GOD’S RESUME: JESUS SUSTAINS AND REIGNS
Hebrews 1:3 (NIV 1984) ...sustaining all things by his powerful word … he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.
Jesus sustains all things. He keeps all things together. “All things” is as broad as you can get. There is nothing left out. We’re talking the planet, the atmosphere, ecosystem, the moon, the earth’s spinning and rotation around the sun, the sun itself, the solar system, the galaxy, other galaxies, the entire universe, and everything else, all held together simply by His Word (Col 1:17). What better god to have then one who holds the universe together. I mean, if you are searching for a god, why not pull out all the stops and go big? Personally, I would settle for no less.
Jesus not only sustains all things by His word, He has an active leadership role over them. He is involved. He is supreme. He is Lord! David Pawson says that Jesus is “not only a savior with a cross he is a Lord with a crown,” and that is what it means to sit at the right hand of God. The author of Hebrews mentions this multiple times, as do other writers of our New Testament (Heb 1:13; 8:1; 10:12; 12:2; Mt 26:64; Rom 8:34; Col 3:1; 1Pe 3:22). Concerning Jesus, the Apostle Paul says that God has “seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, FAR ABOVE (caps mine) all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come, placing all things under his feet….” (Eph 1:20-22 NIV1984). Personally, I am glad that I have a God who is FAR ABOVE every other god, especially if that god includes me. I make an awfully bad god. I don’t know if you have noticed, but living in a secular, humanistic society that thinks humanity is progressively getting better and, as such, deserves absolute autonomy over itself, hasn’t worked out so well. Thumbing our noses at the notion of a divine being setting moral parameters, or picking and choosing which moral parameters we will allow him to set, is in essence making ourselves to be our own god. This causes such cultural chaos that our society eventually devolves to the point of a system-wide failure, leaving the door wide open for some person, or group of people, to gain power and rule over, with an iron fist, what’s left of our morally confused and bankrupt society.
It gives me comfort to know that, in spite of the world seeming to be out of control, it is not, but is securely held together by this Man whose resume we have been examining. And if this Man is supreme over all, it challenges every other being that would claim such position, confronting me with a choice to make. If I choose him as a god, I must surrender to him all that I am. In other words, he is not just a god by name, whose image I can hang on my wall and look at occasionally. He is Lord of my life, allowed to set all of my moral parameters and have absolute leadership over my decisions. This alone will reveal the authenticity of my search. Do I really want a god, or do I simply want some sentimental idea of a god?
Well, our resume is complete, and with only two power-packed sentences we have all we would need in a god. We have a god who speaks, who inherits all, who created all, who shows forth His glory and, as a man, reveals Himself to mankind, a god who saves us from the evil within, who sustains all, and is supreme over all. Need we look at another resume? There is no higher standard you could make for a god, and if this Jesus, God in the flesh, doesn’t get your approval, you might as well remain an atheist, all other resumes are embarrassing failures in comparison.
