Now, look at Jesus

Do you think you know what God is like?

The author of the book of Hebrews starts off with this statement:

Hebrews 1:1-4 (NKJV)
1 God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets,
2 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;
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,
4 having become so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.

There’s a lot of words in there, but there are a few key points that help it make sense:

• Whatever we knew of God in the past, we now have to look at in the light of Jesus’ ministry and teachings. In John 14:9, Jesus said this himself: “He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?” – In other words, that Jesus came to demonstrate God’s true nature. What we saw recorded in the Law and the Prophets is incomplete – for every recorded judgment (and there weren’t that many, even if we focus on them), we have no idea how many undocumented blessings and acts of love God did for Israel.
• God has put all judgment in Jesus’ hands, when he turned the world over to Jesus. See John 5:26-27 for more on this. Note that God didn’t send Jesus to condemn the world, but to save it (John 3:16-17)
• Jesus has purged our sins. Compare this with Colossians 2:14, which various translations read “blotting out” (KJV), “wiped out” (NKJV), “having canceled” (NIV), “obliterating” (NAB). The cross is completely sufficient to make us right with God. Anything added to it is “grace plus”, and doesn’t match with Ephesians 2:8-9 (NKJV)
  

  For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.

When you want to see what Abba (Daddy) God is like, look at Jesus!

Doug