He Upholds The Universe & Me

 Hebrews 1:1 – 4 (HCSB) “¹Long ago God spoke to the fathers by the prophets at different times and in different ways.  ²In these last days, He has spoken to us by His Son.  God has appointed Him heir of all things and made the universe through Him.  ³The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact expression of His nature, sustaining all things by His powerful word.  After making purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.  ⁴So He became higher in rank than the angels, just as the name He inherited is superior to theirs.”

Commenting on verse 3 in Hebrews; Biblical Theology For Christian Proclamation, (Holman Reference).  Thomas Schreiner says the following:

“After affirming the Son’s ontological divinity, Hebrews returns to the Son’s role in the created world.  He is not only the one through whom the world was made but also sustains the universe ‘by His powerful word.’  The thought is similar to Col. 1:17, ‘And by him all things hold together.’  Not only did the created world come into being through the Son; it also continues, ‘And is upheld’ because of the Son.  The created world does not run by ‘laws of nature,’ so that the Son’s continued superintendence is dispensed with.  The author of Hebrews does not embrace a deistic notion of creation.  The universe is sustained by the personal and powerful word of the Son, so that the created world is dependent on his will for its functioning and preservation.  Implied in the expression is that the universe will reach its intended goal and purpose.” (Emphasis my own).

In Revelation Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last.

In Colossians “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.  For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers.  All things were created through Him and for Him.  And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist” (1:15 – 17).

In Ephesians He has been raised from the dead and is seated at the Father’s right hand “in heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come” (1:21).

In John’s Gospel He is the “Word.”  “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was in the beginning with God.  All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.  In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.  And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it” (John 1:1 – 5).

Amazing!  He created all things and holds everything in the whole universe together 24/7 by the word of His power.  In Him all things consist (hold together).  He controls the universe and all time and history.  With that thought and the above Scripture passages in mind consider this one sentence again: “Implied in the expression is that the universe will reach its intended goal and purpose.”  Not only will the universe reach its intended goal and purpose, God’s elect in union with Jesus Christ will be brought to His intended goal and purpose for them – glorified sons and daughters of God.  Jesus said: “Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom” (Luke 12:32).