Jesus Is the Exact imprint of God's Very Being - A SOAP Devotional, by Pastor Jamie

Hebrews 1:1-4- Long ago God spoke many times and in many ways to our ancestors through the prophets. 2 And now in these final days, he has spoken to us through his Son. God promised everything to the Son as an inheritance, and through the Son he created the universe. 3 The Son radiates God’s own glory and expresses the very character of God, and he sustains everything by the mighty power of his command. When he had cleansed us from our sins, he sat down in the place of honor at the right hand of the majestic God in heaven. 4 This shows that the Son is far greater than the angels, just as the name God gave him is greater than their names.

One of the reasons the author (unknown) wrote the Book of Hebrews was to serve as a bridge between the first generation of Jews who had come to believe in Jesus as the Messiah and Son of the living God and the next generation, which included Gentiles with far less familiarity with the stories in what we now call our Old Testament. This helped move them from the old ways of thinking about and practicing Judaism to the new ways of thinking about and following Jesus Christ, a Jew the Scriptures pointed to as the One foretold and promised long ago. It helped the Gentiles understand the connections between Jesus and all that came before Him. It was about connecting the dots through history to the present and on into the future. These opening verses point to the primacy and superiority of Jesus, God's very own Son, above even the angels. The unknown author declared that Jesus expressed the "very character of God." Another version puts it this way in a way I find compelling: Jesus was "the exact imprint of God's very being."

In Advent we prepare to celebrate and reflect upon the reality that Jesus is God's very own Son. He came from heaven to earth not to hide the fullness of God, but to reveal the very nature and heart of the Creator of the universe. Rather than playing hide and seek (with God hiding and we have to go look for Him) as it relates to the living God, we believe Jesus' birth, life, death, resurrection, and ascension reveal the nature of God to us. Jesus isn't merely "special" as if such a mild description could capture Him! We believe Jesus is the perfect picture of of Who God is. We believe Jesus is fully God! And we believe Jesus was fully human. We don't believe Jesus is 1/2 god and 1/2 human. We don't believe Jesus was merely human nor do we believe Jesus was only God. This is the doctrine of the incarnation- the mystery that the fullness of God took up residence in a human being named Jesus. This means that Jesus knows my every weakness, still cares about me, and can be my strength through them. We have a God who cares enough about us to enter into our lives just the way they are, so that we could enter into His life here and now and forever and be transformed.

Dear God, thank You for Your desire to reveal Yourself to us fully in Your Son, our Savior, Jesus. Help us truly receive Him as the best gift we will ever receive today, tomorrow, and forever! Lead and guide us as Jesus' church to point people to Him as the incarnate One who is fully human to understand and relate to our weaknesses and fully God to help us move forward in grace. Amen.

(St. Augustine- 354-430) “Man's maker was made man that He, Ruler of the stars, might nurse at His mother's breast; that the Bread might hunger, the Fountain thirst, the Light sleep, the Way be tired on its journey; that Truth might be accused of false witnesses, the Teacher be beaten with whips, the Foundation be suspended on wood; that Strength might grow weak; that the Healer might be wounded; that Life might die.”   Pastor Jamie