Quodlibet
At the Right Hand
by Donald T. Williams
"Sedet ad dexteram Patris"; "and sits at the right hand of the Father." —The Nicene Creed
The place from which Jesus came and to which he returned, the place where he belongs, and hence the place where we can find him, is at the right hand of the Father. What does this mean?
When Robert E. Lee heard that Stonewall Jackson had been hit by friendly fire, he said, "Jackson has lost his left arm, and I have lost my right." Your right-hand man is the one you most trust when something important needs to be done. That is what the Son is to the Father, because Jesus' meat and drink was to do the Father's will. So that spot at the right hand of the Father's throne really is his spot. And because he is there as the head of his body the Church, it is our spot now, too. And that gives us a useful way to measure our growth in Christ-likeness.
What is your meat and drink? We should be jumping up and down and waving our hands and saying, "Oh! Oh! Here am I. Send me!"
Donald T. Williams is Professor Emeritus of Toccoa Falls College. He stays permanently camped out on the borders between serious scholarship and pastoral ministry, between theology and literature, and between Narnia and Middle-Earth. He is the author of fourteen books, including Answers from Aslan: The Enduring Apologetics of C. S. Lewis (DeWard, 2023). He is a contributing editor of Touchstone.
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