“The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand.”
(John 3:35)
As the Apostle John declares in this passage, the Father’s great love for His Son moved Him to give Him “all things.” This endowment validates the vast extent of Christ’s authority. All creatures are placed under His sovereign rule to be ordered and disposed according to His will; nothing lies beyond His dominion. Heaven and earth, nations and individuals, all stand beneath the hand of the One to whom the Father has committed universal authority.
Yet within this universal dominion there is a more unique gift. Among all those placed under Christ as sovereign Lord, some are given to Him in a special manner, not just to be governed but to be saved. They are His particular people, committed to Him for gracious and saving ends. Thus the Father’s gift to the Son includes both the universal government of all creatures and the special salvation of those whom He has chosen.
Those given to Christ belong first to the Father. They are His creatures, and therefore His to dispose of according to His own pleasure because He possesses absolute right over those whom He has made. No creature can establish an independent claim against the Creator, for life, being, and every good are derived from Him.
Moreover, no sinner possesses a claim upon mercy. Indeed, God would be doing no injustice if He left all to the just consequences of sin. That He chooses some to receive mercy and grace therefore magnifies the freedom of His compassion. “I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy” declares that saving mercy arises from God’s will rather than from any superior worth found in its objects.
Men possess only a dependent and limited right over what they call their own, but every creature lives, moves, and has being from God. Therefore God’s right to dispose of His creatures is perfect.[1] The question, “Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own?” finds its highest and truest application in the Creator.
As believers, we can rest in the truth that the entire created order lies in Christ’s hand. More specifically, the salvation of the elect has been committed to Him for He is the beloved Son invested with universal authority and entrusted with the people whom He saves. The believer therefore worships Christ as sovereign over all and Savior of those given to Him by the Father.
Contemplations:
- All Things Are in Your Hand. I adore You because nothing lies outside Your authority. Every creature, every nation, every event, and every life remains beneath Your sovereign rule; You govern all. Let that truth quiet my every fear that imagines something has slipped beyond Your control.
- You Govern More Than You Save, Yet You Save Those Given to You. All men stand under Your authority, but some have been given to You in a peculiar way to be Your people and to receive salvation from Your hand. To belong to You as Savior is an unspeakable privilege. Let me never treat election as a abstract fact when it means being given by the Father into the keeping of the Son.
- Mercy Was Never Owed to Me. When I consider that mankind is fallen in Adam, all boasting disappears. No sinner can demand grace as a debt. You would remain righteous even if mercy were withheld, so let the sovereignty of Your mercy make grace even more precious.
- The Potter Has Absolute Right over the Clay. My very being depends on You, and I have no independent claim against the One from whom life itself comes. Your authority is absolute because Your creative right is absolute.
Prayer (Adoration):
Father, I adore You for the love with which You love the Son and for the universal authority You have placed into His hand.
I worship Christ as the One to whom all things have been given. Nothing in creation stands outside His rule. Every creature, every nation, every power, and every event remains beneath His sovereign authority.
I praise You also for the special gift of a people to Your Son, not only to be governed by Him, but to be saved by Him. What grace there is in belonging to Christ in this unique way.
I adore the freedom of Your mercy. Fallen sinners possess no claim upon grace. If any are saved, it is because You have chosen to show mercy.
I praise You that Your mercy does not compromise Your justice, nor does Your justice diminish Your mercy. Those whom You leave to themselves receive no wrong, while those whom You save receive grace they could never earn.
I rejoice that the One who rules all things is the same One entrusted with the salvation of those given to Him by the Father.
In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.
Further Scripture References:
Matt. 28:18; Matt. 11:27; John 5:20; Luke 10:22
[1] John Brinsley, Three Links of a Golden Chain, Or, Three of the Principal Causes of Mans Salvation, (London: S. Griffin for Richard Tomlins, 1659), 5-8.
