WORDS AND POWER
Monday – June 5, 2017
As we plunge into another week of building the Kingdom of God Patti and I welcome you back to our Bible Study from the Book of Hebrews. God is so good. Where else can you get eternal life coupled with restoration to the family and Kingdom of God, and the only living God as Father, Brother, and Helper. They put it all on the line for our redemption. Selah (think on these things) Now on to Hebrews and our primary text.
Hebrews 1:1-3 (KJV)
1 God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,
2 Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;
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, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;
Last week we ended our study of Hebrews focused on the phrase “the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person”. Today we will to a degree explore the next phrase of Hebrews 1:3 “upholding all things by the word of his power,” Let’s start by examining the word ‘upholding’ which according to the Complete Word Study Dictionary – New Testament means to bring, to carry, or to bear. This is interesting since He is the One who took our sins, carried them, bear them at Calvary absolving all who receive Him as Lord forever. Oh, what a God. Remember that the person about whom we are talking is the Son, the One we call Jesus, and who has been and is the Word in all of eternity.
One might wonder if this assignment of “upholding all things” is a new function for Jesus, the Word, or has this been His function, assignment, for eternity. Since time is irrelevant to God and really to us in Him (the Son) this has been an eternal duty or function of the Word, just as our assignments given at creation are eternal. Before I move forward let’s look at some synonyms for the word upholding (maintenance, continuation, perpetuation, keeping, protection, safeguarding, and preservation). This perhaps adds some increased depth of understanding or insight into what is being said about this facet of the Son. Two antonyms for the word ‘upholding’ are end and destruction. So, in short He is preventing things from coming to an end in destruction. The physical law of entropy (Second Law of Thermodynamics) goes in one direction only and is irreversible, and that direction is down or to a more primitive state. For example, food left on the counter will rot, 100% of the time, and eventually will return to its most basic elements like the Lord said our bodies would return to the dust from which they came. The Son is preventing the destruction of this creation until its time. However, it is much more than insuring the survival of the universe including the earth as I will discuss in a few moments.
Our text from the King James Version says that He, the Son, is upholding “all things” or alternatively could read that He is upholding ‘all’. An interesting thing the Lord taught me some years ago is that the word ‘thing’ can frequently be substituted for the word ‘word’. Consider the following couple of examples.
Genesis 15:1 (KJV)
1 After these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.
Leviticus 17:2 (KJV)
2 Speak unto Aaron, and unto his sons, and unto all the children of Israel, and say unto them; This is the thing which the LORD hath commanded, saying,
2 Corinthians 5:17 (KJV)
17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
Preceding the Genesis 15:1 text was the account (given by words) of the four kings against five and how Abram had rescued Lot and subsequently tithed to Melchizedek the king and priest of the Most High God. So, in this passage the word ‘things’ is pointing to the words of the narrative describing the events described. In Leviticus, the word ‘thing’ is pointing to Words the Lord had spoken to give direction to the children of Israel. Now the preceding information should cast a whole new illumination on 2 Corinthians 5:17 and of course many many other Scriptures. We find in 2 Corinthians 5:17 that at salvation we are to forsake our old way of talking which reflects our old way of thinking and we have a new way of talking and a new way of thinking. The path of our destruction was paved by those old thoughts and words but now our path of the abundance of God is paved by the thoughts and words of God. Isn’t the Word of God so wonderful and amazing?
Until our next publication, I speak blessing into your life right now, receive it in the name of Jesus, confess it, and walk it out with thanksgiving.
Numbers 6:24-26 (KJV)
24 The LORD bless thee, and keep thee:
25 The LORD make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee:
26 The LORD lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.
By: Dr. David Wood, Author, Bible Teacher, and Prophetic Voice
CONTACT E-MAIL: pastordavidwood@gmail.com
MAILING ADDRESS: 3 Rosswood Green Lane, Unit Two, Oakland, Maine 04963
