130908 The Radiance of the Glory of God

Hebrews 1:1-4, Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, ² but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. ³ 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, ⁴ having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.

 Hebrews, like the gospel of John, begins by looking back across history. That God spoke “Long ago” goes back as far as Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Throughout biblical history, at many times in many ways, God spoke. Face to face God spoke to Abraham, in human form. Before that God spoke to him as a voice or a light in the darkness. God spoke to Moses from a burning bush and again, from a pillar of fire on Mount Sinai. God spoke to Elijah on the mountain in a still small voice after having confronted him with a mighty wind, an earthquake and fire. Now, “in these last days” God has spoken to us “in Son”.

“In these last days” indicates a realization that Jesus’ crucifixion, resurrection and ascension into heaven inaugurated a new age for mankind. The last days began with the establishment of the church and will end when Christ returns. Jesus himself said that no one, except the Father, knows the day or the hour of his return so the last days continue until the final day. It is important to recognize that God has spoken throughout history. There’s never been a time when God is not speaking to someone. Now, we’re told in Hebrews, that God speaks to us “in Son”. That is exactly the way the Greek language presents the concept. It’s as though Jesus is a language unto himself. He is the radiance of the glory of God and as such is God’s method of speaking to us.

Jesus is the manifestation of God in the current age and there are several things that Hebrews tells us about Him. First of all, he is…

The exact imprint of God’s nature. A person’s nature is more than how he or she looks. Nature speaks of more than appearance it speaks of the very substance of a person and God is a person. Jesus is the human form of God. Jesus Christ was fully God and fully man in one person, and he will always be that.

Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary, conceived by the Holy Spirit and raised as the adopted son of Joseph, the carpenter in Nazareth. In his human form he was still…

The spitting image of his Father. Not Joseph, but his real Father. Listen while I read, Colossians 1:15, He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. Until Christ came to live on earth mankind could only imagine what God was like. David the Shepherd boy spent many nights under the sky looking up at the stars. He wrote a song that we know of as Psalm 19. It begins, “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.” The creation certainly gives abundant evidence that there was a creator. In fact, mankind shows evidence of God since we are created in his image. The image of God in man, marred by the fall, still separates us from the rest of creation.

None of that is enough to tell man what God is really like. We needed more evidence of God’s relationship to us. Job, in all of his pain, spoke of the need of an arbiter who could bridge the gap between God and man. In effect, Job needed someone who could stand between him and God to plead his case with understanding. At his time in history Job could not have known about Jesus. However, he did say, “I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth.” He just didn’t know that his Redeemer would come and live on earth is a man — the man Christ Jesus. Job’s Redeemer would be the exact image of God the Father because…

The fullness of God dwells in Him. Look at Colossians 1:19, For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell. The fullness of God dwells in the Lord Jesus Christ. He is fully man and fully God all at the same time. It’s not a matter that is easily understood but it is nonetheless true. Let’s look further. Listen while I read Colossians 2:8-9, See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. ⁹ For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily. This passage simply means that everything about being God lived in the physical body of Jesus Christ. Not all there is of God because God is omnipresent — present everywhere at once — and Jesus became limited both in time and space. He had a human body; he had a human soul and emotions; he had a human mind and those around him saw him as a man. Yet he was fully God.

This was…

Proven by his actions. Look at the exchange between Philip and Jesus found in John 14:8-11, Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” ⁹ Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? ¹⁰ Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. ¹¹ Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.

Jesus’ disciples saw him as a man and Philip reflected that in his request. Show us the Father! That would be enough for Philip. “Let’s see some evidence”, he seemed to be saying.

A few times in his ministry Jesus seemed to be more than a little frustrated with his disciples. This frustration grew out of his fully human side. In his response to Philip, at least to me, he seems to be a little frustrated. Jesus and his disciples had been together for about three years. They had seen many miracles — many mighty works of power. Could they not understand? When you see Jesus, you see the Father! When you hear Jesus, you hear the Father! Jesus, as a man, did not do the miracles. The Father did the work of miracles within him.

So, Philip, if you can’t understand and believe by what Jesus taught then understand and believe because of what you have seen. Believe on account of the works themselves.

Jesus, when he was on earth, was the exact imprint of the Father. As the creator he is also the…

Upholder of the universe.
He was the creator. Listen to Colossians 1:16, For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. This sounds a lot like the beginning of the gospel of John doesn’t it?

By him all things were created! Everything on earth was created by Jesus! All forms of life are his creation. Some scientists have great faith in a process called evolution. It seems to me that it takes more faith to believe in evolution than it does to believe the Bible. Many scientists seem to believe what is now called the “Big Bang” theory. In other words, everything we see around us is simply a result of time and chance. It makes a great deal more sense, to me, that the entire universe with all its numerous stars was created by Jesus! Every spiritual force, including Satan and his demons, was created by Jesus! Without him there was nothing made that was made. All things were created through him and all things were created for him. He is not only the creator…

He is the “glue” maintaining cohesion. Hebrews chapter 1 says that he upholds the universe by the word of his power. Now let’s look at the next verse Colossians 1:17, And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. Before there was anything there was God! Father, Son and Spirit lived together in perfect harmony before speaking the universe into being. Having brought the universe into existence, God established natural laws that maintain a perfect balance that we call nature. Everything about our universe serves a purpose. That is evidence of intelligent design rather than chance.

Jesus is not only the creator who holds all things together he is also…

Deserving more honor than the creation. Listen while I read Psalm 102:25–27, the psalmist is speaking of God. Of old you laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. ²⁶ They will perish, but you will remain; they will all wear out like a garment. You will change them like a robe, and they will pass away, ²⁷ but you are the same, and your years have no end.

When we look at the magnificence of the universe and all the created order around us we should be amazed. Every part of creation speaks of the creator. Nothing we see around us “just happened”. Every great engineering project points back to the engineers who designed it and the workers who built it. Every building has an architect and/or a builder. Automobiles come from factories and ships from shipyards. Recognizing that, how can we believe that the entire universe and all life that’s in it just exploded out of nothing? I think the answer is simple. The existence of God calls for submission to him so man, in his rebellion, must try to prove that God does not exist or, if he exists, he is not relevant.

All this we see around us is temporary and as the psalmist says they will all wear out like a garment but God remains forever. The creator deserves recognition. Jesus is not only our creator he is also the…

Sinless purifier of our sins.

All but one have sinned and are unclean. Romans 3:23 tells us that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God! All we have to do is look around us, and inside us, to confirm that is true. But there was one, after the fall of Adam, who had no sin of his own. And that one was Jesus! Listen while I read 2 Corinthians 5:21, For our sake he (God) made him (Jesus) to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Since all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, and the wages of sin is death, we are born in trouble. But God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son so that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. Our human level of righteousness can never overcome our sin. The perfect Son of God took our sins into his own body and nailed them to the cross.

More than three hundred years ago Isaac Watts penned these words:

When I survey the wondrous cross on which the Prince of Glory died, my richest gain I count but loss, and pour contempt on all my pride.

Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast, save in the death of Christ, my God; all the vain things that charm me most, I sacrifice them to his blood.

See, from his head, his hands, his feet, sorrow and love flow mingled down. Did e’er such love and sorrow meet, or thorns compose so rich a crown?

Where the whole realm of nature mine, that were a present for too small; love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all.

Jesus became sin for us and paid our debt! As a result of that sacrifice, through faith in him, we become the righteousness of God. Not our righteousness but God’s!

When Adam and Eve sinned God made clothes for them from the skins of animals. Those animals had no sin but they had to give their lives for the guilty pair. From that time forward whenever a person became aware of sin in their life they brought an animal to the altar. The sinner would lay his hands on the head of the animal symbolically transferring his sin to the animal. Then he would raise its head and slit its throat spilling the blood on the ground.

When John the Baptist saw Jesus coming for baptism he announced to the crowd, “Behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.” Jesus came as the perfect sacrifice to purify us from our sins. We needed him to pay the price because…

Without blood there is no forgiveness. Listen while I read Hebrews 9:22. Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.

Since the wages of sin is death if we pay the price we would have no life. Instead, Jesus shed his blood so that we might have life and have it abundantly. The price he paid was much more than we usually realize. Isaiah spoke of the Christ as being “a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief”. Among the grief that he bore was simply coming to the earth as a man. The creator of the universe took human flesh and lived in relative poverty. He suffered during his temptation in the wilderness being attacked by Satan for forty days. He suffered rejection from his own people. He experienced suffering and grief in the death of his adopted father and the death of his friend Lazarus. In the garden of Gethsemane he said that his soul was very sorrowful, even unto death. During his prayer time in the garden he sweated great drops of blood. He who knew no sin became sin for us.

This was not some symbolic exercise Jesus engaged in. This was real suffering. The symbolic sacrifices were the animal sacrifices of the Old Testament. The shedding of the blood of cattle simply looked forward to the real sacrifice of Christ on the cross. The real sacrifice is…

Not the blood of animals. Let’s look back at Hebrews 9:11-14.  But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) ¹² he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. ¹³ For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, ¹⁴ how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.

Moses went up on the mountain with God and he was shown a pattern to be followed in the building of the tabernacle. That same pattern was to be followed in building the temple in Jerusalem. It was a fairly simple layout with an outer curtain surrounding a courtyard that contained several items used in the symbolic sacrifice system. And one end of the courtyard was a tent that contained two rooms. The first room was entered daily and was called the holy place. It is the priest’s job to maintain the menorah and to keep fresh bread and incense in the holy place on a daily basis.

The second room is the Holy of Holies. There the high priest went once a year where he presented a blood sacrifice for his own sins and for the unintentional sins of the people before the mercy seat of God.

Remember, the tabernacle, and later the temple, were patterned after the real sanctuary in heaven. Moses was shown the pattern and followed it faithfully. After his crucifixion and resurrection Jesus ascended into heaven. There he presented his own blood before the real mercy seat of God. If the blood of bulls and goats symbolically purified the sins of the people how much more effective would the blood of Jesus himself be? In fact, only the blood of Jesus is effective in purifying the sins of mankind.

Anyone who comes to Christ with a believing heart can have hope of salvation from their sins and be born again into eternal life.

God’s Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, has become the channel through whom God is speaking to the world today. He is the visible image of the invisible God. Jesus is God in human flesh and the perfect reflection of the love of God for mankind. God had every right to destroy the universe when Adam and Eve sinned. Instead, even before he had created the earth, God had a plan for the salvation of mankind. Knowing that we are hopelessly unable to save ourselves God sent his Son to take our sins into his own body, nailed them to the cross and buried them in the grave from which he rose with a resurrection body to prove he had power over death and hell. He ever lives to make intercession for us. If you don’t know Him as Lord I urge you to accept Him today.

All scripture quotes are from: The Holy Bible: English standard version. 2001. Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.