Hebrews 1:3-4 "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; (4) Being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they."
The writer is speaking of Jesus, the Son of God. He is the One Who has spoken
to us in these last days. I think back to some of the very last words spoken by
the prophet Malachi, who wrote the last book of the Old Testament. "But
unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in
his wings." (Malachi 4:2) The Sun of righteousness is indeed the
very Son of God, Jesus the Christ. He is the very brightness of the glory of
God. His brightness shone forth on the hillside the night He was born.
"The glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore
afraid." (Luke 2:9) This brightness had never been seen before in
this manner. The glory of the Lord shone around Jesus as He went about
teaching, healing, performing miraculous feats. Certainly, His glory was
shone on the Mount of Transfiguration, where Jesus was transformed before
Peter, James, and John. "This is my beloved Son in Whom I am well
pleased."
When we look at Jesus, we see "the express image of his person." That
is, Jesus is the express image of the Father. The Greek word for "express
image" is "charakter". If you want to know what God is
like or how He responds to situations and circumstances, study the life of
Jesus. Jesus is the very character of God. We saw in our study of John that He
is God in flesh. The angel appeared to Joseph to tell Him that Jesus would be
called Emmanuel, which being interpreted is "God with us." Jesus told
Philip, "He that hath seen me hath seen the Father."
I realize I am beginning this study of Hebrews on a very elementary level, but
I feel the need to be reminded of this One Who is speaking to us. For you see
there are many in the world today who will profess Jesus to be a prophet. He
was indeed a prophet, but oh so much more! He is the very Son of God, God in
flesh, God with us, Emmanuel, the brightness of the glory of God, the very
express image, the character of our Father in Heaven. He has every right and
all authority to speak the things that are going to follow in this book of
Hebrews.
He is so much higher than the angels. There has been a movement that borders
much too closely on angel worship. We are not to worship angels. They are
created beings that minister. They minister praise unto the One Who created
them. They minister to us in our times of need. I won't go into what form they
take upon themselves; for I really do not know. God is able to use many
different ways in which to give comfort and send His message to His people. The
setting for today is that we do not worship the messenger. We do not even
worship the message. We worship the One Who has made all things and upholds all
things, including the angels. There is no other name under heaven given
among men whereby we must be saved... Only Jesus!