Hebrews 1:3 - Christ the Glory of God

Hebrews 1:3 And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.

Message: Christ the Glory of God

Time: Hebrews was written to a group of Christians who had suffered in the past and were now threatened with even more suffering. They'd done well years ago, but the author of Hebrews feared that they might now turn away from Christ to avoid further persecution. The opinions on the author of Hebrews has varied.

What the Lord is Saying: As I have looked at previously, God's glory is a bright light and His glory is all consuming that we cannot look upon directly and see without being put to death on this earth, namely because we are imperfect and with sin. But today's passage points us to a way we see the glory of God: through Jesus. "And He (Jesus) is the radiance of His (God the Father's) glory and the exact representation of His (God the Father's) nature." Christ is God incarnate for "God highly exalted Him (Phil 2:9)." 

And yet what I have studied and seen is a bright light and not being able to look upon God directly, so how were people able to see Jesus? It was only at His transfiguration as discussed in Matthew 17:1-2 that Peter, James and John witnessed the light of God's glory. 

And so God's glory was veiled in Jesus while He walked the earth and yet we see and people witnessed other attributes of divinity. And so it is for us as we read and study God's word, we get a glimpse through Jesus as well of His divine glory and attributes. 

Summary: We can know God's divine glory by knowing Jesus and reading about Him in God's word. 

Promise: And as we grow in our knowledge of Christ, we will also grow in our longing to see the fullness of the divine glory.

Prayer: Thank you God for these lessons on Glory and discovering the meaning of Your Glory and that we see God's glory also in the person of Jesus Christ. And every day as I read and study God's word I am witness of this glory. Help me to understand this better and point people to Jesus with my life, the way I live it and speak of You and what You are doing.