Who being the brightness of His glory, and the express image of His Person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high. Hebrews 1:3
What glorious truths are contained in today’s text – one of all of Scripture’s most magnificent portions! My little treatise on this verse today might take you three minutes or so to read or to listen to (if you watch the video), but all that is contained within these 43 words will require every expanse of eternity for our Saviour to define and describe its depths, heights, and breadth. Few of our Bible’s 31,102 verses contain as much as this one precious portion.
The first section of our text begins to describe the Lord Jesus in His eternal relationship to the Father. Only He could match the brightness of the Father’s glory, as Peter, James, and John witnessed on the mount of transfiguration. And as we will one day see. Only He could be the express image of the Father’s person, the response to Philip’s request: ‘Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us’ John 14:8. Only He could share with the Father and the Spirit in the formation and sustaining of all of creation. For all this we worship Him.
It is the centre portion of this great text that captures our attention this Lord’s day, because it directly involves us. As we enter within the veil to partake of the bread and cup in remembrance of Himself, we begin to appreciate the preciousness of all that transpired when He purged our sins. Our text reminds us that He did it by Himself. Hopelessly and utterly lost, we must turn to One Whose sinless character qualified Him to become God’s perfect and acceptable sacrifice. We review the details that the Gospel writers provide of the events surrounding Golgotha, and marvel that He could endure the shame, the pain, and the punishment, and victoriously proclaim ‘it is finished!’ For all this we worship Him.
How do we know that work of the Cross met all of God’s requirements for our salvation? We know because He raised Him from the dead. We know because He seated Him at the right hand of the Majesty on high. One of the greatest desires of the Lord Jesus is that we who are His redeemed might behold Him in His glory. And that we will do when we enter His presence to be forever with the Lord. We will see One seated on the highest throne who is worthy to be there. We will see on His features the marks of Calvary, the only man-made items in all of Heaven, and be forever reminded that His love for us was greater than all our sin. As we joyfully cast our crowns at His feet, we will lift our voices in sinless praise and with worthy adoration behold the most precious sight of all of Heaven. For all this we worship Him.
Re-read our text today and allow its lovely thoughts to bring us into greater appreciation for our Lord and Saviour. -Jim MacIntosh