3 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,
The next declaration relates to the Father. The Son is uniquely qualified to reveal God and be the Mediator for man.
and the express image [imprint, representation] of His [the Father’s] person [being],
The fourth declaration about the Son is that He is equal with the Father. All that is in the Father is in the Son.
“Express image” was used of an engraver who impresses a seal or die, such as making an imprint on a coin. The Son is a reproduction of characteristics from an original. He is the imprint of God in time and space (Co 1:15). He is the image of the invisible God, a precise copy or exact reproduction (Co 2:9). The Son is the exact revelation of God because He is God. We get our English word “character” from the Greek word for “image.”
The word translated “person” in the Greek refers to substance (hypostasis). The Greek word means to stand under. The primary sense of the word “person” is something that stands underneath or its substance. The Son held and holds the substantial nature of God Himself. This has to do with the basic nature of someone. It is God’s essence or essential existence. The Son carries the essential being of God; this is His distinctive stamp. He is the impress of the divine essence of absolute deity. He bore this imprint of the Father’s being from eternity. He is an exact reproduction of the essence of God.
PRINCIPLE:
The Son is the perfect representation of God’s being.
APPLICATION:
The Son represents the very being of the Father, His essence or nature; He is a perfect reflection of the Father. What the Father is, the Son is. The pre-incarnate Christ shared this glory with the Father. Not only did Christ manifest God, but He was God in substance.
The essence of God is manifest in Christ. Since the Son bears the very stamp of the Father’s nature, to behold Christ is to see the Father. The one who is the effulgence of God’s glory shares His nature.
The Son bears the very stamp of God’s nature. He is the embodiment of who God truly is. God stamped upon His Son the imprint of His being. The Son is the same in His being as the Father. He is the precise reproduction of God Himself. He is the same in His being or essence, but not in His person, as the Father. Although an imprint bears the same image as the stamp, the imprint is not the same as the stamp. He is the ultimate representative of God.
As the sun cannot exist without radiating light, so it is impossible for the Son not to radiate the collective attributes and work of God. This is His distinguishing identity. He is the exact reproduction of God Himself.
