Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs (Heb 1:1–4).
This is one of my favorite passages of Scripture. Why? For several reasons.
First, because it reminds us that God wishes to be known. God is self-revealing. He isn’t the God of deism that creates the world as we know it, winds it up like a clock to run on its own, and then step away and watch how things work out.
No, he creates, and then makes himself known to his creation. He is involved. He wishes to be known and he wishes to be known intimately.
The second reason that I love this passage is that it reminds us that Jesus is the exact imprint of his nature. This means that of all the ways that God reveals himself, the clearest portrayal of God in his nature is the person of Jesus Christ. God isn’t best revealed in a powerful thunderstorm, or a sunset, or a rainbow (general revelation through nature). No, God is best revealed as a person. He’s more than just a force. He is a personal being who wishes to be known for the sake of relationship.
But what event in the life of Jesus best portrays God? Obviously, the Cross. As Jesus willingly goes to die on the Cross, it reveals the kind of God who created all that we know and all that we are. He is a self-giving God. A God who takes our punishment on himself. In a word, God is love (1 John 4:8). The Cross of Christ is the clearest demonstration of the love of God.
But does not the Cross also demonstrate other dimensions of God’s character? Yes! It reveals the justice of God, the mercy of God, the grace of God, and mysteriously, it reveals the power of God. All of these characteristics have to do with God’s nature.
There is yet another dimension of the Cross that we too often miss. The cross not only demonstrates the character of God, it demonstrates the mission of God. Love isn’t love without mission to a lost and broken world. In the Cross we see the culmination of centuries and centuries of God’s efforts to redeem his creation (as well as centuries and centuries to come of that same effort through the Church).
Here, then, is the challenge. Christ no longer walks the earth. We understand that “[a]fter making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of Majesty on high…” (Heb 1:4). He’s now in heaven (in his glorified body). Jesus says, “As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you” (John 20:21).
What does this mean, exactly? It means that now it is the Church of Christ, you and I, that acts of the clearest embodiment of God on earth. Wow! What a remarkable (and almost horrifying) truth. God is still revealing himself to the world. Through the ages, he did that that the word, through prophets, and through Jesus. Now, he reveals himself through the church as the body of Christ.
And what is the calling of the Church? It is to display the character of God as well as the mission of God.
The church is the window to heaven—a view of the all holy God who is love and who is on a mission to redeem the world.
God wants to be known, so just as he sent Jesus, so Jesus now sends you.
