FOCUS Day Nine | Hebrews 1:1-4

DAY NINE | Hebrews 1:1-4

God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.

One of my wife’s favorite things to do is to look at little babies. When our family goes to meet a newborn, I can count on Adriane getting close and cooing at the baby with a huge, beautiful smile on her face. She loves to stroke the babies’ hair and caress their skin as she looks into their little eyes.

After a little while, she will begin to closely examine the babies’ features, occasionally glancing up at the mom and dad. After she has studied the situation, she will begin her commentary on who the baby looks like. With a sweet look in her eyes, and a joyful, but tearful quiver in her voice, Adriane communicates how the child is a good mix of both parents. The parents are usually beaming at this point, thankful that the precious gift of their child looks like them.

Those tender moments are really special, and they remind me of this passage from Hebrews 1. While God had spoken to mankind in different ways since creation, in these last days, He sent His Son who looked just like Him. Jesus was the express image of God, and the brightness of His glory. I believe that this is one of the reasons that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. God wanted us to behold the glory that He had poured out on the Son – the glory as of the only begotten of the Father.

There is something about the Father heart of God that is revealed in the fact that Jesus was the imprint of His image. The passage from Hebrews 1 is echoed in Paul’s writings to the Colossians. Listen to these words from the first chapter.

He (Jesus) is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him.

This passage is beautiful because in it we see that not only did Jesus look like His Father, but also that the Father created everything through Him and for Him. I believe that this has massive implications for us today and reveals something about God’s nature. It is His good pleasure to do His work by His Spirit’s power through the lives of those who He made in His image.

But sometimes, there is a problem with this.

Pride.

Yes, I can speak from this personally. You see, for most of my childhood, I looked like my dad’s mini-me. Our physical features were similar, and the family barber gave me the same haircut that my dad would get. You look just like your dad!

But somewhere along the way, something developed in my heart where I didn’t always want to be seen in light of my dad’s face. As a teenager, I remember changing my haircut to see if I could do something to distinguish myself from him. I mean, I loved him and all, but it was always a little annoying that people would see my dad when they saw me.

My heart is sad, even admitting any of this to you, because my dad is a real hero to me, but my pride wanted to do something to make it on my own. Meanwhile, it has always been my dad’s biggest interest to love me and propel me further into God’s best for me. Somehow, insecurities whisper that I would be more complete by creating some measure of success on my own, instead of having my life hidden in Christ.

But Jesus, the exact image of God’s Father heart for us, models the exact opposite attitude for us in the gospels, choosing to identify with the Father over and over again.

I and my Father are one…

I only do what I see the Father doing…

I say what I hear the Father saying…

If you’ve seen me, then you’ve seen the Father…

From these sayings of Jesus, we can see that He was satisfied to identify as a son of His Father. As we fix our eyes and focus our lives onto His life, this stands out to me as something that we should pay attention to. Jesus did not need to try to make a name for Himself, but intentionally communicated that His identity flowed from being His Father’s Son.

We can choose to follow Jesus into this aspect by actively identifying as belonging to our Father. We can posture our hearts to intentionally make room for His strength to be put on display in our weakness, attracting His grace into our lives so that we can put His divine power on display. This happens as we can joyfully lean into that truth that it is not by our might, or by our power, but by His Spirit’s power that God’s transformation power gets released.

Sometimes, people still tell me that I look like my dad. I don’t find it annoying anymore, because the older that I get, the more I love my dad and am so thankful that God picked me to be his son. I have learned that it is a good thing when people look at me and it reminds me of my father.

I pray that you would feel free to fix your eyes on Jesus to get a clear view of who the Father is. I also pray that you would have grace to follow Jesus into actively choosing to allow our identity to be defined not by what we do, but by who we belong to. He is a good Father, and it is an honor when people see something in us that looks like Him.

JOURNALING QUESTIONS // LINK TO PLAYLIST

Examine – How would you describe what this passage reveals about the life of Jesus?

MindShift – Is there anything about what you read in this passage that challenges the way you think about what it means to follow Jesus?

Prayer Focus – Is there any prayer that you can pray to co-operate with Holy Spirit to see your mind renewed to become more like Jesus?