During a recent Bible Class at our congregation, the leader asked what we thought of when we hear the term “outstretched arm.”  People suggested things like welcoming, hugging, holding hands, guiding, and giving directions by pointing. Someone mentioned the outstretched arms of Moses to part the Red Sea, arms that had to be held up by Aaron and Hur. Someone else brought up arms outstretched in battle to hold a shield and a sword. I suggested that sometimes an outstretched arm with a hand held up signals people to stop. My dear wife, sitting next to me, started singing, along with the hand motions: “Stop, in the name of love, before you break my heart…” An outstretched arm can mean many things.

In Scripture, this term is used repeatedly in the Old Testament to describe God’s activity here on earth. Most often it refers to God’s deliverance of His people from their slavery in Egypt and leading them to the Promised Land.

Exodus 6:6 “Therefore, say to the Israelites: ‘I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment.

Deuteronomy 26:8 So the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with great terror and with miraculous signs and wonders

Jeremiah 32:21 You brought your people Israel out of Egypt with signs and wonders, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm and with great terror.

The prophet Jeremiah also uses the term to describe God’s creative activity.

Jeremiah 27:5 With my great power and outstretched arm I made the earth and its people and the animals that are on it, and I give it to anyone I please.

Jeremiah 32:17 “Ah, Sovereign Lord, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you.

In every instance, the outstretched arm of God is a display of His power and strength.

I think the ultimate display of God’s power and might was in the outstretched arms of Jesus on the cross. He was accomplishing our greatest need by willingly, in an act of love, offering His perfect life as the only acceptable payment for the sins of the world. His mighty hands received the nails, but they were unnecessary to hold Him on that cross. He chose to go there in order to atone for my sin, for your sin, and for the sin of everyone…including those who do not believe in Him. With His mighty hand and outstretched arms He accomplished an even greater deliverance than the Exodus from Egypt. He delivers us from sin and death and the power for the devil.

When Mary sang her song of praise to God, she included these words:

Luke 1:51 He has performed mighty deeds with his arm;

She was describing God’s power, which is capable of anything. And her Son displayed that power in the most loving way on that hill outside of Jerusalem.