Colossians 1:17

By Him all things consist.

That is, Christ upholds, rules, and governs all things by His providence, as is shown elsewhere (Hebrews 1:2; Proverbs 8:15; John 5:12). Christ is not like a carpenter that makes his house and then.. leaves it, or like a shipwright that frames his ship and never guides it.

I. All things are said to consist in Him in respect of

1. Conservation: in that He keeps all things in their being.

2. Precept: in that from Him are prescribed the laws by which nature, policy, and religion are governed.

3. Operation: in that all things move in Him.

4. His position of means to end.

5. As the universal cause of nature and natural instincts in all creatures, by which they further their own preservation.

II. Is Him all things consist.

1. As He is God--

(1) In respect of ubiquity; He comprehends all things, and is comprehended of nothing. The nations are but a drop of His bucket, and time but a drop of His eternity.

(2) In respect of power; in that this whole frame stirreth.

(3) In respect of omniscience and wisdom, for all is within His knowledge, and receiveth order from His wisdom.

(4) In respect of decree, for the world to he made did from everlasting hang in the foreknowledge and pro-ordination of Christ.

2. As He is Redeemer. All things consist in Him--

(1) Because He is that atonement which kept the world from being dissolved.

(2) Because the respect of Him and His Church is that which keeps up the world to this day. Were His body complete the world could not stand one hour.

(3) Because the promise made to man concerning His prosperity in the use of all creatures is made in Christ.

III. In Him all things consist. Which word notes--

1. Order. By an excellent order the creatures agree together in a glorious frame; for God is the God of order, not of confusion.

(1) But are there not many evils in the world?

(a) There may be order in respect of God, though not in respect of us.

(b) It follows not that there is no order because we see none (Romans 11:33).

(c) Many of the reasons of human misery are revealed--sin entailing punishment.

(d) There may be order in respect of the whole, though not in respect of every part.

(2) But there are many sins in the world, and those con-Mist not in Christ, neither tend they to order.

(a) These are restrained by Christ.

(b) Work out His purposes.

2. Continuance. The world, men, and lower creatures, etc., are maintained in being by Christ,

3. Co-operation. By the providence of Christ all things work together.

(1) For Christ’s glory;

(2) for His people’s good.

4. Immortality.

Uses--

1. For reproof of men’s security in sin. Seeing that all things consist in Christ, they cannot stir but He seeth them.

2. It should teach us to trust in Christ, not in second causes.

3. If all things consist in Christ, then much more are the righteous preserved with a special preservation. (N. Byfield.)

All things exist in Christ

All things stand together in Him as the causal and’ conditional sphere of their continued existence. In Him they live and move and have their being, and in Him the sustentation or upholding of the universe rests. How wondrous, then, the glory and power of the Son of God! Without Him the sun would not shine, nor the seasons revolve; without Him the rain would not descend, nor the rivers run, nor the trees grow, nor the oceans ebb and flow. His power is necessary to summer and winter, seed.time and harvest, to earth and sky. He upholdeth all things by the word of His power, and without Him creation would collapse. Every province of the empire of immensity, with all its contents of life, force, and motion, depends on Him. The intellect of angels reflects His light, the fire of seraphs is the glow of His love, the energy of our own souls is an evidence of His beneficence and skill. In Him all things consist--the power of their support, the primal centre of their order, the rule of their operation. This is the Being in whom we have redemption. What sublimity His greatness sheds around the gospel! What moral richness His gospel throws around nature and humanity! How lofty should be our adoration, how strong our confidence, how warm our love, how complete our submission! (J. Spence, D. D.)