God Has Tattoos!
A. In the Book of Isaiah 49:16-17, we read that Israel was in a time of great trouble. God was judging them for their rebellion and sin. The Babylonians had come in and destroyed their country and carried many away captive. The people were crying out, "Where is God in all of this? Has He forgotten us?"
B. What was God's answer? “I have not for¬gotten you, how could I? Why I even have a tattoo of you on the palm of my hands!” "Behold, I have graven (inscribed) thee upon the palms of my hands..."
C. The word "graven" does NOT mean carved like a graven image. The Hebrew word is “kawkak” which means to write, or to print. It is the same word used for, “It is graven upon the table of their heart,” in Jer 17:1 and Ex 32:16.
D. The other word for graven used in the Bible is “pacal” which means to CARVE, like graven image or carved image. This is not the word that is used in Isaiah 49:16.
Why does He have tattoos on His hands?
A. God has tattoos of us on His hands so that He can see them often. It is not like when people get tattoos on their arms or places where they can't see them. God wants to see these tattoos everyday.
B. He likes to look at reminders of us just like we may like to look at pictures of our loved ones. Some wives and husbands carry pictures of their spouses and chil¬dren in their wallets. Many of us have pictures of our family on our walls. They serve as reminders of people we love. Pictures make us feel good when we look at them.
C. In the Book, Song of Solomon 8:6, the Shulamite woman, who is a type of God's people, cries out to her lover, who is a type of God, "Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal or a mark upon your arm." A seal means a mark made with a pen or a ring. She was crying out, “I want to be a permanent part of your life.” God, by tattooing us on the palms of His hands, is telling us, we are a per¬manent part of His life.
D. God asks in Isaiah 49:15 "Can a woman forget her child?" It is not likely that she could. A mother cannot but have compassion on her own child, yet as hard as it may sound, even a mother can forget her child. But God will never forget us. His compassion for us infinitely exceeds that of mothers towards their children.
E. It is a comfort to know that God has put a tattoo of us on His hands as a picture before Him so that He is continually conscious of each one of us. It is a comfort to know that we are the objects of His love and care and that He is thinking about us every moment.
F. "Many are your thoughts towards us, so much so that they cannot be numbered." Psalm 40:5
G. In an earlier chapter, 44:21-22, God says that He will never forget us, "You will not be forgotten by Me, I have blotted out your sins." God will forget our sins but He will never forget us!
What do these tattoos look like?
A. Isaiah 49:16 tells us what these tattoos look like. "Your walls are con¬tinually before me"
B. What does He mean by "walls?" Your walls can be the blueprints of your life. “The walls and plans that I have for you are continually before me. This is how I see you.”
C. “Your walls, the walls of Jerusalem, are al¬ways before me.” Even though Jerusalem’s walls had been torn down, God says He still sees them before His eyes. The plan for the nation still remained in God's sight, even though the Babylonians had thor¬oughly destroyed it. “I see what is going on in your life, but I am not set back by this, your time will come.”
D. Worldly tattoos or worldly pictures remind of us the past. God's tattoos speak of the future or the eternal present. The God who calls Himself the "I AM" is ever in the present.
E. Another difference between worldly tattoos and pictures and God's tattoos is that worldly tattoos fade and become blurred as time goes on, but God's tattoos be¬come more focused and clearer as time goes on.
F. It is important to realize that God calls us as He sees us, not as we see ourselves. When God visited Gideon He called him, "Oh mighty man of God." Gideon was anything but a mighty man of God. He was hiding from the Midianites and just trying to get a little food, figuring if he didn't bother them maybe they would leave him alone.
G. It is important that we see ourselves as God sees us: seated in heavenly places, heirs to His throne, new creatures in Christ. (Eph 2:4-6)
H. Some people look at themselves in the wrong way. God sees us for what we can be, we see ourselves for what we are. God sees us pure and holy right now, because of what Jesus Christ did on the cross. We see ourselves as sin¬ful and unworthy.
I. God called Gideon a mighty man of valor BEFORE he did anything. God speaks as though it already happened. When Jesus first saw Simon, he called him, Peter, which means the ROCK. He saw the leadership potential in this man. God called Abraham "the father of many nations," BEFORE he even had any children. How would you like to go around and introduce yourself as the father of many nations and not even have one child and be so old that you are past having children? Abraham believed what God said about him and eventually became the father of many nations. The more we see ourselves through God's eyes the more likely we are to fulfill His plans for our lives.
How did He get these tattoos?
A. Just like it hurts to get a tattoo, with all the needles pricking the skin, so it was with God. He received His tattoos on the cross.
B. Many see this as a reference to the nails Jesus had put through His hands. These marks will forever be with Him even in Heaven. After the resurrection Jesus allowed Thomas to put His hands into the wounds in His hands. Even with His resurrected body He had the marks in His hands.
C. We are told when we behold Jesus in heaven we shall see Him as "A Lamb that has been slain."
God is going to give all the saints a tattoo
A. We shall all receive a tattoo when we go to heaven, see Rev 22:4, 14:1.
B. We shall receive God's name tattooed into our forehead.
C. We shall also receive a new white stone 2:17. "I will give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written which no one knows except him who receives it."
D. Is it possible that this new name is going to be the same as the name that He tattooed on His hand?
E. Now when I first read this I said, "A new white stone, BIG DEAL!" What am I go¬ing to do with a white stone? Then God revealed something to me about this white stone.
F. We will have this little secret between God and us, a name that we call each other that no one else can enter into. Sort of like the funny names that husbands and wives call each other. "Honey, sweets, babe, etc." We sometimes have this fear that when we get to heaven we will be lost in the crowd. All the big wigs will hang out together with God and we will be left off in the corner by ourselves. Not so. We will have a special relation¬ship with God that no one else can enter into.
Does God's word forbid tattooing?
A. Lev 19:28 forbids tattooing. It seems to be in reference to tattooing yourself in memory of the dead.
B. I believe that getting a tattoo is the world’s imitation of what God wants to give us when we get to heaven. I recommend waiting. Why settle for second best?
Summary
A. God has tattooed our names in the palms of His hands. He has done this because He is emotion¬ally attached to us and wants to be con¬tinually thinking about us. This tattoo is to show us the deep intimate fellowship that God desires with us. His love for us runs deep and it is emotional. Psalm 40:5 tells us that God’s thoughts toward us are so many that they cannot be numbered. He is al¬ways thinking about us and always interested in what is going on in our lives.
B. The tattoo that He has in His hands is a tattoo of the way He sees us. We need to learn to see ourselves as He sees us. He sees us a completed saints, fulfilled and righteous.
C. In heaven we shall all receive tattoos in our foreheads. It will be a secret name that assures us of having a personal relationship with God. Even though there will be many followers of God there, we shall never be lost in the crowd. We shall always have a special relation¬ship with God that no one else can enter into.
