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Meditations on the Glory of Christ: He is the Radiance of the Glory of God

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In Hebrews 1:2-4, the author makes seven claims about Jesus that when taken together greatly exalt his glory. The third claim the author makes is that he is the radiance of the glory of God. There is so much to say about the meaning of the phrase “the glory of God,” but in the interest of time let me just define it this way: the glory of God is the sum total of the excellencies of God. God is holy, just, right, true, wise, good, gracious, faithful, patient, kind, unchanging, all-powerful, all-knowing, all-present. God is, and everything God is he is to utter perfection, and when we think of all of his perfections together we rightly call this the glory of God. There is a sense in which the glory of God refers to the beauty and brightness of his being, but more profoundly it refers to all God is, thinks, feels, wills, says, and does. The glory of God is the totality of the being of God, and Jesus Christ, the Son, is the radiance of that glory.

Now, the word “radiance” gets used in two ways, and it’s important that we understand the way it’s being used here. First, it is used to mean “reflection.” For example, the moon does not produce any light of its own, rather, the moon receives the light of the sun and bounces some of that light back into the universe. The moon reflects the glory of the sun.

Second, the words “radiance” is used to mean “radiate” or “shine forth.” The sun, unlike the moon, does produce its own light and looks to nothing outside of itself to produce that light, except of course God. It borrows light from none, and gives light to all.

Jesus is most certainly like the sun, and not like the moon, for he radiates the glory of God from the inside out. He is not some object outside of God that receives and reflects the glory of God, rather he is one with the Father and he shines with the brightness of his being. As Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4:6, “For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” That is, we come to know and experience the Father as he reveals himself to us by his Son. As it is with creation so it is with the glory of God: the Father is the ultimate source of his own glory and the Son is the mediating force that manifests his glory.

Beloved, this is no theoretical claim: Jesus is the radiance of the glory of God! Think about how great he must be in light of this truth. Think about how exalted a position he must hold in light of this truth. Indeed, Jesus is highly exalted and he alone is worthy of our praise, our allegiance, our souls, our lives, our all!


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