More than one million planets the size of Earth could fit inside the volume capacity of the Sun. Did you grasp that??? When we consider the vast size of our universe, we don’t even have a mental template for gauging just how big things are. The size and grandeur of God’s created universe are mind-blowing.
Jesus Christ created all that. And not only is Christ the one who spoke these gigantic celestial bodies into existence, galaxy after galaxy—the One “by whom all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible”—He is also the One who sustains all this vast infrastructure of creation by His wisdom and power. “In him all things hold together.”
Scientists studying individual atoms encounter the mystery and complexity of how seemingly repellent forces can remain in one piece—what has been named the “strong nuclear force.” Why, in the case of the atom, do they stay in one piece? Why doesn’t it all fly completely apart?
The bottom line—and not as simplistic an answer as it might seem like—is, “in him all things hold together.”
And what if He stopped holding everything together? In the book of 2 Peter, we learn that “the day of the Lord”—the time of the Father’s judgment, to be implemented at the Father’s direction—“will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed” (2 Peter 3:10). One day everything is coming completely unglued in an explosive, nuclear blowout, such as no apocalyptic movie could adequately depict. Christ is going to withdraw His sustaining influence in the universe, and all humankind will see what’s been holding us together all along—not a what, but a who.
How thankful are you that Christ, who is “before all things,” who needed absolutely nothing outside of His eternal relationship within the Godhead to fulfill Him, chose to create this world? And this cosmos? And you? And how thankful are you that He “upholds the universe by the word of his power” (Hebrews 1:3)?
So when He lays claim to your heart, saying “I am the Lord, and there is no other” (Isaiah 45:18), how do you respond to His authority? Does His command feel like a gift or an intrusion?
For each of us, He’s holding our lives and our world together. Let’s be honest—we can’t even brew that first cup of coffee in the morning apart from the biological and mental capacities He’s given us and the physical laws that hold our bodies and coffee mugs intact. Yet some are tempted to respond to Him with indifference, pride, arrogance, or a delusional sense of self-reliance. Don’t fall into that category.
Instead, put Him first, for He is first, preeminent in all things. He not only put you together, but He also holds you together.
For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together -Colossians 1:16–17