As we develop our understanding of the Identity of the Lord Jesus from Hebrews 1:2-3, we have seen He is heir … talking of His Lordship, He is Creator of everything that exists and He is true Light. He does not radiate the glory of God … He is the radiance of the glory of God. Remember we are dealing with God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, One, True, Living and Eternal God. The path the writer of Hebrews is going … and that is my intention by us looking at the Identity of Jesus … is to grasp, know and understand that Jesus is God! Now the fourth Wonder of Jesus is His image.
Heb 1:3 the exact representation of his being
The phrase “exact representation” in the original language is “Charakter” … and the concept of “engraver” comes from this word. One can think of a country’s “Mint Plant” where coins are made or a “Die” where impressions are created or a “Stamp” to authenticate a document. Take Matthew 22:15-21:
Mt 22:15 Then the Pharisees went out and laid plans to trap him in his words. 16 They sent their disciples to him along with the Herodians. “Teacher,” they said, “we know you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You aren’t swayed by men, because you pay no attention to who they are. 17 Tell us then, what is your opinion? Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not?”
18 But Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said, “You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me? 19 Show me the coin used for paying the tax.” They brought him a denarius, 20 and he asked them, “Whose portrait is this? And whose inscription?”
21 “Caesar’s,” they replied.
Then he said to them, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”
Jesus asked for a coin and once in His hand he asked … “Whose portrait is this? And whose inscription?” The face of Caesar was imprinted on the coin … the exact representation of Caesar. You might remember when the “Mandela Gold Coins” came out … the exact representation of Nelson Mandela’s bust. A similar thing is “Cattle Branding” to identify the owner where a “Branding Iron” is used … although other methods are used these days. The Master of the High Court will use a wax seal on a legal document. The wax is heated and a “Stamp” is pressed onto the wax leaving an exact representation of the stamp. We use a photocopier to make exact representations of a document. Although illustrations are limited, the above ones are used to give the idea of “exact representation” to assist our understanding.
Heb 1:3 the exact representation of his being
Jesus is the exact print of the Father … He is the exact image of the Father. Jesus said to Phillip:
Jn 14:9 “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me?”
and
Joh 10:30 “I and the Father are one.”
The point I strive to teach about God is that when I pray to the Father I am praying to God; when I pray to Jesus I am praying to God and when I pray to the Spirit I am praying to God. There is one God, revealed in three persons … yet one God … so naturally, if I pray to anyone of the three persons forming the Godhead, I am praying to God … hence to see the Father is the see the Son and to see the Son is to see the Father. I know we can’t see God with the naked eye this side of eternity … but I am certain you understand the point.
Heb 1:3 the exact representation of his being
Now, back when God created … we read:
Ge 1:27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
Man was created in the image of God. The image or print was holiness and flowing from holiness was all the characteristics such as spirituality, relationship, fellowship, morality, ethics, rule, obedience, faithfulness, trustworthy, integrity, etc. But sin ruin this image … all that was left was an almost untraceable shadow of the image of God.
However … in Jesus this image has been restored because he brought the true image with Him to planet earth. He lived the righteous life … He imaged the Father in wisdom and practice and in thought and in deed. To look at the Father through the pages of the Bible you see the Son and when you look at the Son through the pages of Scripture you see the Father. For if the Son is the exact representation of the Father, then the Father is the exact representation of the Son. The image is the same because both Father and Son are part of one God. Often language limits us as we have impressions in our minds as to what a word means and every time we think of that word the same thing comes to mind. Although I have used the illustration in the previous Daily Note Book, I want to use it again for it helps us as believers take Jesus as the “exact representation of ‘God’s” being” and apply it to ourselves. God chose us in Christ to be holy and blameless in His sight (Eph 1:4). That is God’s purpose in election … that we be what Adam failed to be … “holy and blameless”. Today you and I feel this is an impossibility as we struggle with the “old man”. The world, the flesh and the devil are always sticking their necks out our way … temptations abound … how will we ever be “holy and blameless”. Well, God chose us to be like that … in His sight!
Rom 8:29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son
not only did God chose us to be holy and blameless, He predestined us to be … “conformed to the likeness of his Son”. The word ‘predestined’ does not only have and eternal past reality … it has an eternal future reality. What God predestined will come to be. It is as good as done! This “likeness” is what Adam was created to be like (Gen 1:26-28) … the likeness and the image of God … meaning the holiness, righteousness, blamelessness … and in Jesus reversing the curse enables this restoration through His Blood … with something of:
Heb 1:3 the exact representation of his being
Something of the image being stamped on all believers for all eternity!
Dear Glorious Lord Jesus Christ, we are literally a day away from the remembrance of Your Crucifixion on Good Friday … the Great Rescue Plan of the Triune God to restore the elect of God to a right standing before Your Divine Majesty. As we have considered You, the exact representation of Gods being, we are humbling at Your Identity and we are moved at how You are restoring believing man to the Likeness of Yourself, for Your glory and our blessing to live with You in Glory. Amen.