Second, we must go all the way with Christ because He is the One who owns it all. These are massive statements regarding that which God has done regarding Christ. To begin with, the Lord Jesus Christ has been appointed heir of all things. He has been given the Name above every name: Lord. At His Name every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that He is indeed Lord to the glory of the Father. Further, the Father has given the whole of the universe and indeed His bride to His Son as a gift. It is Christ who is the head of the church and it is Christ who is head over all things. “For of him, and through him, and to him, [are] all things: to whom [be] glory for ever (Rom. 11:36).”

Third, we must go all the way with Christ because He is the One who made it all. The triune God created all things. It was through Christ that the Father made the worlds. John calls Christ the word. In Genesis we learn that God simply spoke the universe into being. Christ is that creative word (as well as the living word and the essence of ultimate reality itself while at the same time being no mere force but a personal being concerned with His creation). Paul wrote of Christ, “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: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all [things] he might have the preeminence. For it pleased [the Father] that in him should all fulness dwell (Col. 1:16-19).”

Fourth, we must go all the way with Christ because He is the One who sustains it all. Christ, “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 at the right hand of the Majesty on high (v. 3).” Christ is the brightness of God’s glory. He is the glory or the reputation of God. He reflects the glory of the Father perfectly.

But, He does and is more than that. He is the express image of His person. The phrase “express image” is the Greek word used for an instrument of engraving or carving. It was used to refer to the mark or stamp wrought upon that instrument. It referred to a precise reproduction. Jesus Christ is the engraving, the stamp, the exact reproduction of the Father in essence. Christ is fully God.

Further, Christ upholds all things by the word of His power. By His omnipotent strength and the purity, truth, and infallibility of His word, He upholds or sustains all things. If Christ were to remove His hand, the entire universe would literally explode. Paul said the same of Him in Col. 1:16f.

Fifth, we must go all the way with Christ because He is the One who paid it all. Christ purged our sins. That is, He purified a people for Himself by virtue of His substitutionary death on the cross. The “us” here is specific and refers to all those who Christ actually purified by His death. He did not purify every single person who has ever lived or who ever will live. But, He has purified every single one of His people who have or who ever will live. He came to save His people from their sin (Matt. 1:21). He did this wonderful thing voluntarily and by Himself as the sacrificial Lamb of God. His last words on the cross are packed with meaning, “It is finished (Jn. 19:30).”