My favorite verse in chapter 1 is verse 3: "The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven." (!!)
In this verse alone we can see a few things about God's character by the description of Jesus that I will explore further next week!
1) God has so much glory! If I think about the way we uphold the person of Jesus--praising him for his sacrificial life (and death), his way of loving and teaching, bringing truth and redemption to a fallen world--that sense of honor and fame is still a limited example of the glory of God.
2) If Jesus is the exact representation of God's being, then all the characteristics we see in Christ's life, are true of God's character as well!
3) Jesus sustains all things by his powerful word...but the authority of Jesus was given to him first by the powerful word of God! 1:5 gives examples from the Old Testament (Ps. 2:7 and 2Sa 7:14) of God calling Jesus his Son.
4) God's love for humanity and desire for them to find life in Him is certainly expressed in the way that He sent Jesus to be the purification of the world's sin. Words like grace, mercy, and faithfulness flood my mind when I think of this as a way to describe God!
5) Majesty...Jesus sits down next to "the Majesty in heaven". God's name here is a characteristic of himself. In the dictionary "majesty" is described as supreme greatness or authority; sovereignty. Well, I would say those are very accurate descriptions of God; wouldn't you?
As I dive deeper into the Word of God and study the works of other scholars and theologians, I know I will see more of God's character by looking at the life of Jesus!
