Focus: The Arm Of The Lord!

Text: Isa.51:5

"My righteousness is near; my salvation is gone forth, and MINE ARMS shall judge the people; the isles shall wait upon me, and on MINE ARM shall they trust."

The arm of the Lord speaks of His executive might, conquering ability, ruling power, and overruling force. With His arm He creates and controls things. The arm of the Lord implies that He does not only know what to do and how to do it, but also has sufficient ability to do so. He is not lacking power to accomplish His purposes. He works wonders with His arms. He performs miracles with His incredible power. He has power to do whatever He says He would do.

*The conquering power of His arm

The psalmist declares, "O sing unto the LORD a new song; for he hath done marvellous things: his right hand, and his HOLY ARMS, hath gotten him the victory" (Ps.98:1). God wins with His holy arms. He conquers His enemies. He never fights to lose. Call it battle or war, He always wins. He never suffers defeat. He does marvels with His arms. He creates wonders with His hands. 

The psalmist says, "Thou hast broken Rahab in pieces, as one that is slain; thou hast scattered thine enemies with thy STRONG ARM" (Ps.89:10). God's arms are not only holy, but also strong. Holy arms, strong arms! It is His own arms, not angelic or human arms. We read, "Thou hast a mighty arm: strong is thy hand, and high is thy right hand" (Ps.89:13). You see the expressions of God's arms - His mighty arm, His strong hand, and His high right hand? That is the arms of your God! 

We read in Ezekiel, "Son of man, I have broken the arm of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and, lo, it shall not be bound up to be healed, to put a roller to bind it, to make it strong to hold the sword" (Ezk.30:21). With His own arms He breaks the arm of Pharoah. God always wins. No enemy can withstand Him. No force can stop Him. It is written: "The LORD hath sworn by his right hand, and by THE ARM OF HIS STRENGTH, Surely I will no more give thy corn to be meat for thine enemies; and the sons of the stranger shall not drink thy wine, for the which thou hast laboured" (Isa.62:8). God will no longer subject His people to the whims and caprices of their enemies. God possesses winning power. We read, "He hath shewed strength with his arm; he hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts" (Lk.1:51). 

Our God conquers human pride. He humiliates the proud and dignifies the humble.

*The creative power of His arm

We read, "I have made the earth, the man and the beast that are upon the ground, by my great power and by my outstretched arm, and have given it unto whom it seemed meet unto me" (Jer.27:5). Again we read, "Ah Lord GOD! behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and STRETCHED OUT ARM, and there is nothing too hard for thee." This is the creative force of God. He makes and remakes things. He creates things out of nothing.

*The saving power of His arms

The psalmist says, "For they got not the land in possession by their own sword, neither did their own arm save them: but thy right hand, and THINE ARM, and the light of thy countenance, because thou hadst a favour unto them" (Ps.44:3). He says again, "Thou hast with THINE ARM redeemed thy people, the sons of Jacob and Joseph. Selah" (Ps.77:15). 

We read, "And hast brought forth thy people Israel out of the land of Egypt with signs, and with wonders, and with a strong hand, and with a STRETCHED OUT ARM, and with great terror" (Jer.32:17,21). This is the redemptive power of God. With His arms He redeems us. He is our everlasting rescuer. We read that "with an HIGH ARM brought he them out of it" (Act.13:17). Here we have His high arm - holy arm, high arm, mighty arm, and so forth.

*The guiding arm of the Lord

Isaiah says, "That led them by the right hand of Moses with his GLORIOUS ARM, dividing the water before them, to make himself an everlasting name?" (Isa.63:12). God not only saves His people from their shackles; He leads them to a place of their own. He redeems and guides. He brings us out and leads us into the promised place. Here we have the glorious arm of our God!

The arm of the Lord does awesome things. All we need is a revelation of the arm of the Lord. We need to see and experience in our own lives the wonder-working power of God's arms.

Isaiah says, "Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?" (Isa.53:1). Again he says, "The LORD hath made BARE his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God" (Isa.52:10). God unveils His arms to us; He makes us see how powerful He is. The world will come to know the salvation which His arms make possible for every one. God will show us His arms and cause us to encounter the effect of it in our own lives.

Our prayer should be, "Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the LORD; awake, as in the ancient days, in the generations of old. Art thou not it that hath cut Rahab, and wounded the dragon?" (Isa.51:9). Let us call upon God to arise and demonstrate in our very lives the greatness of His arms! Pray for it and experience it in your life. Trust in the arms of the Lord! Don't only pray for it; believe in the arms of your God! His arm works. Have faith in what the arms of the Lord can do for you!

by Bishop Moses E. Peter