Who is Jesus? God’s perfect image
Hebrews 1:3a
The search for God
Just talking to other people can reveal that many are on a search for God. They might not necessarily use the word, ‘God’, but the search is there for ‘The Great Being’, ‘Ultimate Reality’, ‘True Meaning’. Pick a term. Spiritual quests. In pursuit of the spiritual.
A few years ago it was Julia Roberts’ trendy ‘Eat, Pray, Love’ movie that attracted such a following. Where Liz Gilbert. The character played by Julia Roberts. Finds herself confused about what’s important to her and so embarks on a quest of self-discovery that takes her to Italy, India and Bali. Pretty exotic locations. Not a bad gig if you can get it.
Or, more recently, there’s been Morgan Freeman’s, ‘The story of God’. Which has now been extended to a third series. Where he travels to 20 cities across 7 countries including Jerusalem’s wailing wall, India’s Bodhi Tree and the pyramids in Egypt. Exploring various cultures and religions, and their take on religion-related topics. Particularly their belief in a God or a higher power.
Google the phrase, ‘The search for God’, and you come up with all kinds of interesting hits. ‘The search for God and Guinness’. ‘The search for God at Harvard’. ‘Genghis Khan and the search for God’. ‘LSD and the search for God’. Are just some of what comes up on the first few pages. And, no, I didn’t let it consume all my week.
Here at Engadine Cong we’re halfway through this short series on the person and work of Christ. Looking at the first few verses of the book of Hebrews and seeing what those verses reveal to us about who Jesus is and what Jesus has done. We’ve seen Jesus in relation to revelation. How God reveals himself. That in these last days God has spoken to us by his Son. Jesus. He is God’s final word. And so we’re to listen to him. Last week we considered Jesus in relation to creation. That he’s presented to us as God’s agent of creation. The one through whom God made the universe. And the one who continues to this very day to sustain all things by his powerful word. Including us. We are made by him and therefore also for him.
This morning we’re just going to look at the very first part of verse 3 of Hebrews Chapter 1. Because it’s here that the author of Hebrews makes two staggering claims in relation to who Jesus is. Claims that speak right into this topic. This issue. Of the search for God. With the result that we’re pointed to a wonderful and liberating truth for each one of us.
Well, before we look at that, let’s pray and ask for God’s help to see and grasp this truth for ourselves. Let’s talk to God …
Our great God and Father, it’s your Word that we come to now and so it’s your help that we need and we ask for. Please enable us to see Jesus clearly from what you have spoken, for his glory and for our great good, Amen.
“The radiance of God’s glory”
So, let me read our section for this morning. You can see it there. The first half of Hebrews Chapter 1 verse 3 …
“The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being”.
There are two descriptions made here in terms of who Jesus is. And, in fact, the words. ‘Radiance’ and ‘exact representation’. The Greek words that lie behind those English translations. They’re used only here in all of the New Testament. This is the only place where they occur. Jesus. The Son. He is described as being “… the radiance of God’s glory” and he is “… the exact representation of his being”. And this morning we’re going to take each of these descriptions in turn.
So, firstly, the Son. Jesus. Is “… the radiance of God’s glory”.
God’s glory. It’s one of those funny kind of words or topics. Ideas. That Christians tend to use quite a lot but when you stop and think about, ‘Well, what actually is it?’ it tends to lead to a whole lot of ‘Umms’ and more than a few ‘Ahhs’. What is God’s glory?
Well, the root idea, or the base meaning, of the word glory is heaviness. Heaviness. And so you get the sense of the weight or the worthiness of something. As it relates to God, John Piper explains it this way. He says, “… the glory of God is the going public of his infinite worth”. The going public of his infinite worth. It’s the revelation. The revealing. Of God’s being, nature and presence to mankind. One author, Raymond Brown. He puts it this way. He says, “For the Hebrew people the glory of God was a visible and outward expression of the majestic presence of God”. The glory of God. Put simply. Perhaps we could say it’s God’s greatness on show.
And it’s here. As on so many other occasions. That we’re helped in our understanding and our appreciation of this by the Old Testament Scriptures. Because God’s people, the Israelites, they’d had experiences of God’s glory. And those experiences. They’ve been recorded for us in Scripture. The Old Testament Scriptures that the readers of this letter to the Hebrews would’ve been very aware of.
So, for example, we read that the Israelites. They were rescued from their slavery in Egypt. And we’re told in Exodus 16 … “While Aaron was speaking to the whole Israelite community, they looked toward the desert, and there was the glory of the LORD appearing in the cloud”.
In Exodus Chapter 24. God. Having rescued the Israelites from Egypt. He takes them to a mountain. Mount Sinai. To communicate to them what it means for them to now be his people and for him to be their God. Exodus 24 … “When Moses went up on the mountain, the cloud covered it, and the glory of the LORD settled on Mount Sinai. For six days the cloud covered the mountain, and on the seventh day the LORD called to Moses from within the cloud. To the Israelites the glory of the LORD looked like a consuming fire on top of the mountain. Then Moses entered the cloud as he went on up the mountain. And he stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights”.
Later. After the Israelites rebel against God, particularly in the incident of making the Golden Calf idol. And after Moses, upon being made aware of that incident, breaks the two stone tablets with the ten commandments. In Exodus 33. Moses is speaking with God. “Then Moses said, ‘Now show me your glory’. And the LORD said, ‘I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the LORD, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. But’, he said, ‘you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live’. Then the LORD said, ‘There is a place near me where you may stand on a rock. When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. Then I will remove my hand and you will see my back; but my face must not be seen’”.
At the end of the book of Exodus we reach this high point. This climax. In terms of the relationship between God’s people, Israel, and God. As they build the tabernacle. Also known as the Tent of Meeting. This portable, move-able, tent-like structure in which God would dwell with his people. And in Exodus 40. The last chapter of the book. This high point. We’re told … “Then the cloud covered the Tent of Meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. Moses could not enter the Tent of Meeting because the cloud had settled upon it, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. In all the travels of the Israelites, whenever the cloud lifted from above the tabernacle, they would set out; but if the cloud did not lift, they did not set out – until the day it lifted. So the cloud of the LORD was over the tabernacle by day, and fire was in the cloud by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel during all their travels”.
We see the same kind of high point when the tabernacle later gets replaced with the more permanent structure of the temple. Under King Solomon. 2 Chronicles Chapter 7 … “When Solomon finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the LORD filled the temple. The priests could not enter the temple of the LORD because the glory of the LORD filled it. When all the Israelites saw the fire coming down and the glory of the LORD above the temple, they knelt on the pavement with their faces to the ground, and they worshipped and gave thanks to the LORD, saying, ‘He is good; his love endures forever’”.
It’s part of the utter tragedy of the exile of God’s people. Towards the end of the Old Testament. When, again because of their rebellion against God. Firstly, the Assyrians come through and wipe out the northern kingdom. And then later the Babylonians come through and take the southern kingdom, Judah, off into exile. Because what we have happening. As the prophet Ezekiel declares. Is the glory of the LORD. That had once filled the temple. It now ends up departing from the temple. High point to low point.
The cloud. The consuming fire on the mountain. Moses’ partial experience of God’s glory in the cleft of the rock. Which seems to be a revelation of his character. God’s glory filling the tabernacle. And later filling the temple. Through the recording of all these events and experiences. There’s built up this rich catalog of encounters with God’s glory. The witnessing of the going public of God’s infinite worth, as Piper put it. God’s greatness on display. Seen. By people.
And so consider how breathtaking it is that, after all that, that John should open his gospel. His biography of Jesus. Speaking of Jesus as the Word. The Word who was there in the beginning. The Word who was with God and who was God. The Word through whom all things were made. That John should declare. Chapter 1 verse 14. “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling”. Literally tabernacled. “… made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory”, claims John. “… the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth”. Wow!
That’s why the author of Hebrews can describe Jesus here as being “… the radiance of God’s glory”. Because that is who he is. And, having seen all those experiences of God’s glory recorded for us in the Old Testament, we’re better able to see why this is such an incredible statement to make. Because. As Peter Adam puts it. What the author of Hebrews is declaring here is that, “All God’s greatness and majesty shines through his Son”. Or, as Raymond Brown expresses it, “… the author of this letter reminds his readers that nowhere has the glory of God been more perfectly manifest than in the person of God’s Son. In Christ all the majesty of God’s splendour is fully revealed”. What a thing to say. What a way to describe. Who Jesus is.
People, they often want some experience of God, don’t they? ‘God, just show yourself to me. Reveal yourself. Display your greatness’. Christians can be like that too, at times. We want more. More of God. And that’s not a bad desire. Provided we point our desire in the right direction. God’s glory is his infinite worth going public. God’s greatness on show. And, as Hebrews tells us, here in Jesus, God’s Son, we have the one who is the radiance of that glory. We’re to look to him. Direct our desire, our gaze, on him.
“The exact representation of his being”
So, that’s our first description that we get here in Hebrews 1:3 regarding who Jesus is. His person. He is the “… radiance of God’s glory”. Secondly, we’re told here that Jesus. The Son. He is “… the exact representation of his being”. Of God’s being.
I like what Peter Adam has to say on this. He says, “The Son truly and fully shows us the character of God. When we see what the Son is like, we see exactly what God is like. There is no ‘private side’ of God obscured behind a ‘public side’ revealed in Christ. The true and full character of God is made clear and open to us in Jesus”.
You know when you get to know people. And you might’ve known them for years. Perhaps you’ve had meals together. Or even shared holidays. And you feel like you know them. And you’d say that you know them. But then something happens. You hear about something they’ve done or something they’ve said. And it’s not just gossip or hearsay. It’s what they did actually say or do. That experience. Going through something like that. It throws the whole thing up in the air, doesn’t it? It raises all kinds of questions about the relationship. It casts all kinds of doubts over your knowledge of them. ‘Did I really know them, like I thought I did?’
I caught a snippet of an interview on ABC Radio during the week. On Tuesday afternoon Myf Warhurst was interviewing Pat Houston and discussing the recent movie documentary on the life of Whitney Houston. Pat is Whitney’s sister-in-law and also an executive producer of the film, called ‘Whitney’. And Pat. As she was talking about Whitney and the documentary, she said, “There’s a very human side to her. Her life mirrors all of our lives. She just had to play hers out in the public and we play ours out in the shadows. She was a person who had triumphs and tragedies and love and happiness and joy and pain and sunshine and rain, just like everyone else”. She said, “I think people forget sometimes that people that are in the spotlight, from entertainers to athletes and public figures, that these people have a life beyond the job that they do. We sometimes forget that and we forget that they’re human … Just like any other human person she had feelings as well. She was a person just as well as she was an icon to the world”.
We do often forget that with celebrities, don’t we? There is more to them than what we see. And this documentary, it shows us more of the private side to Whitney Houston. Beyond the public. We get to see the person behind the icon.
Well, what the writer of Hebrews is saying to us here is that there is no ‘private side’ of God that’s obscured. That’s hidden. That’s held back from us. Behind the ‘public side’ revealed in Jesus. Jesus. He truly. And he fully. Shows us the character of God. He is the “exact representation of his being”. You want to know what God’s like? You look to Jesus.
If we want to shift the illustration here, we might think of travelling to The Mint. In Canberra. On one of those famed school excursions you might’ve been on. And there you’ll find out how coins are made. You know, 50 cents, 20 cents. $2 dollar coins. The coin design gets cut directly into tool steel using a computer-controlled engraving machine. That makes what’s called a reduction punch. And this reduction punch it contains a raised, or a relief, impression of the complete design of the coin. That gets placed in a hydraulic press where the design is transferred onto a softened steel block. The result is a master die. That hardens and then gets used on another steel block and the result is what’s called a working hob. An impression of the design. That hardens to make the production die and away you go. The production die gets used to strike blanks, turning them into coins.
And so, Raymond Brown. Explaining this description that we have here of Jesus in Hebrews 1 verse 3. He puts it this way. He says, “… this writer … insists that Jesus bears the very stamp of God’s nature. All the attributes of God became visible in him. The stamp vividly presents the picture of an image or superscription on a coin or medal. It exactly and perfectly matches the picture on the die”.
That’s what we have in Jesus. God’s Son. “… the exact representation of his being”. If we want to see God. Know God. We’re to look to Christ. To Jesus. As John writes at the end of that incredible introduction to his Gospel. John 1:18. “No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father’s side, has made him known”.
Call off the search!
All of which leads us to a very obvious and extremely wonderful conclusion. We can call off the search. This search for God. It ends with Jesus. If he is the radiance of God’s glory. If he is the exact representation of God’s being. We can call in the troops. We can switch off the headlamps. We can put the maps away.
Because here. In Jesus. As we heard earlier in our time together this morning from Colossians Chapter 1. We have “… the image of the invisible God”. Colossians 1:15. We’re told. Colossians 1:19. That “… God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him”. In Jesus. Colossians 2:9. “… in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form”.
And so, in our search. And all of us have been, or still are, on a search for God. We need to only look to Christ. We need to only look to Christ. We’re not to go looking elsewhere. In our longings. And we all have longings. We’re to direct whatever longings we might have for more towards him. We’re not to go sampling from other wells but rather we’re to go ever deeper into this well. Jesus. We need to only look to Christ.
And, as we do that, we discover this wonderful, liberating truth. The truth that we only need look to Christ. To Jesus. We only need look to him. That in him, the going public of God’s infinite worth. God’s greatness on show. Has been perfectly and fully revealed. The “radiance of God’s glory”. That in him all the attributes of God have become visible. He exactly and perfectly matches the picture on the die. He bears the very stamp of God’s nature. There is no ‘private side’ to God obscured behind the ‘public side’ revealed in Jesus. In him we have the true and full character of God made clear and open to each one of us. The “exact representation of his being”. If that is who he is, then the wonderful, liberating result is that we only need look to Jesus.
Well, before we sing again, let’s have a few moments to think over these things for ourselves. We’ve got some questions for reflection and I’ll read them out for us and then give you a couple of minutes to think over them personally …
Question 1. Would you describe yourself as still being on a search for God? How do you think you need to respond in light of what you have read and heard this morning?
Question 2. Would you describe yourself as longing for more – in life, or in your relationship with God? How do you think you need to respond in light of what you have read and heard this morning?
0 Comments