In Isaiah 41:10 the Lord says, “Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.”  In Psalm 110:1 we read, “The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool.”

We find many more references to the right hand of God than we do to the left hand of God.  We can see from Isaiah 41:10, that the Lord’s right hand is in reference to His strength.  We also read in Exodus 15:6, “Thy right hand, O LORD, is become glorious in power: thy right hand, O LORD, hath dashed in pieces the enemy.”  We can see from Psalm 110:1 that the Lord’s right hand is a position of favor.  Luke 22:69 says, “Hereafter shall the Son of man sit on the right hand of the power of God.”  Stephen tells us in Acts 7:55 that he, “looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God.

So, we see the right hand of God represents His strength and is also a favored place to be.  We do find a few mentions of the Lord’s left hand.

Matthew 20:20-21 says, “Then came to him the mother of Zebedee’s children with her sons, worshipping him, and desiring a certain thing of him. And he said unto her, What wilt thou? She saith unto him, Grant that these my two sons may sit, the one on thy right hand, and the other on the left, in thy kingdom.” The mother of James and John asked the Lord to allow her two sons a special place in God’s kingdom.  She wanted one to sit on the Lord’s right hand and the other to sit on His left hand.  The Lord responded in Matthew 20:23 that, “…to sit on my right hand, and on my left, is not mine to give, but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father.”  There is no mention in the scriptures of who might be standing at the Lord’s left hand.

Song of Solomon 2:6 tells us, “His left hand is under my head, and his right hand doth embrace me.”  This book is an analogy of Christ and His bride, the church.  Here we find the Lord lovingly embracing His bride.  She seems to be lying in His arms, with His left hand under her to uphold her and His right hand embracing her to protect her.  How precious to think of the Lord upholding and protecting us, His bride.

Matthew 25:31-33 says, “When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.”  This portion is known as the judgment of the nations.  This happens after the Lord returns to the earth after the seven-year Tribulation period.  All nations are gathered before Him to be judged.  The sheep (those who loved and obeyed the Lord) are placed on the Lord’s right hand, the place of favor.  The goats (those who hated and disobeyed the Lord) are place on the Lord’s left hand.  From there, we see the sheep are ushered into the Lord’s millennial kingdom on the earth as we read in Matthew 25:34, “Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.”  Sadly the goats are ushered into a place of torment as we read in Matthew 25:41, “Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.”

Although the right hand of the Lord is spoken of many times, we do find some good lessons in looking at the left hand of God.  (371.6)