Daily Manna, Year Two · Day 93 · April 3
Before All Things
“And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.”
Christians have said the words "by whom all things were made" together in the Nicene Creed for more than sixteen hundred years. Most of us say them about something that happened long ago, at creation.
Colossians puts it in the present tense: "And he is before all things, and by him all things consist." Consist is a word about holding together. The Greek word means that things stand together and keep their shape because of Him. So Christ made the world in the beginning, and He is also holding it together at this moment, while you read this line.
Read the verse just before it, and you see how far that reaches: "For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him." Thrones and dominions are the powers people fear most, and here they are simply listed among the things He made. John says the same: "All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made." Then, three verses later, Colossians says something no creed would lead you to expect. The One who holds everything together is the One who made peace "through the blood of his cross." The hands that hold up the whole universe are the same hands that were nailed to that cross.
So praise Him for this today. He is before all things. That was true before you were born, it was true through the worst week of your life, and it will be true tonight while you sleep and hold up none of it. Nothing you stand on holds itself together, and the One who holds it all has already gone to the cross for you. You are safe in the hands that hold everything.
Daily Manna runs on a two-year cycle. The year one reading for day 93 is Free Indeed (John 8:36).