Question: > 
> He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high (Hebrews 1:3 ESV)
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I am interested in the phrase ‘he upholds the universe’
My question is:- How could Christ uphold the universe as a helpless babe and also after he had died before the resurrection.

Answer: 
The simple answer is that He did not uphold the universe as a helpless baby. Hebrews 1:1-3 speaks of His deity/nature BEFORE He was born as a man with a human nature.

In fact, if you read the rest of Hebrews 1 you will discover His own Father acknowledges Jesus as God, vs8. Also at vs10, "And, Thou Lord in the beginning did lay the foundation of the earth and the heavens are the woks of Thy hands.

Moreover Luke 2:11, "for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, WHO IS Christ the Lord." John 17:3,5, "And this is eternal life, that they may know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ WHOM THOU HAS SENT." vs5, "And now, glorify Thou Me together with Thyself, Father, with the glory which I had with Thee BEFORE THE WORLD WAS."

Lastly, Philippians explains at verses 6-8 His pre-existence as God (And so does John 1:1-3) but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant/man, and being made in the likeness of men, And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross." And btw, God the Father and God the Holy Spirt did not go anywhere after Jesus died as a man before His resurrection. I think it's important to put things in perspective.
How could Christ uphold the universe as a helpless babe?

He didn't.

Correctly, Jesus, *upholding all things* (πάντα
panta) by the power of His word. Nothing to do with 'universe' and a very sloppy/biased attempt of the ESV to render the Greek into English by inserting a word that is not there.

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> whom He (God) appointed heir of all things, through whom He also made the ages (not world or universe). 3And he is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of his power. Heb 1:2-3
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The context gives us the *timeline* of when Jesus became the one who, "upholds all things by the word of his power".

This power was not always his to use - being given to him at his resurrection and exaltation to the 'right hand of God' who made him heir, and *through whom* God finished the creation of man in His image. Jesus being the "representation" of God's nature.

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> Jesus is ‘the image of the invisible God’ and ‘the firstborn of all creation’ Col 1:15.
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2 Cor 4:4 ‘Christ, who is the image of God’, 3:18 ‘we… are being transformed into the same image’, Rom 8:29 also.