One on the Right and One on the Left

Bookends begin and end with the number “Two”, which means “There is another” and “It is decided and it is done” (established).

The Mother’s Request:

• Matthew 20:21 And He said to her, “What do you wish?” She said to Him, “Grant that these two sons of mine may sit, one on Your right hand and the other on the left, in Your kingdom.”
• Mark 10:37 They said to Him, “Grant us that we may sit, one on Your right hand and the other on Your left, in Your glory.”

As Jesus and His disciples were preparing to enter Jerusalem to announce Jesus’ kingship, the mother of James and John approached Jesus and asked that when He sets up His kingdom (which she believed would be immediate), she wanted her sons to sit, one at his right and the other on his left.

Jesus declined. “Are you willing to be baptized with the same baptism I am going to be baptized with, or drink from the same cup I am willing to drink from?”

Jesus‘ Crucifixion:

• Matthew 27:38 Then two robbers were crucified with Him, one on the right and another on the left.
• Mark 15:27 With Him they also crucified two robbers, one on His right and the other on His left.
• Luke 23:33 And when they had come to the place called Calvary, there they crucified Him, and the criminals, one on the right hand and the other on the left.

If Jesus had taken them up on their offer, instead of the two robbers, there would have been his two disciples: one on the right and the other on the left: James and John.

They answered that they were able to be baptized with the same baptism, not understanding His baptism was a baptism of death.

Today, when believers are baptized, it is still a baptism of death: away from serving the self to serving God while looking forward to a resurrection.

The Door Lintel:

The doorposts in Egypt also had one on the right and another on left. The Hebrews put blood on the right doorpost, on the left doorpost, and on the top, the lintel, making the sign of the cross.

The Beginning and the End:

• A. The Genesis of man begins with man’s sin. The Revelation of the end begins with the “man of sin”.
  • ^{1 John 3:8 He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.}
  • ^{2 Thessalonians 2:3 Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition,}

• The Alpha and Omega in Greek is the Alef and Tav in Hebrew. Both are the “Beginning and the End”

The River:

Daniel 12:5 Then I, Daniel, looked; and there stood two others, one on this riverbank and the other on that riverbank.

In between was the river.

Two Pagan Pillars:

Judges 16:29 And Samson took hold of the two middle pillars which supported the (Philistine pagan) temple, and he braced himself against them, one on his right and the other on his left.

Abner and Asahel:

2 Samuel 2:21 And Abner said to him, “Turn aside to your right hand or to your left, and lay hold on one of the young men and take his armor for yourself.” But Asahel would not turn aside from following him.

The Woman and Joab:

2 Samuel 14:19 So the king said, “Is the hand of Joab with you in all this?” And the woman answered and said, “As you live, my lord the king, no one can turn to the right hand or to the left from anything that my lord the king has spoken. For your servant Joab commanded me, and he put all these words in the mouth of your maidservant.

The Temple’s Right and Left:

2 Chronicles 3:17Then he set up the pillars before the temple, one on the right hand and the other on the left; he called the name of the one on the right hand Jachin (Priest 1 Chronicles 9:10), and the name of the one on the left Boaz (the Kinsman Redeemer).

2 Chronicles 4:8 He also made ten tables, and placed them in the temple, five on the right side and five on the left. And he made one hundred bowls of gold.

Zechariah 4:3 Two olive trees are by it, one at the right of the bowl and the other at its left.”

The Right Right and the Wrong Left:

Jonah 4:11 And should I not pity Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than one hundred and twenty thousand persons who cannot discern between their right hand and their left—and much livestock?”

The Number Two

• Decided and Done means it is established.

Jacob’s Two Wives: the Fruitful and the Barren.

Ruth 4:11 And all the people who were at the gate, and the elders, said, “We are witnesses. The Lord make the woman who is coming to your house like Rachel and Leah, the two who built the house of Israel; and may you prosper in Ephrathah and be famous in Bethlehem.

The Two Witnesses:

Revelation 11 The Two Witnesses – Then I was given a reed like a measuring rod. And the angel stood, saying, “Rise and measure the temple of God, the altar, and those who worship there. But leave out the court which is outside the temple, and do not measure it, for it has been given to the Gentiles. And they will tread the holy city underfoot for forty-two months. And I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy one thousand two hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth.”

Deuteronomy 17:6 Whoever is deserving of death shall be put to death on the testimony of two or three witnesses; he shall not be put to death on the testimony of one witness.

John 8:18 I am One who bears witness of Myself, and the Father who sent Me bears witness of Me.”

John 10:25 Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in My Father’s name, they bear witness of Me.

Zechariah 4:11 Then I answered and said to him, “What are these two olive trees—at the right of the lampstand and at its left?”

Revelation 11:4 These are the two olive trees and the two (now two instead of one) lampstands (Jews and Gentiles) standing before the God of the earth.

Other verses:

Genesis 25:23 And the Lord said to her: “Two nations are in your womb, Two peoples shall be separated from your body; One people shall be stronger than the other, And the older shall serve the younger.”

Deuteronomy 9:11 And it came to pass, at the end of forty days and forty nights, that the Lord gave me the two tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant.

The Butler and the Baker:
Gen 40:²⁰ Now it came to pass on the third day, which was Pharaoh’s birthday, that he made a feast for all his servants; and he lifted up the head of the chief butler and of the chief baker among his servants. ²¹ Then he restored the chief butler to his butlership again, and he placed the cup in Pharaoh’s hand. ²² But he hanged the chief baker, as Joseph had interpreted to them. ²³ Yet the chief butler did not remember Joseph, but forgot him.