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
them. Jesus is not only superior to all others, He is supreme over all others and all other
powers, for the power of His Word is the ultimate power. It is first,
I. UPHOLDING POWER
The KJV has “Upholding all things….” Williams has, “and continues to uphold the
universe…” Amplified has, “upholding and maintaining and guiding and propelling the
universe….” You get the picture of one who supports the universe, and that if He did
not, it would collapse, for it does not have the strength on its own to stand and continue
operating. There are those who do not like this word upholding because it pictures Jesus
like Atlas holding the world up on his shoulders. The word here is more active than that,
and it has to do with motion. Jesus is the power that keeps everything in motion. You
have many electric particles revolving around every atom in the universe, and every
body of matter in the universe is revolving. The whole of reality as we know it is in
perpetual motion, and there is some source of power that keeps it going, and that power
is Jesus. Take Him out of any equation and you have death. Jesus is the life of all being,
for He is the power that makes it possible for all things to continue to exist, and this
includes us.
In Psalm 37:17 we read, “For the power of the wicked will be broken, but the Lord
upholds the righteous.” We have the upholding power of the universe at our side, so if
we fall, He is able to uphold us and keep us going. In verses 23 and 24 of this same Psalm
we read, “The Lord delights in the way of the man whose steps he has made firm; though
he stumble, he will not fall, for the Lord uphold him with his hand.” The same word is
used in Psalm 119:116, but is translated sustain. “Sustain me according to your promise
and I will live;..” In Psalm 145:14 we read, “The Lord upholds all those who fall and lifts
up all who are bowed down.” In Isaiah 41:10 we read, “So do not fear, for I am with you;
do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold
you with my righteous right hand.” The point is, there is a power in this universe that
cares about life and order and the continuation of all that is good and righteous. That
power is Jesus, and He is the one who upholds us, as well as the world, and all of the
galaxies of space. The book of Hebrews stresses that Jesus became man in order to fully
understand man and what he experience so that he could sympathize and give them
encouragement to uplift them in times of temptation and trial.
There is hope and help for our sighs and tears,
For the wound that stings and smarts.
Our God is at home with the rolling spheres,
And at home with the broken hearts. -Arthur Petrie.
It is so wonderful that we can know the Person behind the Power that upholds and
sustains all that is. He is our Savior, and the One who upholds us in the race of life. We
get weary and stumble and sometimes want to give up, but He upholds us and gives us the
energy to keep going. By His power we will persevere to the end. Everything He created
will by His guidance and providence attain the end for which it was made. He is able to
uphold all, including those who trust in Him, and save all from the evils that tend to
deprive them of life. We have no concept of the battles that may be going on in this
universe with the principalities and powers in heavenly places. All we know by God’s
revelation is that Jesus is the supreme power and He is our assurance that the victory
will be won over all the forces that seek to destroy what He has made.
Beneath His watchful eye
His saints securely dwell;
That hand which bears all nature up
Shall guard His children well. -Doddridge
II. UNIVERSAL POWER
Sometimes we tend to think that because Jesus finished the work of salvation on the cross
that he has little to do now as he rests on His throne in heaven. But the fact is He is in charge
of administering the entire universe as well as being our advocate before God. He is ever
interceding for the saints, and He is ever maintaining the order of the whole creation. There
is nobody anywhere more busy than Jesus, but fortunately His power is infinite and so He
gets all His work done by the power of His Word. You can get a lot done even while sitting
when you have unlimited power in your words. In fact, you can get everything done, and you
can govern the whole universe. It does not take a great deal of insight to recognize that this
makes Jesus superior to everyone. The power that keeps the universe going is a Person, and
that Person is Jesus. It makes me want to write a poem to express that Jesus is the power
behind all that impresses us in our study of the universe. All the awesome energy and beauty
in the universe has it source in Him. I say it in poetry-
There is power beyond measure
In this universe we see.
And this truth we greatly treasure:
It’s no it, but it’s a He.
Jesus is the greatest power,
On the land and on the sea.
He from the very first hour
Sustains all that came to be.
By His power all has begun.
He started all in motion.
He made every star and our sun,
And every sea and ocean.
Everything moves as directed
Some great power all does bind,
And it is clearly detected,
That behind all is a Mind.
There is nothing that is by chance,
For behind all is a plan.
There is a universal dance
Written by the Son of Man.
This universal dance I refer to is the dance of life that Jesus has put into all reality, and
that includes what we call inanimate matter. It is dead matter we call it, but we know that
even dead matter is alive with motion. Every atom in a rock is filled with motion. In fact, in
the Old Testament Jesus was the rock that gave forth the water to the people of God as the
wondered in the wilderness.
Paul writes in I Cor.10:4, “…for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock
was Christ.” There is life in rocks even, and that is why the mountains and the hills can break
forth in praise of God. If people did not praise Jesus even the rocks would cry out. The point
is that there is life and motion in all that exists. Everything is moving in harmony with the
tune Jesus writes for the dance of creation.
Dr. J. Brown writes, “The term ‘uphold’ seems to refer both to preservation and
government. ‘By Him the worlds were made’-their materials were called into being, and
arranged in comely order: and by Him, too, they are preserved from running into confusion,
or reverting back into nothing. The whole universe hangs on His arm; His un-searchable
wisdom and boundless power are manifested in governing and directing the complicated
movements of animate and inanimate, rational, and irrational beings, to the attainment of
His own great and holy purposes; and He does this by the word of His power, or by His
powerful word. All this is done without effort or difficulty. He speaks, and it is done; He
commands, and it stands fast.”
What holds everything together? This is a question that science asks and seeks for an
answer, but all they have found is that it takes an incredible amount of power to hold even an
atom together. If you split them there is a release of enormous energy. The power in a small
amount of matter is amazing, and man has learned how to use that power and have atomic
energy. But they still do not know what the source of that power is that holds all things
together. The Bible tells us that it is Jesus. COL 1:17 says, "He is before all things, and in
him all things hold together." Philo said that the Logos, the Word, is the bond of the
universe. Jesus is called the superglue that holds the universe together. If He did not sustain
it, it would fly apart and be destroyed. By His releasing His power over anything He can
cause it to explode into fragments. I found this interesting example:
“A Navy pilot was describing his complex helicopter to his parents one day. He told them
that a small hexagonal nut held the main rotor to the mast of the helicopter.
"Guess what we call that nut?" he asked his mother. She could only shrug her shoulders.
With a smile, the pilot answered his own question: "It's called a Jesus nut."
That may sound irreverent, but here's an explanation. If that small piece of metal ever came
off, the helicopter would not be able to stay in the air but would come crashing to the
ground. So it's understandable why pilots in the Vietnam War gave that little part the name
"Jesus nut."
The whole universe is like a helicopter. It depends on some power to hold it together, and
if that power that does so did not function, the whole universe would fly apart and crash into
oblivion. Everything owes its existence and preservation to the universal power of Jesus
Christ. He sits on the throne of the universe for He is King over all. The praises of all
creation that we read of in the Psalms is very appropriate when we realize the truth of Jesus
as the sustainer of all. Everything that exists has reason to praise the Creator, for He is also
the source of the power that keeps them in existence moment by moment. Paul said in Acts
17:28, “For in Him we live and move and have our being.” And this applies to all that exists,
and not just to people.
Jesus demonstrated His power over all things to some degree in his earthly ministry. The
winds and the waves responded to His word. He could make sickness dissolve before people
eyes, and body deformities would vanish at His word. Lifeless bodies would come to life
again when he commanded it. He had control of things even in the limitations of the flesh. He
made all things and He knew how to fix them when they were broken. After His resurrection
he said that all power in heaven and on earth was His, and so now as He sits at the right hand
of God He is in control of the entire universe. We owe Him thanks, not only for saving us,
but for sustaining us, for we cannot even live without His sustaining power. Our very
existence depends upon His sustaining power. We cannot even have existence, let alone
salvation, without Jesus. If He did not preserve us moment by moment, we would cease to
exist. And this is true of all the universe. In Him it all lives and moves and has its being. One
word from Christ and anything that is can cease to be, for it He is the power that sustains it,
He is also the power that can let it collapse and cease to be. There is nothing and no one who
is independent, for God alone is independent and self-sufficient. All else is dependent upon
His power for its being and continuing.
The whole context here stresses the universality of Jesus and His power. He is not just the
sustainer of many things, or even of most things, but of all things. These first verses of
Hebrews stress the all things. He is described as-
The receiver of all things.
The creator of all things.
The revealer of all things.
The sustainer of all things.
The redeemer of all things.
The ruler over all things.
Chrysostom, the great preacher of the fourth century wrote, “He holds together what
would fall to pieces; For, to hold the world together, is no less than to make it, but even
greater (if one must say a strange thing). For the one is to bring forward something out of
things which are not: but the other, when things which have been made are about to fall back
into non-existence, to hold and fasten them together, utterly at variance as they are with each
other: this is indeed great and wonderful, and a certain proof of exceeding power.” Today
we have a far greater understanding of just how exceeding great is the power needed to
preserve life and order just on our small planet.
Our earth must be maintained at just the distance it is from the sun or we would burn if it
got closer, or freeze if it got further away. Life depends on the maintaining of the exact
distance we are now. Our planet is tilted on an exact angle of 23 degrees, which gives us our
four seasons. If it was not tilted and maintained there the vapors from the ocean would move
north and eventually fill the earth with ice. If the moon was not kept at the right distance the
ocean tides would flood the world. If our atmosphere thinned out, we would be bombarded
by meteors. We could go on and on about all of the things that need to be kept in perfect
balance to maintain life on this planet. Jesus is the one who is doing the maintaining. If He
lets go of the reins of power, it is all over, and the end of the world. We only survive day by
day because He sustains the order necessary for life.
Elisabet Sahtouris writes a lot about the dance of earth, and about how some power
maintains the balance that makes life possible. Here are a few examples:
“The atmospheres of the other planets in our solar system all make sense
chemically as stable mixtures of gases. Only Earth has an atmosphere that is
quite impossible by the laws of chemistry. Its gases should have burned each
other up long ago. If they had, Earth would have no living creatures. And of course it does. They
make and use almost the entire mixture of gases we call the atmosphere, ever
feeding it new supplies as they use it and as it burns itself up chemically. This
activity of living things always keeps the atmosphere in just the right balance for
the life of Earth to continue. We can compare it to the activity of our cells in
producing, using, and renewing the blood, lymph, and intercellular fluids flowing
around them. Living creatures, for example, produce four billion tons of new
oxygen every year to make up for use and loss. They also make huge amounts of
methane, which regulates the amount of oxygen in the air at any time, and they
keep the air well diluted with harmless nitrogen. In fact, the Gaian atmosphere
is held at very nearly 21 percent oxygen all the time. A little more and fires would
start all over our planet, even in wet grass. A little less and we, along with all
other air-breathing creatures, would die.”
There are a number of scientists today who are writing about this intelligence that is
seen in all of creation. It is as if matter itself has wisdom and is able to act is such a way
as to do what is best for the system as a whole. Science can never discover what the Bible
reveals, and that is that there is wisdom in matter because the all-wise Creator is
sustaining and maintaining it so that it accomplishes His purpose. There is purpose in
the universe because it is maintained by the wisdom and intelligence of the Creator, who
is Jesus Christ. Without Jesus you have a universe that is a machine, which makes itself
and repairs itself. This is harder to believe than believing that there is an intelligent
Creator behind it all. Science and faith are in agreement that the universe is full of
intelligence and order and purpose, but many scientists are not willing to agree that that
intelligence is personal. But this is the heart of the Biblical faith. When a scientist
explains the universe he often explains it in terms of the dance going on in all matter. For
example:
“Physicist Fritjof Capra, who pioneered our understanding of the intriguing parallels
between Western quantum physics and Eastern mysticism, put it this way:
“Modern physics has shown that the rhythm of creation and destruction is not
only manifest in the turn of the seasons and in the birth and death of all living
creatures, but is also the very essence of inorganic matter. According to
quantum field theory, all interactions between the constituents of matter take
place through the emission and absorption of virtual particles. More than
that, the dance of creation and destruction is the basis of the very existence of
matter, since all material particles "self-interact" by emitting and reabsorbing
virtual particles. Modern physics has thus revealed that every subatomic
particle not only performs an energy dance, but also is an energy dance; a
pulsating process of creation and destruction.”
All of the multiplicity and variety of energies in the universe have one common
source, and that is Jesus. That is why it is a universe and not a multi-verse. It is multi
in many ways, but the source of all its multiplied variety is the same. Jesus plays the
tune to which all reality dances. Just as there is oneness in God’s essence, even though
He is a multiple of Persons, so there is a oneness to all creation, even though it is filled
with a multiplicity of differences. This means there is an ultimate oneness to all
reality, including Creator and creation, because there is only one source of all the
power in existence, and that is Jesus. It is pure folly to ever put Jesus into the same
category with any other person or group of persons, for He is so unique that one of a
kind is the only way to describe Him. He is God, and nothing less can describe who
Jesus is.
Science knows there is an amazing power holding all things together, but they
cannot figure out what it is. Lee Chestnut wrote a book called The Atom Speaks. In it
he wrote, “Consider the dilemma of the nuclear physicist, when he looks in utter
amazement at the pattern that he has drawn of the oxygen nucleus. For here are
eight positively charged protons closely associated together within the confines of this
tiny nucleus. With them are eight neutrons; a total out of sixteen particles: eight
positively charged; and eight with no charge.” Dr. James MacDonald makes
comment on this:
“Now if you’re not scientific, you think that’s not a big deal. But hang on. Coulomb’s
Law of Electrostatic Force states that like particles, when put together, repel each other. So
scientists begin to wonder, “What holds the nucleus together? Why doesn’t it fly apart?
Why don’t all atoms fly apart?” Scientists admit that there is an incredibly powerful force
that holds all of these teeny particles together, but they have no explanation for why it
exists.”
One of the physicists who developed the Big Bang Theory puzzled over how we could live
in a world in which practically every object was a potential nuclear explosion, and yet not be
blown to bits. Carl Darrow, a physicist at Bell Laboratories, wrote that these particles have
no right to be alive at all-they never should have been created and, if created, they should
have blown up instantly. Yet there is something that relentlessly holds them together.
What is this force that keeps the universe intact? Where does the power come from to
keep the universe from instantly dissolving into one massive nuclear explosion? The answer
is found in Colossians 1:17, which teaches that it is Jesus who upholds all things: “He is
before all things, and in Him all things hold together.” Not only did Jesus Christ create all
things (verse 16), He is the one holding it all together. Jesus Christ is the power behind
every mysterious force in the universe.”
This is also who the book of Hebrews is teaching by saying Jesus is the sustainer of all
things. We have the answer to one of the greatest mysteries of science, and than answer is
that Jesus is the greatest sustainer in the universe, for He sustains and holds together
everything in the universe. If this is not enough to get you to glorify Jesus and worship Him
as Lord, then there is nothing that can. Those who grasp just who Jesus is will join the
universal chorus of heaven that we read of in Rev. 5:12-14. “In a loud voice they sang:
"Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength
and honor and glory and praise!" 13 Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth
and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, singing: "To him who sits on the
throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!" 14
The four living creatures said, "Amen," and the elders fell down and worshipped.” Let us
join them in praise to the Greatest Sustainer.
