Thursday, July 7, 2011

If Jesus Upholds the Universe By His Powerful Word . . .

He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high
-- Hebrews 1:3

Wow! If this is true:

It means we ought to ditch the dualism rampant in Christianity where we think Jesus is battling Satan, relying on our prayers and good works to win. Jesus isn't Tinkerbell, needing our applause to survive. He won. He wins. He owns Satan.

It means no more worry about the end of the world. Is global warming happening? Who knows. But if it is, it isn't the end of the world!

It means we ought to repent of the arrogance in our thinking that this world is what we make it. We don't sustain the universe; Jesus does.

If Hebrews 1:3 is true, we need to rethink everything: our assumptions, our philosophies, our agendas.

4 comments:

aaron said...

Yes and amen.

But, Jared, don't you think there's room for "means" in this discussion. Because, a kind of fatalism could come from this line of thinking.

Of course, to death with arrogance and fear. . . but that does not mean we shouldn't be diligent with things like Global Warming (if proven to be true), or spiritual warfare, since the church will prevail against Satan.. .which would involve the church "fighting" at some level.

Jared said...

Aaron, good comment.

I don't think fatalism comes from this kind of thinking, however, so long as we are not divorcing the necessary response.

What I think this line of thinking leads to in hearts that love Jesus is faith, not fatalism. Knowing this information, we are now free to obey, love others, work towards the good, etc. knowing that despite our sins and imperfections, God is in control.

David said...

Amen and amen!

Clay said...

Check! Check! is this thing on? Requesting the Google+ share option!

Great stuff by the way! Thanks.