1:3 Who (the Son) is the brightness of His glory,
The picture being presented here is that of the sun and sunlight. The sunlight is distinct from the sun, yet it is an expression of the sun’s nature. Without the sun there would be no sunlight, but without sunlight the sun would not be visible. In the same way, God the Son, though distinct from the Father, shares and expresses the nature of the Father. Without Him, we could never have known all that God was like. Nature gave us some hint of God’s greatness and intelligence, but only through Jesus did we really see His grace, His mercy, His holiness, and His plan of salvation for mankind.
The two words translated as “brightness” and “glory” are exactly parallel, implying an absolute equality. The brightness which is inherent to the sun, and the brightness which shines out from the sun, are identical. Jesus is not only the expression of the Father’s nature, He is a partaker of that nature.
The phrase also introduces a theme which the writer will pick up later. When Moses came down from the mountain where he had received the tablets of the Law from God, his face shone with the reflection of God’s glory, so much so that he had to put a veil over his face until the glory subsided. Christ, however, did not merely reflect God’s glory, but shone forth that glory from within Himself. Unlike Moses, His glory would never fade. Thus, the writer ever-so-unobtrusively begins the theme that Christ is greater than Moses.
and the express image of His person,
Here the image changes to that of a seal making an impression on a clay tablet. When the seal, often worn as a ring on the owner’s hand, was pressed into the soft clay, it left behind an exact impression. It was not merely “similar to” the seal, it was exactly the same. Likewise Jesus was not merely “like” the Father. He was exactly the same. The word translated “image” is the one from which our word “character” is derived. Jesus showed forth the character of the Father perfectly, exactly as if people had looked at the Father Himself. (“If you have seen Me, you have seen the Father” John 14:9).
The word “person” refers to the substance, or essential nature of God. Early theologians argued about whether Jesus was “the same substance” as God, or merely “a similar substance”. The writer to the Hebrews had no doubt: Jesus was an exact manifestation of the substance of God.
In the Old Testament, God had forbidden the people to make any images representing Him. Now He has sent one who is not merely a representation or an image, as man would make it, but an exact picture of Himself complete in every detail.
and upholding all things by the word of His power
These ten words bring us one of the most powerful and awesome concepts in the Bible. The writer has already told us in verse 2 that the universe was made through the Son. Now he goes further and says that it is the Son Who holds it all together, and He does it by nothing more than a word.
Scientists have searched in vain for the source of the cohesion in the universe. In a desperate attempt to explain it all they have come up with concepts like “dark matter” and “dark energy”, saying that although we cannot actually measure these things, they must be there because they see their effects (funny, but they laugh at us if we use a similar argument for the existence of God!) Yet all along the explanation has been right here. “Dark Energy” and “Dark Matter” are a person, God the Son.
The phrasing of this is typical of Hebrew references to the power of God, and the Jewish readers of this letter would have been no doubt that the writer was stating unequivocally that Jesus was God.
when He had by Himself purged our sins
Again, the writer introduces with a simple statement a theme he will develop later. Under the Old Covenant, sin had been covered by the blood of the animals brought for sacrifice at the Temple. Later, the writer will show how those sacrifices could never be sufficient to truly deal with sin. For now, he simply points out that Jesus did not use such sacrifices. He dealt with our sins “by Himself” – by offering Himself, the only sacrifice that was sufficient to truly take away sin.
There is an awesome irony in the juxtaposition of this and the preceding phrase: the One who holds the universe together with a word delivered His own body to death on our behalf!
“By Himself” also gives us a sense of the aloneness of Christ’s sacrifice. There was no-one else with Him. There was nothing we could do to add to His sacrifice, nothing we could contribute. He alone bore the full weight of sin’s burden, not just for one individual, not just for a few, but for every person who has lived since Adam, and every one who will live up to the last baby ever born on planet earth.
What’s more, in dealing with sin He did a complete work. He didn’t merely cover up sin. He didn’t merely excuse it. He didn’t even merely forgive it. He purged it – that is, He drew it out (onto Himself) as impurities are drawn out of metal in the furnace, and took it away completely. Thus, when we come to Him we are not just forgiven for our sins, we are justified: declared to be legally “not guilty”.
sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.
Twice in Scripture God declares His work to be finished. The first time was at the end of the creation week, when not only the visible universe but all things pertaining to man had been set in place. There is a sense in which the work of Christ was also finished at that time, for He is the “Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” The Triune God already had a plan to deal with the sin of man, and in His eternal purposes, that plan was already complete, as was the whole history of humankind.
The second time was at Calvary when, having taken upon Himself all the sin of humanity, Jesus gave the shout of triumph (not a whisper of despair): “It is finished!” The work of eternity had been completed in time. The frightful exchange had been made: our sins on Him, His righteousness extended to us. God had done everything He could do. His work was over; He sat down.
Yet again the writer is setting up the theme he will pick up later in the book. Whereas the sacrifices of the Old Covenant had to be endlessly repeated, the sacrifice of Jesus was made once, and finished. The completed sacrifice, he will argue later, is by its nature greater than that which must be made continually.
However, this verse speaks of more than mere rest after the completion of a task. It speaks of rest in victory and in honor. This was not just a job completed: it was a job completed with absolute success. In the course of dealing with sin, He had also dealt the death blow to the author of sin, the devil. That victory was sealed initially by the resurrection, and ultimately by His enthronement at the right hand of the Father. Having laid aside the honor and glory of Godhead to become man, He is now accorded not only that original honor, but also the honor of the conquering hero.