Behold my Hands and Feet

Luke 24:39 “Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself.”

Why did the resurrected body of Christ have scars? Considering that the resurrection was a miracle, why did His scars remain? He made others whole, why not Himself? Christ’s scars remained to remind His disciples of what He did on the cross. William Jay once said, “While the risen Lord is the capstone of salvation, the crucified Lord is its bedrock.” His scars remind us that to gaze on the risen Lord spiritually must always be mingled with the thought of His sufferings for sin. In heaven, there will never be a moment that passes when the redeemed will not, in some way, “behold His hands and feet.”  Yes, He will return as the King of kings and Lord of lords on the clouds of glory; but all the while, to each living soul, His countenance will proclaim, “Behold my hands and feet; it is I myself.” To some, this will produce a feeling of inexplicable joy; to others, eternal misery.

Dear one, you have begun a life that will never end. Our short existence here is the corridor to eternity. The kindergarten of infinity. Are you changing day by day? You will pass through your final change at death. Will it be for better or worse? Death will not make you cease to be you. You cannot get rid of yourself. Your life on earth will not seem like someone else, in eternity. You will stand on the far shore of forever and recognize, like Christ, "it is I myself." You will see in yourself the marks this life has left, as plainly as Christ saw the wounds on His hands and feet. Will you say,

“This is the heart that was hardened against Christ; 

these are the ears that refused to listen to the gospel cry? 

These hands and feet were quick to do evil, busy in sin.”

 Or will the wounds of your soul be bound up in His? Will your nature have grown glorious like Christ's? Will you see in yourself the crowning of God's work of grace in time so that you may rejoice in eternity?

This morning I pray that you will behold Him. That you would “handle and see” the Risen Lord of Glory.