“The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word.” (Hebrews 1:3a, NIV)
How we talk about Jesus matters. It matters because our speech about him is a reflection of what we believe to be true about him, and what we believe to be true about him directly shapes the relationship we’re in with him. If we believe Jesus to be less than what he’s revealed to be in Scripture then we could be in danger of worshiping someone who is no real Jesus at all. Therefore, it makes sense to examine what we say because we know that what we say is a window into what we believe. We can do this not only with ourselves but with the authors of Scripture to see if we believe what they believed. In this particular instance, we can put this into practice with the author of the letter to the Hebrews.
In Hebrews 1 we come across three statements in a row that are packed together and delivered in one sweeping sentence in English. It’s great how so much truth can be found in a single sentence and yet, it’s often in these types of sentences where we run the risk of missing what has actually been said. Knowing that, let’s breakdown the sentence in Hebrews 1 so we put up what the God-inspired writer has written against what we believe to be true.
Statement 1: The Son is the radiance of God’s glory…
Jesus (the Son) exists in such a way as to emit, reflect, or radiate the glory of God to the world. Similar to how the Holy Spirit is constantly putting the focus upon Jesus, Jesus is constantly shining forth God’s glory so that his glory can be seen by those who have eyes to see. This means that when we look at Jesus we can see the glory of God on full display. It’s not as if Jesus is merely a door to the glory of God or even a window into what that glory looks like. Windows and doors are things we look and go through to experience whatever is on the other side. Jesus, however, is the experience. If you want to experience the glory of God in its truest form, Jesus is the one to whom you need to go.
Statement 2: …and the exact representation of his being…
Jesus exists in such a way as to give the clearest picture of God. Even here, though, that language of picture doesn’t quite do it justice to what’s actually going on because a picture is not actually the thing in which it’s showing. Jesus, on the other hand, is both displaying the being of God and Jesus is that God in the flesh. When some read the above statement in Hebrews they may think that Jesus was so good at living life the way it needed to be lived that one could say his life was God-like. That description, however, is missing something very important about the nature of Jesus. Jesus is God. Since Jesus is God, the life he lived, he lived as God would have lived it because…since Jesus is God, God lived it. Whatever Jesus did while he was on earth was as the God-man because that’s who he is and, therefore, he is the exact representation of God’s being.
Statement 3: …sustaining all things by his powerful word.
Jesus exists in such a way as to not only be the creator of all things but to be the one who sustains all created things. Since Scripture tells us that God spoke and things came into being, it can probably be safely assumed that things remain because God’s speaking has not ceased. It’s as if when God wanted to create a tree he said, “tree!” and there it was. The tree remains because God has not yet stopped saying, “tree!” God’s creation is brought into existence by his speech and his speech is what keeps it in existence. He then (Jesus) sustains all things by his powerful word. His word that not only creates but sustains what has been created.
With all of that, we now have the chance to stack up our beliefs with those of the writer to the Hebrews and, thus, God’s. When you talk about Jesus do you talk about him as the radiance of God’s glory, the exact representation of his being, or the one who sustains all things? If not, is this because you can’t possibly say everything there is true about Jesus all the time (of which I will amen right along with you!) or is it because, over time, you’ve crafted a Jesus more to your liking and less to the scriptural testimony? If it’s the second reason, I would suggest that you let yourself off the hook of trying not only to make a better Jesus but to defend that Jesus to the world. Embrace the Jesus of the Scriptures and rest in spending the rest of your life aligning with what the Scriptures tell us to be true.