In the Gospel of John, as well as in the Book of Revelation, the apostle John mentions the hands of Christ. As with everything in the Holy Scriptures, this fact is not without significance.

This first mention of the hands of Christ in John’s Gospel presents to us His hands of divine competency. This means the Father has full satisfaction that “all things” in the world to come will be administered competently under His Son’s authority—and note, it is because the “Father loves the Son” (cf. Mt. 3:17). This fact is intimated by the prophet Isaiah when He predicted, “the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand” (Isa. 53:10). It is also typified in the patriarch Joseph, under whose hand everything prospered: Potiphar’s house, the prison house, and finally Egypt itself. We also see a wonderful foreshadowing of today’s text in the story of Isaac. Abraham’s servant declared to Rebekah that his master “has given all that he has” to his son, Isaac (Gen. 24:36; 25:5).

Moreover, immediately before His ascension, Christ told His disciples, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth” (Mt. 28:18). Therefore we can go confidently forward preaching the gospel to all nations.

Christ is the “heir of all things,” and He is “upholding all things by the word of His power” (Heb. 1:2–3). This should be an encouraging thought as we go forward to meet each day with its trials, sorrows, and perplexities. Do we trust Him for all our cares? Do we have the hope that all things will soon be gloriously administered by Him for the glory of God and for the blessing of this sad world? If the Father is pleased to commit “all things” to the hands of His beloved Son, should we not do so?