Jesus, the Heir of Creation

He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.
—Colossians 1:17

So far we have seen that Jesus Christ is the firstborn of creation—the highest in rank. Not only that, but He is the cause of creation—the One who created the physical and spiritual realms. Now in Colossians 1:16, we see that Christ is also the heir of creation. Paul says, “All these things have been created through Him and for Him.” The prepositions through and for may not seem like much to you, but they meant a lot to Paul’s audience. You see, the Greeks taught that everything that exists has to have a primary cause (a plan), an instrumental cause (the power to execute the plan), and a final cause (the purpose of the plan). Paul said Jesus Christ is all three when it comes to this universe. He is the primary cause—He planned it all. He is the instrumental cause—He has the power to cause it to happen. And He is the ultimate cause—He created everything for Himself. If that seems extremely selfish to you, remember that Jesus created everything for Himself and for all of those of us who are related to Him by faith. The moment you trust in Christ as your Savior, you become a joint heir with Jesus Christ. Everything in this universe that exists for Him becomes yours as well.

Finally, Jesus is the One who sustains the creation. Look at verse 17: “He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.” Now, we know from American history that the majority of our Founding Fathers were evangelical Christians. However, there were a few who weren’t, such as Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin. They were deists. Now, deists sort of believed in God. But they believed God did not intervene in the affairs of men. Deists believed God created this world, wound it up like a clock, and then left it to run on its own. So God created the world and then walked away. But that’s not what the Bible teaches. The Bible teaches, not only did God create this world, but He holds it and upholds it. He keeps it from spinning into chaos. In Hebrews 1:3, the writer says that Jesus “upholds all things by the word of His power.”

Let me demonstrate to you why that is so important. The surface temperature of the sun is 12,000 degrees. If earth were just one degree closer to the sun, we would all burn up. If it were just a fraction of a degree farther from the sun, we would all freeze to death. Who keeps the earth in its perfect orbit around the sun? I once read an article by a physicist who said that for life to exist on earth, the gravitational pull of the earth has to remain at a constant. If there were just the slightest variation, a variation of one part in ten thousand billion billion billion, everything on earth would die. That’s how precise the gravitational force has to be for life to exist. How do things remain constant like this? The Bible says Jesus is the One who sustains this creation. And He is the One who sustains your life today.

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Today’s devotion is excerpted from “Jesus Christ: Creator, Originator, and Reconciler” by Dr. Robert Jeffress, 2011.

Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1960,1962,1963,1968,1971,1972,1973,1975,1977,1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.