AndAt God's Right Hand
Many people use the term "He sat down at God's right hand" to prove that Jesus is a separate person from God, but this is not true.
The term "By my right hand" or "The right hand of God" is a Hebraic, metaphoric term that stands for God himself. The Hebrews understood this terms, and so did the writers of the New Testament.
Let's look at an early example 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." Here, Moses is equating God's right hand to God himself. That is, if God's right hand is strong enough to dash his enemies, God himself is strong enough to dash his enemies. Or whatever God's right hand does God does.
Psalm 77:10 states, "And I said, This is my infirmity: but I will remember the years of the right hand of the Most High." Again, if David remembers God's right hand he remembers God. Or to say more plainly, if David remembers the years of God's right hand, he remembers the years of God.
Isaiah 48:12-13 tells us: "Listen to me, O family of Jacob, Israel my chosen one! I alone am God, the First and the Last. It was my (right) hand that laid the foundations of the earth. The palm of my right hand spread out the heavens above. ..." Again, and again, if the prophet says that God's right hand laid the foundation of the earth, he is saying that God laid the foundation of the earth. It can be no other way.
Let's look at one last Scripture, Psalm 80:17: "Let thine hand be upon the Man of thy right hand, the Son of Man, who thou made strong for thyself." But as we have seen, God's right hand always speaks of God himself. So this makes Jesus the Man of God's right hand God himself. Or to say, this makes Jesus the Son of Man at God's right hand, God himself. This is why the Jews got so angry with Jesus at his trial. By the testimony of Scripture, he was declaring himself to be God.
Now for final proof to disprove all doubters. Mark 16:19 reads, "So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God." Namely, if the Scriptures teach that the right hand of God is a reference to God himself, or the Man of God's right hand is a reference to God himself, then this verse is saying the same thing. That is to say, Jesus is sitting on the throne as God. That is why John 1:1 says, "... and the Word was God."
We must remember that with God its name recognition, and not the dividing of himself into three parts. That is to say, God speaks about himself as a Trinity, or in Trinitarian form, as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. But Jesus is always the way he speaks to us.
You could say that God is like an actor playing three parts, as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. But when he speaks to us as the audience, he speaks as Jesus.
This is what Stephen meant when he looked up and saw Jesus "standing at God's right hand." He saw Jesus speaking to us as the Almighty God, only he was expressing it in Old Testament Hebraic terms.
And this is what Jesus has said to us, "And Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the world."
May God bless you forever!
Rev. Autrey
PS. If you want to know more about Jesus you can purchase my book at amazon.com.