Tuesday: He Is the Radiance of the Glory of God

Read Hebrews 1:2-4. What are some of the things that this passage teaches us about Jesus?

In this section, we will focus on the portion that says, “He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature” (Hebrews 1:3, ESV).

Read Exodus 24:16-17; Psalm 4:6; Psalm 36:9; and Psalm 89:15. How do these texts help us understand what the glory of God is?

Image © The Classic Bible Art Collection – Formerly Standard Publishing at Goodsalt.com

In the Old Testament, the glory of God refers to His visible presence among His people (Exodus 16:7; Exodus 24:16-17; Leviticus 9:23; Numbers 14:10). This presence is often associated with light or radiance.

Scripture informs us that Jesus is the light who came to this world to reveal the glory of God (Hebrews 1:3; John 1:6-9, John 1:14-18; 2 Corinthians 4:6). Think, for instance, of how Jesus appeared in the transfiguration. “And He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light” (Matthew 17:2, NKJV).

Just as the sun cannot be perceived except by the radiance of its light, God is known through Jesus. From our perspective, the two are one. Because God’s glory is light itself, there is no difference, in actual being and character, between God and Jesus, just as there is no difference between light and its radiance.

Hebrews also says that Jesus is the “exact representation” of the Father’s substance (Hebrews 1:3, NASB). The point of the metaphor is that there is a perfect correspondence in being — or essence — between the Father and the Son. Note that human beings carry God’s image but not His essence (Genesis 1:26). The Son, however, shares the same essence with the Father. No wonder that Jesus said, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father” (John 14:9, NKJV).

Why is that such great news that Jesus reveals the character and the glory of the Father to us? What does Jesus tell us about what the Father is like?

<–Monday Wednesday–>

Amen!