April 2, 2004

THE EXPRESS IMAGE OF GOD

"Who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power" (Hebrews 1:3, NKJV).

In a family when a child physically resembles his or her father, people frequently remark, "My, isn't this child the very image of Dad!" Children are often replicas of their parents. In a far deeper sense, Jesus is the express image of His heavenly Father.

The description, "express image," denotes a representation or engraving that is stamped on a coin or document to indicate its value or authenticity. In like manner, Christ is God's stamp. He represents all that God is. To know Him is to know God, because He is the authentic image of God. Christ Himself asserted His identity with the Father in His response to Philip's request to be shown the Father. "Don't you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has see the Father" (John 14:9, NIV). Christ is the "effulgence of God's splendor," the "stamp of God's very being" (Hebrews 1:3, NEB).

The apostle Paul speaks of the new man in Christ as being in "the image of Him who created him" (Colossians 3:10, NKJV). This was the original purpose of our creation--to reflect the image of God. Because of the finished work of Christ, God's children will ultimately fulfill the grand purpose of creation. Ellen White sums it up in these words: "The Lord Jesus came to our world to represent the Father... Christ was the express image of His Father's person; and He came to our world to restore in man God's moral image, in order that man although fallen, might through obedience to God's commandments become enstamped with the divine image and character." --Sons and Daughters of God, p. 318.

My Prayer Today: Lord, as the express image of God, You have shown me what God is like. Help me to be more like Him in character. Amen.