Jesus, our heavenly glue that keeps everything together[/caption]

“For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities-all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.” (Colossians 1:16-17, NASB)

There is nothing hidden about Jesus when we read Colossians 1:17. The Bible is clear about Jesus who is the firstborn of creation (Colossians 1:15), so Jesus was before all things, all things were created by Him and for Him. Nothing would have come into being without Him and He holds everything together. God spoke all things into being through His Word (Jesus) and it is through this Word that we are all given life and are being held together. Without Him we are lost.

“And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,” (Hebrews 1:3, NASB)

Jesus was there in the beginning and He will be there in the end, but what about the in between?

He is still there. He was, is and will always be. So now, we will expose Jesus in the way in which He is holding everything together.

It may not be in the way we think it should be done, but if we were to take Him out of the equation we would realize that the only reason why things still manage to operate and continue in the way they do, it is because of Him.

“Now when He got into a boat, His disciples followed Him. And suddenly a great tempest arose on the sea, so that the boat was covered with the waves. But He was asleep. Then His disciples came to Him and awoke Him, saying, “Lord, save us! We are perishing!” But He said to them, “Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?” Then He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. So the men marveled, saying, “Who can this be, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?”” (Matthew 8:23-27, NKJV)

In the story about Jesus calming the storm, we learn that it was not the storm, but the people who woke Jesus. He was peaceful asleep in the midst of the storm in spite of the turmoil happening around Him. When they woke Him, He calmed the storm for their sake, not His own. He did not do it because He thought something was wrong and that they would not make it, but because of the way they were thinking. They thought they were left alone and in danger, but Jesus was there before, during and after the storm and nothing about the storm surprised Jesus. He was at rest as He knew He was still the one that has the last say and who is in control.

We often think things should work or look a certain way to be under control. We have an idea or picture of what it will be like when Jesus is with us, only to realise later that He was there all along. The Israelites expected Jesus to come in a way as a Great War warrior to release them from the Romans, but then they missed Him when He arrived in their lives as a gentle carpenter. We should be careful to limit His presence by the wrapping in which we expect a situation to come in.

The story about the storm shows us that Jesus already holds everything together.  A storm does not mean He is not there, He is. Something does not have to change before everything is kept together. Jesus can change things if He wants to but He does not have to, He is already keeping it all together.

The storm itself shows us how Jesus keeps everything together in when He spoke the wind and the waves obeyed Him and immediately dissipated. Everything is subject to His Word. When He speaks, the consequences are subject to His Word. Nothing can escape His final Word.

Jesus was always God’s entire plan to keep us all together for Him through salvation. His entire existence and purpose was to keep all things together, He was not only the way but also the reason and manner in which it was to be done.

Another example in the Bible where Jesus is typified in the glue that keeps everything together is through the persons of Moses and Joshua as they lead the Israelites through the wilderness. Each of these leaders, by following God’s guidance, kept the Israelites together. Without Moses and later Joshua, they were lost and did not know where to go. They had to present the Israelites’ cases before God on a continuous basis. Moses and Joshua are types of Christ that was the glue that kept God’s plan for the Israelites and ultimately the entire human race together. Jesus intercedes for us and guides us inside the greater plan that ultimately leads us back to God.

Jesus holds everything together. In and through His Word everything stands but without Him, everything goes to waste.

Maretha Retief

Illustration by Jeanne de Villiers