Hebrews Chapter One, The Word of His Power

 

Hebrews 1:3 who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power,

 

Christ is the brightness of God’s glory, the express image or exact representation of His person, and He upholds all things by the word of His power. In the previous verse the author of Hebrews tells us that Christ is the heir of all things. All things—that is, all that exists as created by God—are His by virtue of His inheritance as the only begotten Son of God. Not only that, but He upholds those same things by the mere word of His power. He speaks and it is so. Power goes out from Him. In Christ He only gives. He need take nothing, for our Lord needs nothing. He is utterly and eternally sufficient.

When Jesus was going to heal the centurion’s servant, the centurion in question made a very shrewd observation regarding the Christ. “Only speak a word, and my servant will be healed. For I also am a man under authority, having soldiers under me,” Matthew 8:8, 9. The centurion recognized that Jesus, by virtue of His authority, the authority that was His by nature, could simply speak and obedience would be the result. Christ commanded, and the tormented servant was healed. Christ upholds all things by the word of His power. The comparison is that the centurion had servants beneath him, trained to do his will. When he spoke, they endeavored to make the expression of his will a reality. Truly, this man grasped that the bodies and fortunes of men were subject to Christ. A word from Him would drive out illness, because illness was part of the created world over which Jesus’ authority extended.

 

The Greek word for “power” in this instance is, “dunamis,” and is defined as, “an expression of a new and higher force entering into the created world.” It can also be explained as moral or physical power or ability residing in a person or thing. That being said, if Jesus upholds all things by the word of His power, the author strongly intimates that a force outside of material creation holds everything we see to the farthest boundaries of the universe together. To put it succinctly, “And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist,” Colossians 1:17. Christ existed eternally as the Word “before” creation, or the “all things” we find in Hebrews 1:2, 3. The NASB gives two alternative renderings for “consist,” translating it, “hold together,” or, “endure.” The upholding of the universe in Hebrews 1:3 is the consisting of Colossians 1:17. This passage speaks strongly of supernatural creation as opposed to its antithesis, Darwinian Evolution when applied to the study of cosmology.  Whereas naturalistic or atheistic scientific speculation postulates with entirely natural or material causation, the Bible begins with a supernatural invasion of our material existence via an act of divine creation. As opposed to a big bang, there was a series of six literal days of orderly creation for the universe, culminating in the formation of mankind, bestowed with spiritual life. The universe and conscious existence are the work of God’s hand. When we die our spirit will return to its giver, as everyone of us will answer for the things done in the flesh, saved or unsaved, Ecclesiastes 12:7, 2 Corinthians 5:10, Hebrews 9:27.

 

It is perhaps a little ironic that while the universe did not begin with a “big bang,” it seems that it will conclude with one, when Jesus ceases to preserve this current state of affairs and removes His upholding power. “But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition (destruction) of ungodly men…in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up,” 2 Peter 3:7, 10. A cleansing fire will purge the known universe as Christ removes His restraining hand, doing away with the old, so that the new heaven and new earth He promised may be brought forth, Psalm 102:26, Revelation 21:1, 5, Isaiah 65:17, 66:22.

 

There is an interesting contrast between Hebrews 1:3 and the first law of thermodynamics. The first law, also known as the law of conservation of energy, states that matter can be neither created nor destroyed, only altered. Conversely, while the quantity of matter remains, its quality diminishes as time passes. If matter can also be referred to as energy, then the amount of given energy in a system remains while its quality suffers deterioration over course of time. In Christ we find the word of His power, an outside, supernatural act that endowed our known universe with the energy needed to function. The Creator that made the laws by which our universe is governed also empowered said universe to function in the parameters He set for it. Truly, our Lord upholds “all things” by the word of His power.