Consider Jesus
“The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact expression of his nature, sustaining all things by His powerful word.”
The author of Hebrews starts with the right focus—Jesus. Jesus is central to our faith. He is the very foundation of our faith. If we don’t first start by having a right consideration of Jesus, everything else will be skewed. So let’s start in the right place. Come, let’s consider Jesus.
Hebrews 1 focuses on Jesus’ divinity, authority, and most importantly, His sonship.
Consider His Divinity
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being
Jesus was not always a man. We look at the birth of Jesus as the start of His life, but in actuality, He has existed since before the beginning (of everything we know). He has always been; He just took on the form of a man in that point in time. So if we consider Jesus before His birth, He was the Word with God in the beginning. Hebrews 1:2 says that God “made the universe through Him.” This is further supported in the written account in Genesis when God said “Let us make man in our image.” From the beginning, Jesus’ divinity is established.
I think the writer of Hebrews wants us all to be clear on the fact that Jesus was not just a man, anointed by God. And he further clarifies that Jesus is not an equivalent to an angelic being. No, Jesus is the maker of the universe and “all things are sustained by His powerful word.” The Word, He, who was God—Jesus— made the universe. Colossians 3:16-17 reiterates this point:
For everything was created by him, in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities — all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things and by him all things hold together.
Everything we can see, and everything we cannot see, was made by Jesus. The heavens, the stars, the planets, and the galaxies that extend farther than our mind can even comprehend were established by Jesus. The tiniest of molecules that are so small our eyes cannot see them were made by Jesus. Invisible forces such as winds and gravity were established by Jesus. And He sustains all of these things. The earth still spins, matter stays together, seasons come and go because He holds them together.
Sweet friend, why does it matter that you fully grasp that He is the sustainer of the universe? If we are going to continue forward in our faith, we must believe that Jesus was, is and, always will be the sustainer of the universe. If we don’t, then why are we putting our faith in Him? What good would our faith be if it were in someone that didn’t have the power to do anything? And often, we have our faith in Him because we are believing for a miracle, the supernatural. Only Jesus can defy the natural because He controls it. He functions in the supernatural. In French, the word for supernatural is surnaturel, sur meaning on. I like that word picture because He is on the natural, above the natural. It does not control Him, but rather He controls it.
We can rest and not worry because He is in control. He can handle ANYTHING because He holds EVERYTHING. And He can bring about any miracle for you because everything in nature is at His command. And how can we have faith that He will continue to sustain us? Because He does not change. Hebrews 1:12 says about Jesus “But you are the same, and your years will never end.” He was in the beginning before anything was made and He will remain after the earth as we know passes away.
Consider His Position
Jesus’ work was not finished after creation. At the appointed time, He took on the form of man, and “after making purification for sin, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.” The writer points out two important things that God says. God declared Jesus His son and God placed Jesus at His right hand, the position of highest honor and authority. To no other person or entity has He ever, or will He ever, give such a position. This is why the author of Hebrews asks, “To which of the angels did He ever say, ‘You are my Son.?’”
Jesus’ authority/lordship is directly tied to His sonship. Because Jesus is His son, His only son, God gave Him an inheritance: “God has appointed him heir of all things.” He inherited a name more excellent than [the angel] (Hebrews 1:4). And the Father seated Him at His right hand. This position is not only a position of honor, but a position of authority. God gave Him an eternal kingdom and He is Lord of everything. He said to the son, “You Throne, O God, is forever and ever.”
I think it is important to note that simply because God says it is so is why Jesus is Lord. God’s word is creative—it speaks life. When God speaks, it is. So it is important to see what God says about Jesus because God is the ultimate authority. But God also entrusted Jesus with His kingdom because Jesus is so worthy of that position. He is the only being to ever be worthy of being King. “He has loved justice and hated lawlessness; that is why God has anointed Him.”
As believers, we are willingly yielding to His authority. Everyone is subject to Him: all men, angels, demons, the devil himself will bow before Jesus and confess He is Lord. But as Christians, we are willingly yielding to His authority. How can we do this? Because we can trust Him to be good. We believe that Jesus was, is and always will be righteous and love justice. We can be confident our faith is rightfully placed in Him because He is constant, because He is good, because His throne is established above the Earth, and His throne will endure forever.
Consider His purpose
Jesus came to Earth to live a perfect life to atone for our sins. He restored our relationship with the Father. Jesus was not just a good teacher. Jesus was not just a prophet. But Hebrews 1:2 says “in these last days, he has spoken to us by his Son.” God decided to send His Son—His exact likeness so that we might better know Him. Jesus was and is “the radiance of God’s glory and the exact expression of is nature.” 2 Corinthians 4:6 says, “For God who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ has shone in our hearts hearts to give the light of the knowledge of God’s glory in the face of Jesus Christ.” We need look no further than Jesus to know the Father. In John 6:38 Jesus states that He came down from heaven not to do His will but to do the will of the Father. We can look to Jesus to know the heart of our Heavenly Father and we honor Jesus’ sacrifice for connecting us with Him.
I want to show you another passage to consider:
About eight days later Jesus took Peter, John, and James up on a mountain to pray. And as he was praying, the appearance of his face was transformed, and his clothes became dazzling white. Suddenly, two men, Moses and Elijah, appeared and began talking with Jesus. They were glorious to see. And they were speaking about his exodus from this world, which was about to be fulfilled in Jerusalem. Peter and the others had fallen asleep. When they woke up, they saw Jesus’ glory and the two men standing with him. As Moses and Elijah were starting to leave, Peter, not even knowing what he was saying, blurted out, “Master, it’s wonderful for us to be here! Let’s make three shelters as memorials —one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” But even as he was saying this, a cloud overshadowed them, and terror gripped them as the cloud covered them. Then a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, my Chosen One. Listen to him.” When the voice finished, Jesus was there alone. They didn’t tell anyone at that time what they had seen.” Luke 9:28-36 NLT
The disciples knew there was something special about Jesus. They followed Jesus around and saw God’s anointing on Him—with the miracles that He performed and the words that He spoke. But I wonder if they thought of Jesus as just a man with an anointing. When Jesus calmed the winds during a storm the disciples wondered, “Who is this that even the winds and waves obey Him?” I wonder if they thought Jesus was a great prophet, like Elijah. We know Peter recognized that Jesus was the Messiah—the one who come to save the world. He declared that Jesus was the son of the living God. What faith he had to say that when what he saw before him was, to any other person, a man.
As I was reading the passage in Hebrews this week, a song by Hillsong came on. It is called Transfiguration. As I was listening to the words, and obviously the title, I began to think about Jesus on the mount of transfiguration. We often focus on the life and ministry of Jesus here on Earth, and for good reason. But we cannot take His divinity out of the equation. Peter, James, and John saw Jesus’ glory and splendor—the reflection of God Himself. They heard the voice of God speak, leaving no question as to who Jesus was. My prayer after reading Hebrews 1 is that I will see and remember that Jesus is the radiance of God’s glory. And as the lyric from the song says “Holy is the Lord revealed before my eyes, and my burning heart can scarcely take it in. As I behold your beautify with my unworthy eyes, the only song my souls can find to sing is hallelujah.”1
1 Hillsong. “Transfiguration", Hillsong Music, 2015. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLMtfq5epbw
My journaling from Hebrews 1
