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A Contrast
Wicked hands nailed the Lord Jesus to the cross. The Lord could say, “The assembly of the wicked have inclosed Me: they pierced My hands and My feet” (Psalm 22:16). Wicked hands lifted the spear that pierced His side. “But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced His side, and forthwith came there out blood and water” (John 19:34).
However, loving hands carefully removed the body of the Lord Jesus from the cross. “Joseph of Arimathaea, an honorable counsellor, which also waited for the kingdom of God, came, and went in boldly unto Pilate, and craved the body of Jesus … . And he bought fine linen, and took him down, and wrapped him in the linen, and laid him in a sepulchre which was hewn out of a rock, and rolled a stone unto the door of the sepulchre” (Mark 15:43, 46).
What a contrast! Later the Lord Jesus showed those same wounds to the disciples in resurrection. “He shewed them His hands and His feet” (Luke 24:40). “He shewed unto them His hands and His side. Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord” (John 20:20). We too can rejoice as we view, by faith, the proof of a finished work.
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