HAD NOT. More words of Job on this same subject to look at very close."Have pity on me, O ye my friends: for THE
HAND OF GOD HAS TOUCHED ME" (Job 19:21). The hand of whom? THE HAND OF GOD! Which hand of God? Why, friend, it was the LEFT HAND of God! Job knew that the hand of God had not
been laid upon him for good, but for evil. Yet he recognized it as THE HAND OF GOD.
Prior to this
experience, Job had known nothing but the RIGHT HAND of God in goodness and blessing in the anointing of God. There
had been no adversity. There had been no adversary, and there had been no testing. No severity. Now God has begun using His
LEFT HAND in His dealing with Job, yet Job still recognizes it as God's hand. What wisdom and understanding! The world
is going to come to this understanding about satan shortly. The church system has been blinded in the deception of who
satan is and where he works from. The church system has taught that satan conspired to do this to poor old Job by his
own design. But it was God, my friend. Satan was merely the LEFT HAND of God, or the negative means God used.
Blind leaders of the blind! We have been guilty of exalting satan to godhead, giving him the glory for all he does,
and in most things, we have been guilty of attributing more power to him and praised him more than we have God! Ignorantly
we have talked foolish about poor little God "trying" to do this or that, while the shrewder and smarter devil slips up on
God's blind side and demolishes His whole work. We need to quit this type of apostasy and return to the TRUTH! The
left hand of God is manifested through a people, those in the kingdom of darkness. The right hand of God is likewise revealed
through a people, the sons of the Kingdom. Thank God! We are being transformed from the left hand to the right hand by God's
choosing. "If you then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, WHERE CHRIST SITS ON THE RIGHT
HAND OF GOD. Set your affections on things above, not on things on the earth" (Col.3:1-2). "Him that overcomes will
I grant to sit WITH ME IN MY THRONE, even as I also overcame, and am set down with My Father in His Throne" (Rev.3:21). "The
voice of rejoicing and salvation is in the tabernacles of the righteous: the RIGHT HAND of the Lord doeth valiantly,
the RIGHT HAND of the Lord is exalted" (Ps.118:15-16) Although at this time there is humiliation and suffering, there
is coming a time of exaltation, already experienced within. Today it may seem as though not much is happening outwardly, yet
there is a time approaching when GOD'S RIGHT HAND COMPANY shall step forth in the fullness of the power of His Throne
and there shall be a manifestation of the "greater works" Jesus spoke of. When
on earth, the first born Son suffered reproach and finally death - but where is He now? Exalted to the RIGHT HAND of
the father, far above all principalities and powers, and every name that is named, not only in this age, but in that which
is to come. He passed through a season of shame and reproach, but dwells now in a glory and eminence and power at the right
hand of God! Yes, God has TWO HANDS the RIGHT and the LEFT.
It is only as
we are SEATED WITH HIM AND IN HIM AT GOD'S RIGHT HAND that His right hand becomes our right hand and His left hand
becomes our left hand. Only there can we discern and know as God knows what is left and what is right, and when and how to
move therein. We must reign AT HIS RIGHT HAND!
Remember there
are vessels of honor and dishonor. We must be purged! To become the vessels of honor at His right hand. Once we thoroughly
understand the ministry of God's two hands we will thank Him for ALL THINGS "He sends" into our lives. We will
thank Him for adversity - not just for blessing. We will thank Him for every problem, every disappointment, every faithless
friend, every heartache, every false accusation that has ever been made against us. "Beloved, think it not strange concerning
the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you..." (1Peter 4:12). When God by revelation
has made this very real to our hearts we will say, "Oh, God, I thank you for putting me on the operating table, for cutting
out that which was hindering me." You and I are being trained and disciplined in order that in wisdom and righteousness and
power and love we may reign with Christ at God's right hand.
What is your
response to the dealings of God in your life? Are you angry and bitter at your circumstances, filled with resentment and rage?
Are you inwardly shaking your fist at God, demanding, "Why does this happen to me?" Or are you broken and humble? What is
your spirit? What is your attitude? What is your deepest sentiment? There is a verse in the Old Testament that beautifully
clarifies these truths. I will mention the loving kindness of the Lord, and the praises of the Lord, according to all that
the Lord has bestowed on us, and the great goodness toward the house of Israel, which He has bestowed on them according to
His mercies, and for the multitude of His loving kindness. For He said, surely they are My people, children that will not
lie: so he was their Saviour. In ALL THEIR AFFLICTION HE WAS AFFLICTED, and the angel of his presence
saved them: in His love and in His pity He remembered them; and He bare them, and carried them all the days of old. But they
rebelled, and vexed His Holy Spirit: therefore HE WAS TURNED TO BE THEIR ENEMY, AND HE FOUGHT AGAINST THEM" (Isa.63:7-10). Everything that happened to Israel in the Old Testament happened for our example
and learning (1Cor 10:11, and Rom.15:4). When Israel (real people) rebelled against the Lord, He became their ENEMY!
God becomes your enemy when you walk after the flesh, for the carnal mind is hostile toward God (Rom.8:7). The Lord's
people, then and now, rebel and grieve the Holy Spirit. Then God becomes your adversary your satan! Whenever the believer
frustrates the grace of God by being bull-headed in his conceit, or stubbornness, or pride, or bitterness, or resentment,
God becomes his enemy. In that moment the LEFT HAND OF GOD becomes the adversary against that unholy attitude or action.
And for our good, God will fight with us - to correct us. God will discipline and mold us as sons. This will produce
the peaceable fruit of righteousness in us. To be carnally minded is death! GOD WANTS US TO
LIVE! God will trouble us, pursue us, and put His sword at our throat until we break and learn that God's way is the
best way! Remember, "He is the potter and we are the clay, break us and mold us ect..."
I know what
is happening to you who are crying out in your spirit to be like the Lord: you are being processed and changed, trained and
matured! One extreme in our land proclaims the great things, prosperity, healing, miracles and abundant life, bountiful blessings
from God's right hand. The other side of the aisle can only project the terrible things, doom, gloom, judgment, darkness,
tribulation and the work of the cross, the dealings of God's left hand. But God has TWO HANDS and He works in a balanced
way. We rejoice in the faith and goodness and prosperity from God's right hand; but we shrink away from the chastening
and dealings from His left hand that will make these truths work themselves out in reality and practicality.
WE MUST BE CONVERTED TO THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD'S POWER BY BEING BROUGHT UNDER SUBJECTING TO THE TRUTH BY THE LEFT HAND OF
HIS CORRECTION.
The carnal mind
says, "I see no value or purpose to all this trouble and tribulation." The carnal mind is shrewd as a lawyer looking for a
loophole. The carnal mind doesn't like it or want it. The mind of Christ, the Spiritual mind of Romans 8:1-6, knows that the
servant is not above his Lord. The disciple is not above his Master who learned obedience by the things He suffered.
God is preparing a people who cannot be moved or upset or frustrated by anything. The cry of His heart is for a people who
can share His Throne and shepherd the nations with a rod of iron (Iron = strength & Properity) (Rev.2:26-27). We cannot
afford the luxury of our personal feelings. WE HAVE NO "RIGHTS!. If we
do, we'll lose them under the dealings of God's left hand! Our testing will last as long as it takes to CHANGE" our
mind, attitude, and actions. Can we walk around in the furnace without complaining? Can we sing and dance in the fire?
Can we shout praises of joy at midnight when we are in jail? The key to God's whole program operating in our life is
our spirit and attitude of response to HIS WILL in our life. When our attitude and conduct become right, then
the dealings of God's left hand will cease. How beautiful is the knowledge that of God's hands are WORKING TOGETHER
to produce in us the life and righteousness and glory (victory) of God. "Thy people also shall be all righteous...the
branch of My planting, the WORK OF MY H-A-N-D-S, that I may be glorified" (Isa.60:21). And how wonderful too, the knowledge
that God shall in due time so deal with all mankind. How important that we enter into such intimate relationship and
vital union with God that we see all things AS HE SEES THEM.
Even in judgment,
GOD IS LOVE! May all who are called to be KING PRIESTS of God be possessed of such a divine love for the
whole world! "For God so loved the whole world, that He gave His only begotten Son" (John 3:16). God so loved that
He was willing to pay the supreme price to redeem all unto Himself. God gave His blessed Son to be slain for us, and
now He says to us, "I will save you and I will conform you to My image and share with you My glory - even if I have to kill
you (self-mind) to do it!"
Deut.32:39
says, "See now that I, even I, am He, and there is no God with Me: I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal; neither
is there any that can deliver out of My hand." Praise God! This is how His righteous hands work, He kills only
to make alive and He wounds only to heal. He kills only those things that should die and makes alive the things that should
live. What beautiful co-ordination in all the works of HIS HANDS!
This Powerful
Truth gives us understanding of God's workings, because He is the Author and Finisher of our faith. ALPHA AND OMEGA. WE MUST STAND FOR THE TRUTH" Now is the day! Esta La Dia!
To be continued on links below
Sincerely
in Christ, John
From Kingdom Bible Studies
by J.Preston Eby
TWO HANDS PART 2
TWO HANDS PART 3
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