“The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.” Hebrews 1:3 NIV
Today, I am looking at the first half of this verse and I will look at the second half tomorrow. It is believed that Paul wrote the book of Hebrews to the Jews who had converted to Christianity and were facing persecution. Their suffering was leading them to think about converting back to Judaism. In this one of many verses that Paul is using to encourage the Christians to remain faithful to Jesus, he is talking about Jesus. He is telling them that Jesus, the very One they had chosen to follow, was the radiance of God’s glory. Just like the ray beams of the sun are what we can see, not the actual sun, Jesus is the radiance or rays of God, that we can see, not God Himself.
I do not feel deprived when I think of Jesus that way because even thought He is being described as a radiance, He is also the exact representation of God. It is like a stamp, when pressed into ink and then pressed on paper shows the exact same image that is on the stamp. Jesus is exactly the same as God. Then as if this is not wonderful enough, that we get to see Jesus, the exact representation of God, Paul talks about how Jesus sustains all things.
Our Lord and Savior is not a passive God who sustains by simply being where He should be, our Lord is actively involved with our world. He does this not by carrying things around, He does it by His powerful word. He simply speaks and all of creation listens to Him. Trees grow because He tells them to, winds stop because He says a word, waters move where He tells them to move and demons flee because He instructs them to go.
My question for everyone today is……..Do you know the radiance of God’s glory?