The Greatest Sustainer Series

Anne Graham Lotz in her book Just Give Me Jesus tells of her father Billy Graham being

given a watch by a friend, and after some time it stopped working. His wife took it to a

jewelry store to get it fixed, but they could not do it. She took it to several and they all said it

could not be fixed. Then when she went to Switzerland she took it along and sent the watch to

the company that made it. They returned it fixed for they made it and they knew how to

make it work again. So Jesus who made all things can repair them and sustain them and

make them work again. He can save all things as well as people. We seldom think of it, but

there has to be a power that keeps all things going in this universe. Everything is in motion

from the particles in each atom to the largest stars in the galaxy. The energy to keep all

things moving is beyond imagination and calculation. Hebrews makes it clear that Jesus is

the source of all that vast energy, for He is the sustainer of all things.

The Deist idea that God just made the universe and then let it run on its own as He turned

His attention to other things is not the picture the Bible gives us. The Creator is actively

involved in the operation of all He has made. The laws of nature are His energy at work to

keep everything working according to plan. He maintains what He has made to keep it in

working order. The material creation is not independent of its Creator, but needs someone

to manage and maintain it in order for it to continue its existence and progress.

Jesus has the whole universe in His hands, and if He should let go and cease to sustain it,

it would collapse into a massive heap of rubble, and then fade into extinction. We think of

dead matter as having no life, but the fact is even the inanimate creation is made up of atoms

in constant motion. If the energy of that motion ceases, it would cease to exist. All things are

in motion, and the energy of that motion is in the powerful word of Jesus. He made it all

come into being by His Word, and He keeps it sustained and maintained by that same all

powerful Word. Jesus is a hands on Creator. He does not just sit on a heavenly throne and

watch what happens to His creation. He is actively involved in its continuous operation.

He is the infinite source of energy that keeps the entire universe functioning as it was

meant to function.

We have a picture of Jesus here that is totally different than what we usually get, for He is

Lord, not just of the spiritual realm, but of the natural realm. There is no distinction

between secular and sacred with Jesus, for He is Lord of both realms. His Word not only

saves the sinner, but it also saves the material universe. It upholds the universe of matter. It

supports, maintains, and preserves the physical reality of all that man can see and study. We

usually only think of Jesus as the Lord of the spiritual realm with angels and saints singing

His praises as Savior and King of Kings. But here we get a picture of Jesus as the One that is

the power behind all that men study in Physics, geology, astronomy, and all studies that have

to do with the material realm of what exists. Jesus is actually the center of everything, and

not just those things we call spiritual. Everything man studies has a source of energy and

order behind it, and that source is our Lord. He is Lord of all, and this means, not just all

people, but all things. He is the Greatest Sustainer, because He sustains everything. He

brought everything into being and He sustains its being, or it would cease being. Nothing

exists independent of His power to sustain it.

There is no competition for this title of The Greatest Sustainer, for there are no others

who have ever claimed to be the source of the energy that holds all things together. In

Col. 1:17 Paul says of Jesus, “He is before all things, and in Him all things hold

together.” The things said of Jesus cannot be said of any other person in history. If He is

not the Son of God, and equal with God, it is preposterous what is said, and even

blasphemy, as the Jews said who killed him. He is not in the same category with other

great religious leaders at all, for none made such claims, and no such claims are made for