[This is part three of a deeper study of the article 7 Reasons Christ is King. To get better context and a link to the other parts, you can click there and read it first.]
His Excellence of Character
The dignity of our Lord doesn’t depend on the fact that he created the world or even inherited it. He is the reflection of God. There was once time when there was no creation, but there has never been a time when God had no glory. It is that intangible essence of God that would have been hard to grasp if there had never been a Christ.
The Hebrews writer attempts to capture that essence through the words we have translated as radiance or effulgence. (Hebrews 1:3) The idea is that Christ shines forth like a brilliant light – certainly this is the inspiration of the many painters through time that rendered Jesus in the middle of light. The audience of the letter was sure to remember how Moses’ face shone after being in the presence of God. Those present at the transfiguration of Christ must have witnessed something similar.
The Image of God
The Son of God bore the exact image of his father. How much extra credit do we give the sons of famous men when they strongly favor their fathers? Something about the genetic similarities causes us to expect so much more from them. How much more then would that apply to image of God?
When the writer said that Christ was the “imprint of His nature,” he was communicating something along the lines of the die that strikes a coin or a branding iron making its owner’s exact mark. Christ said in John 14:9, “he that has seen me has seen the Father.” Paul said we were redeemed by the blood of the very image and first born of God. (Colossians 1:14-15)
Imagine God being available to look at. His hand is held out to hold ours. What if we could look into his eyes and see the love he has for us?
How would God feel if, after all that before us, we rejected him?
That is the emotion that the Hebrew writer was appealing to.
Part 4: The Sustaining Force
November 28, 2013
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