Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

God reigns over the nations;
    God is seated on his holy throne.
The nobles of the nations assemble
    as the people of the God of Abraham,
for the kings of the earth belong to God;
    he is greatly exalted.

• Psalm 47:8-9

The Lord reigns forever,
    your God, O Zion, for all generations.
Praise the Lord.

• Psalm 146:10

Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting:
“Hallelujah!
    For our Lord God Almighty reigns.
Let us rejoice and be glad
    and give him glory!
For the wedding of the Lamb has come,
    and his bride has made herself ready.
Fine linen, bright and clean,
    was given her to wear.”
(Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of God’s holy people.)

• Revelation 19:6-8

The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

• Colossians 1:15-17

“The phrase ‘all things hold together’ in Christ is striking. He is essentially the glue of the universe, the binding force of the created order. Scholars like John Polkinghorne, a noted physicist and former president of Queens College, Cambridge, now an Anglican priest, argue that Christ is the animating force that keeps the universe in order and existence. Think about it this way: He is the information —the Logos, as we noted—behind all the carriers of information like DNA.
“This gives new meaning to God’s rule, God’s power, and God’s understanding—all of which are infinite. God’s sovereignty over all of creation cannot be denied. No wonder Abraham Kuyper, the great Dutch theologian, said, ‘There is not a square inch in the whole domain of human existence over which Christ, who is sovereign over all does not cry out: “Mine!”’   And, I would add, if Christ cries out, ‘Mine!’ then the obligation of Christian people in the Church is to look at all of creation and cry out, “His!” Jesus is Lord over every aspect of life—how we spend our spare time, what we read, how we form our families, the way in which we build neighborhoods, the law, politics, science, music, medicine, and on and on.”

• Charles Colson (with Harold Fickett), The Faith

“There is, however, another object in the proton called the “Higgs boson,” which does have mass or weight. The Higgs boson was a latecomer to the subatomic scientists’ observation and was given the nickname ‘God particle’ because of the difficulty in finding it—and recently, the high energy required to prove its existence. A Scottish physicist, Peter Higgs, hypothesized that the space between the particles was filled by a heavy, sticky substance that provided the mass. …
“However, the Creator may have other plans and decide to end it. If the small portion of God’s Spirit, or the ‘God particles,’ that were inserted into every proton or neutron at creation were withdrawn, the universe would become complete chaos; everything from the quarks to giant stars would lack anything to hold them together. The sun and all the other stars would cease to shine, as the heat and light already created would be dissipated. Likewise, all the planets, comets, and nebulas would disappear without a whisper.”

• Ruffin I. Rackley, God’s Physical Record of Creation

We wonder at times if God is in control.  We have an illness.  The illness prevents us from taking a trip (as when my wife and I cancelled a family reunion trip in 2018), or the illness changes the trajectory of your entire life (as when my wife started kidney dialysis in 2020).  We might get angry with God.  We might look skyward and shake our fists.  But God let’s things happen to us while preventing other things from happening.  God knows what we need and sometimes we need hardship, but God is even helping the evil people in our midst, for He holds the universe together.

I added my uncle’s quote to what Chuck Colson said.  Chuck Colson said a general statement that God holds all things together, quoting Colossians 1:17.  My uncle found the key to that verse in his scientific studies.  The Higgs boson holds every subatomic particle together that keeps each atom held together.  If God switched the “God particle” off, everything in the universe would instantly vanish.  Each particle would look at the particles to its left and right and like a magnet with the same polarity, they would rush as far away from each other as possible.

By the way, the “scientists” that jokingly called the Higgs Boson the “God Particle” were taunting God, making it a joke that the Higgs boson was as hard as God to find.  Odd, when the Higgs boson was found, it was found to be what held everything together.  It was found through the expense of an extremely high amount of energy.

God was never lost.  Those that cannot find Him have blinders on.  They only see their worldview and their blinders prevent them from seeing what is obvious to anyone who believes.  What holds the blinders in place?  Most of these people are not ignorant.  What holds their blinders in place in almost all cases is either arrogance or self-reliance.  They either do not want to admit being wrong or they think that even if God exists, do they really need Him?

But what if God switches off the Higgs boson?  Forget being there for me when I am sick, alone, scared.  Forget parting traffic so that I have swift and safe travel.  Forget the parting of the clouds so that I have sunshine when needed or clouds forming when rain is needed.  Whether it is the switch on the Higgs boson that vaporizes everything in a instant or the switch that tells the cells in my body to reproduce, or my hair to grow.  I need God every second of every day.  That is what God reigning is all about.

And notice those Scriptures that talk about God reigning, the last one in Revelation is God being glorified after the final defeat of Babylon (possibly in a metaphorical sense) just before Jesus returns to defeat evil in reality, forever.

Lord, show me what are the foundations of “the Faith.” You reign.  You hold all things together in a large sense like the universe and a small sense like the cells in our bodies.  But You also take care of each of us on a daily basis.  Everything may not run perfectly, but it works for the good of those that love You and are called to Your purpose.  In Your name I pray.  Amen.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.