August 6, 2020
FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:
‘UPHOLDING ALL THINGS BY THE WORD OF HIS POWER.’ Heb.1:3, A.V.
Take note if that. ‘Upholding all things by the word of His power,’ rather than ‘by the power of His Word,’ as we would quickly say, without much thought.
“Christ is said to be ‘upholding all things.’ The word for ‘upholding’ denotes MORE than merely sustaining something so that it will not collapse. It means ‘bearing forward to a destination.’ While it includes the idea of sustaining, it has the ADDED meaning of ‘movement, of guidance, of purposeful progress.’
“Christ is the One who upholds the universe and keeps the heavenly bodies in their appointed paths. Apostle Paul in another place says that ‘by Him all things consist,’ or hold together. Col. 1:17.”
‘Upholding’ has a wider meaning than ‘consist,’ and embraces the concept of working to a purpose, of planning, of carrying tons predetermined conclusion. The picture is that of a workman bringing to completion a planned structure.”
“This definition changes the concept from that of a MERE POWER upholding the physical universe to that of an INTELLIGENT BEING who has a plan and is in the process of carrying it out.”
“If in the ‘all things’ Christ is said to be upholding, we include things ‘visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers,’ we must necessarily think of Christ as doing more than carrying a dead weight. Col.1:16. His ‘upholding’ includes the SUPERINTENDENCE of a million [in fact, innumerable] worlds, with all their dominions and principalities and powers!” Andreasen, The Book of Hebrews, pp. 51,52.
Are we beginning to see how little we understand and therefore sadly underestimate “the word of His power”— even when we think, talk, and present Him to those (a) do not know who He is (b) those whose ideas of Him are based on tradition and cathechism (3) those who know Him by what others say of Him, rather than knowing Him PERSONALLY as revealed in His Word and opened to the mind and brought into the heart by the Holy Spirit?
“Seek Him while He still may be found.” NMF