His glorious Son Reading Is 9:6-7; Mt.17:1-9
Heb 1:3a the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person
We can but lightly touch on the majestic titles which a loving and adoring heart here heaps around the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. The theme might well engage a seraph’s tongue! Yet our hearts may glow with ardor of the same nature, if not of the same amount. And perhaps we may be conscious of elements of rapture which the sons of light may never know, because of his near kinship to us. “My heart overfloweth with a goodly matter: I speak the things which I have made touching the King.” FB Meyer
As we have seen God is fundamentally different from us - so there is a barrier to communication. He revealed a certain amount of Himself in OT days through nature, the prophets etc, but this revelation was always incomplete. The wonder is that God became man in the person of Jesus Christ to communicate with us properly. In Christ we can relate to Him in a physical form and has faced the same difficulties and temptations of life. Hebrews has much to say about Christ’s humanity, but for the moment it concentrates on His deity to give us a glimpse of the dignity and exalted rank of the Son of God. We need to see Christ as He really is, so that His glory fills us with a wonder that thrills our souls, motivates us to worship and service.
Last time we saw that Jesus was the creator all things, but v2 tells us that He is also the Heir of all things. He is not only the Creator, but also the very reason for creation. Col.1:16 by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. This universe exists to please Him for He is its rightful owner.
The brightness of His glory
Glory is a word that we use easily, but not one that we find easy to explain. The dictionary tells me that it means: Praise, honour, admiration, or distinction, accorded by common consent to a person or thing; high reputation; honourable fame; renown, magnificence.
The definitions are struggling to define something that sets people apart from the norm to make others look up to or respect them. The Queen in her royal robes and magnificent golden coach.
In the Bible the word glory is applied to the sun and stars, and to the dazzling splendour or majesty in which God is enthroned. 2Th 1:9 2Pe 1:17 Re 15:8 21:11,23. God is pictured in splendour and majesty - a being of light and of infinite perfection. It is used of the nature and acts of God and His attributes and power as revealed through creation, as well as the perfection of His character - especially His righteousness, excellence, perfection. It is also used to describe the splendour and brightness of heaven. It emphasises His beauty, majesty, splendour, honour and dignity which we should acknowledge in our prayers and lives.
1 Timothy 6:16 dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see.
Isa 42:8 I am the LORD, that is My name; And My glory I will not give to another
God’s glory was shown in the cloud which indicated His presence in the tabernacle and temple. Ex.40:34 34
Then the cloud covered the tabernacle of meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. 35 And Moses was not able to enter the tabernacle of meeting, because the cloud rested above it, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.
1 Kings 8:10 And it came to pass, when the priests came out of the holy place, that the cloud filled the house of the LORD, 11 so that the priests could not continue ministering because of the cloud; for the glory of the LORD filled the house of the LORD.
The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament shows His handiwork, Ps 19:1, but Ezekiel saw the glory of God expressed in a human form. (Ezek 1:26) It is Christ alone who is the brightness of His glory
In the OT the glory prevented people entering the tabernacle or temple, but although Christ’s glory is of the same degree it is inviting and welcoming, not forbidding.
Calvin - as to the essence of God, so immense is the brightness that it dazzles our eyes, except it shines on us in Christ. …Without Christ there is no light, but only darkness; for as God is the only true light by which it behoves us all to be illuminated. We are reminded that God is truly and really known only in Christ; for he is not his obscure or shadowy image, but his impress which resembles him, as money the impress of the die with which it is stamped.
AW Pink - In Christ the veil is rent, the Holy of Holies is exposed to full view, for now we behold “The light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Cor. 4:6).
Jesus is the radiance of God’s glory; the embodiment of His majesty and glory. No sinful human being can ever see God, but He has made Himself to known to us in His Son Jesus. Oswald Chambers once said, “The characteristics of God Almighty are mirrored for us in Jesus Christ. Therefore if we want to know what God is like, we must study Jesus Christ.”
Express image
The express image of His person - flawless expression of the nature of God, himself - JB Phillips
The Greek word translated express image is carakthr. It is not used anywhere else in the New Testament but, as you might have guessed, it is that from which we get our word character. This word is used to describe an engraving tool or a stamp, as on a coin or a seal, which makes an impression. (As in above quote from Calvin.)
So it was that Jesus could say: 9 He who has seen Me has seen the Father; 11 “Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me. Jn.14 You can better understand the horrified reaction of the Jewish leaders to Christ comparing Himself with the Father when you look at what the OT says, eg Isaiah 40:25 "To whom then will you liken Me, Or to whom shall I be equal?" says the Holy One.
Nothing looks more like the original mould or seal than an image pressed out on clay or wax. The Old Testament saints could not perfectly express God, nor could angels, for they are only finite creatures. Christ could, and did! All that God is, in His nature and character, is expressed and manifested, absolutely and perfectly, by the incarnate Son. Truly He is the image of the invisible God - Colossians 1:15. Our God contracted to a span, incomprehensibly made man.
But Jesus is more than just an image; He is the express image of His person (better substance, NIV being). He not only communicates what the Father is like, but He is of the same substance. In the language of Philippians 2 6 He shares the form of God. The Greek word translated form is morphe which means essence. This means that Christ shares the very nature or essence of Deity. Possessing the fullness of the attributes which make God God - Amplified version. While he was on earth, as Paul put it in Col.2:9, in Him all the fullness of the Godhead resided in a bodily form. Christ is, and has always been God. Not just a prophet or example as Muslims or Modernists teach; nor promoted to become a God for being obedient as JWs teach.
Barnes - He bore an exact resemblance to God. Is the Father eternal, omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent? so is the Son, He was just such a being as we should suppose God to be, were he to become incarnate, and to act as a man. He was the embodied representation of the Deity. He was pure—like God. He was benevolent—like God. He spake to the winds and storms—like God. He healed diseases—like God. He raised the dead—like God. He wielded the power which God only can wield, and he manifested a character in all respects like that which we should suppose God would evince, if he appeared in human flesh, and dwelt among men.
Conformed to His image
The idea of Christ as the perfect, visible image of God in human form reminds me that it is God’s purpose to stamp that same image onto us. We were created in the image of God, but that image was spoiled by sin. Now it is God’s purpose to remake it, indeed to make it much clearer and better.
1Co 15:49 as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man.
But it is not something just for heaven. He wants to begin now:
2Co 3:18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.
And God wants this image to be stamped far and wide.
Ro 8:29 For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.
As God’s radiance, Jesus brought God’s light into this evil world. John 8:12 “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.” Now He is in glory He has left us to reflect or be the channels for His light into the dark world around us. Mt 5:14 “You are the light of the world.
Upholding all things by the word of His power
He is not only the creator of the universe, as we saw last time, but He also upholds, maintains, guides and propels it. Scientist are searching for a theory that brings together gravity, electromagnetism and nuclear forces. String theory is the current favourite. I can’t explain the maths, but I know that it is the force of His will that holds atoms, solar systems and galaxies together Col.1:17 He is before all things and in Him all things hold together. He is not only the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end, but also the middle that joins them together too! So too He who creates life in His people when He saves is the only force which can and also keep us.
1Ti 3:16 without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifested in the flesh.
Andrew Murray -- the great work of God in heaven, the chief thought a longing of his heart is, in his son, to reach your heart and speak to you. Oh, let it be the great work of your life, and a great longing of your heart, to know this Jesus; as a humble, meek disciple to bow at his feet, and let him teach you of God and eternal life. Yes, even now, let us bow before him in the fourfold glory which the word has set before us. He is the heir of all that God has. He is it creator. He is the upholder too. He is the outshining of God’s glory, and the perfect image of his substance. O my Saviour! Anything to know you better, and in you to have my God speak to me!
The early Church did not simply admire Christ, it adored him. We are so apt to concentrate our thoughts on ourselves; and to thank for what we have received. We do not sufficiently often forget our own petty wants and anxieties, and launch down our tiny rivulet, until we are borne out into the great ocean of praise, which is ever breaking in music around the person of Jesus. Praise is one of the greatest acts of which we are capable; and it is most like the service of heaven. There they ask for naught, for they have all and abound; but throughout the cycles of glory the denizens of those bright worlds fill them with praise. And why should not earthly tasks be wrought to the same music? We are the priests of creation. Let a part of our private and public devotion be ever dedicated to the praise of Jesus; when we shall break forth into some hymn, or psalm, or spiritual song, singing and praising Christ with angels and archangels and all the hosts of the redeemed. On that brow, once thorn-crowned, let us entwine our laurels. Upon that ear, once familiarized with threats and scorn, let us pour the fullness of our adoring devotion. So shall we gain and give new thoughts of the supreme dignity of the Lord Jesus. FB Meyer
Rev 5:1-14
