Monday in the Twenty-Fourth Week of Ordinary Time

Hebrews 1:3

The Son Is the Exact Imprint of God’s Nature

So God spoke long ago through the prophets, but now He has spoken to us in a definitive, decisive, and final way through His Son.  But what is so definitive about the Son’s speaking?  Why is the Son’s word God’s decisive and ultimate revelation about Himself—His nature, will, and way?  Well, for this very reason: “He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of His nature.”  The Greek word for “exact imprint” is the same word for the impression left by a seal (Cockerill, NICNT, 94).  The Apostle John said the same of the Son: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was in the beginning with God” (1:1-2).  And the Apostle Paul agrees: “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation” (Colossians 1:15).  Which is all to say that the Son is the definitive word of God BECAUSE as God’s only-begotten Son, HE IS GOD, the exact representation of the Father.  What the Son says, the Father says, because the Son speaks what he hears the Father saying (John 5:30; 14:8-11).  Moreover, having earlier said that the Father created the world through the Son (also John 1:3; Colossians 1:16), the writer of Hebrews now adds, “And he upholds the universe by the word of his power.”  That is, not only did the Father create the world through the agency of the Son but He sustains it by that same agency and person. 

What we have here is what we see throughout the New Testament, which is the advance of the New Testament upon the Old, making explicit in the New what was implicit in the Old, and that is, quite simply, Trinitarian theology.  All three persons were in the beginning as the one God, but in some way which we cannot fully explain, the Father was the Original from whom the Son was begotten, the Holy Spirit proceeding from the Father and the Son.  And because God is this mysterious and ineffable being who is three in one and one in three, the Son is able to reveal this God to us because he was sent from the Father for that very purpose.  The prophets could not so reveal God.  Oh, they could repeat what God told them to say, but only the Son can, not only repeat, but completely reveal, not only God’s words, but even His very nature to us.  And the Son can do this because, as we said above, the Son is God.  And for the same reason, the Son was the agent through which the Father created the world—because the Son is God. 

The Son is that member of the Triune God whose task is mediation—the “through whom” member of the Trinity—through whom God created the world and through whom God definitively and ultimately reveals Himself.

Author: The Reformed Baptist

My name is Stephen Taylor, ordained Baptist minister of eighteen years pastoral experience with a Ph.D. in Historical Theology from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas. Better than that, I am married to a godly woman, Karla, who has been very patient with me since 1989. I have two daughters, both of whom I homeschooled for extended periods of time, who became godly young women, and who ran off and married godly young men, all of which is very proper. The oldest daughter has even seen fit to bless me with a grandson and a granddaughter, and my youngest daughter with a grandson, all three of whom are bundles of exceeding joy. As you can see, I am quite blessed. This website is dedicated to helping people grow in the wisdom and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ through the gift of writing that the Lord has given to me. It is specifically about helping His people grow in godliness, the theme you see repeated above. I write devotions with this aim and hope that they might be of some help to God’s people. Full disclosure: I am of a Reformed bent, meaning that my understanding of Scripture is primarily informed by the Reformers and their successors of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. However, as a student of church history and theology, I strive to remain true to that teaching handed down once for all unto the saints through every age of the Church. I like to think of myself as a “catholic” Christian, as the Reformers thought of themselves. At any rate, feel free to read, pray, and contact me if you wish, or correct me if need be. As you can see, I tend to follow the church year. Of course, I make no special claims about these devotions. I know very well that others have written better and plumbed the depths of God’s word with greater insight. But if my musings help someone draw closer to the Lord, well then, I have my reward. Blessings to you and may the God and Father of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ speak to you that word which He knows you especially need to hear. Grace & peace, Stephen Taylor

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