By his Son, God created the world in the beginning, and it will all belong to the Son at the end. …He holds everything together by what he says—powerful words!

Hebrews 1:2-3, MSG

Ah yes, “the glories of His righteousness and wonders of His love!” Joy to the world! That God would speak to us and share His glory with us through the Son—a cause for celebration indeed. But hold on; that’s not all. I am mesmerized by the detail in these first verses of Hebrews as the author paints the Christ in technicolor for his readers. 

By his Son, God created the world in the beginning! 

In the beginning, Jesus was “with God” and “through him all things were made” (John 1:2-3). Hebrews concurs: “In the beginning, O Lord (Jesus), you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands” (Hebrews 1:10).

It will all belong to the Son at the end.  

There is no other being, angelic or otherwise, who can claim to be the Son of God (Hebrews 1:5-6). And the Son has been “appointed heir all things” (1:2) by the Father: “Your throne, O God (Jesus) will last forever and ever” (1:8).

In the meantime, He holds everything together by what he says.    

All it takes is a word from Jesus to hold the sun in its place, keep the phases of the moon cyclical, maintain gravity’s pull—you name it. From the eye of a hurricane we may wonder. But the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time (Romans 8:22), all because of Adam’s sin: “Cursed is the ground because of you” (Genesis 3:17).  

Jesus holds creation together, in the main. And Jesus holds me together (sustains me), when I let Him!

• I lie down and sleep; I wake again, because the LORD sustains me (Psalm 3:5). 

• You give me your shield of victory, and your right hand sustains me (Psalm 18:35). 

• Surely God is my help; he is the one who sustains me (Psalm 54:4).

• Cast your cares on the LORD and he will sustain you (Psalm 55:22). 

“No more let sins and sorrows grow, nor thorns infest the ground
He comes to make His blessings flow far as the curse is found.”

Nancy P

All Scripture quotations are from the NIV 1973,1978,1984, unless otherwise noted.