THE MOST GLORIOUS PERSON IN THE UNIVERSE
The Hubble telescope has discovered a star in the center of the Milky Way that is
startling in its brilliance. The report of its brightness is astounding, for scientists say it
glows with the awesome radiance of ten million suns. That is power, glory and brilliance
that is beyond our minds to comprehend. Before this discovery the brightest star was
Sirius, which was over 20 times brighter than the sun. This new star makes Sirius pale in
comparison.
The more we know about God’s creation the more we understand that God is light.
The first thing he created was physical light. The very first words of God revealed in the
Bible are in Gen. 1:3 where God says, “Let there be light.” Light is of the very essence of
God, and of the very essence of creation. Creation came from the Creator, and they have
something in common, and that something is light.
All of life is dependant upon light. Plants absorb light from the sun and produce life,
and animals eat the plants for life. Take the light of the sun out of our solar system and
all life will cease. Life and light are one, for you cannot have life without light. That is
why hell is eternal death, for it is darkness without light, for it is the absence of God,
which is the absence of light. Heaven has no darkness or night, for it is everlasting light
in God’s presence, for God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.
Physicists who study subatomic particles realize that all matter is made up of
vibrations and light. In other words, all of reality is made in the image of God, who is
light. All that the Creator has made has a part of Himself in it, and man is especially
made in His image. Jesus was the light of the world and he said that we as his followers
are to be the light of the world. This means that all people have some of the light of God,
for they were made in God’s image. The believer in Christ rises to a higher level of light,
for they are to have the light of Christ within them that can shine out for the world to see.
But Christ is the most glorious person in the universe, for he is the very radiance of
God’s glory. Some of God’s glory is radiated by all things and beings, but Jesus is the full
radiance of His glory. In other words, He is equal with God the Father, and to see Him is
to see the Father.
Words wobble, language limps, and communication collapses in its attempt to describe
the glory of Jesus. No tongue can ever tell, and no pen can ever write the words that
could convey the glory of the site-of Jesus, the radiance of God’s glory. But those who
love Jesus have tried to do so in poetry. Here is one of my attempts to convey who Jesus
is in these first verses of Hebrews.
Glorious is your radiance.
You’re the essence of all light.
Your majesty’s magnificent.
You’re the most wonderful sight.
But the eyes cannot behold you;
Human words fall impotent;
All our words of praise is due you,
Lord of all omnipotent.
The tongue, nor pen, can ever tell
Of the glory of the Son.
There’s no other that ever shall
Shine brighter than this great One.
Even the darkness of life’s hell
Can never dim His great light.
Let joyous praise in our heart swell,
For He rids our life of night.
He’s the radiance of glory.
He’s the image of our God.
And there is no other story
Like that of the Son of God.
He is seated at the right hand
Of the Majesty on high.
He’s the King of everyone’s land,
For He came for all to die.
Even in life’s stormy weather
He’s the One in full control.
He is holding all together,
Body, spirit, and the soul.
We will praise His name forever,
King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
Because of His great endeavor,
We will share in His rewards.
Here we are looking at a Son who is more glorious than all of the suns of the universe put
together, for He is the radiance of the glory of God, which is the cause of all the glory and
radiance of the universe. The awesome glory of the new star that has been discovered is but a
candle in the light of the glory of Jesus. There are no words to convey the brightness of that
one star even, let alone words to convey the brightness of the source of all light in Jesus. All
we can say is that Jesus is the most glorious person in all the universe. No one else has ever
dreamed of challenging that title, for His splendor is as far beyond that of all other beings as
the splendor of that new star is beyond the light in your flashlight. History is filled with great
men and women who have lighted up their generation with their great gifts and leadership
that changed history for all time, but none can match the glory of Jesus, even in time.
This is not to say that the Glory of God cannot be seen in others, for the Bible makes it
clear that it can. In Ex. 34:29 we read, “When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the
two tablets of the Testimony in his hands, he was not aware that his face was radiant because
he had spoken with the Lord.” He was so brilliant that the people were afraid to come near
him, and he had to put a veil over his face. Moses reflected the glory of God in a unique way,
but that glory faded. It was a mere reflection that was not permanent, for it was not a part of
the essence of Moses. Jesus did not just reflect the radiance of God’s glory. He is the
radiance of God’s glory. It is who He is. It is His essence.
Believers have always been able to reflect some of the glory of God. Ps. 34:5 says,
“Those who look to him are radiant…” In II Cor. 3:18 we read, "But we all, with open face
beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to
glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord" We are in the process of being glorified all through
life as we spend time in the presence of Christ, and as we open ourselves up to be reflectors
of His glory. Progressive glorification is what Christian living is all about. It will be
completed when we are changed in the resurrection or rapture and become like Him when
we see Him as He is. We will radiate God’s glory for all eternity. But no one will ever be the
radiance of God’s glory but Jesus. He, and He alone, is the exact replica of God’s being. He
will always be the most glorious person in the universe. Again I am compelled to try to say
in poetry what cannot ever be said in any adequate way.
What art can reveal such brightness?
What words can pen ever write?
Jesus is God’s very likeness;
He shines with glorious light.
He shines with radiant glory;
No eye could gaze on His face.
Wonderful is the great story,
We can still His light embrace.
He is our radiant Jesus.
He is our Savior on high.
He ever looks down and sees us
As those He will glorify.
One day our eyes will behold Him.
In all His glorious light.
And we’ll sing this eternal hymn
As we praise Him with delight.
Glory! Glory! Unto you Lord!
You’re the brightest star of all.
It is our greatest of reward
To before your glory fall.
You are the radiant Savior.
You are the source of all light.
We will not cease this behavior,
Praising you all day and night.
He is radiance and brightness. He is glory, splendor, light. He is the source of all the
energy that rids eternity of night. The sun and moon need shine no more, for life does not
depend upon them as before. Forever and ever the great I AM will shine upon us with the
light of the Lamb. The greatest of pleasures will ever be there in that glorious radiance
beyond all compare. We will stand and praise His glory. We will bow and praise His
name. It will be our ceaseless story praising Jesus that He came. He brought glory to the
earth. He brought glory to the sky. He brought glory of the new birth, so that we need
never die. We will live with Him forever, walking ever in His light. And we’ll never, no
not ever, be out of his glorious sight. He’s the most glorious person, who has been, or
who can ever be. And it is just for that reason, He will be our song eternally.
Drew Worthen wrote, "The Son is the radiance of God's glory" This little phrase
shows us that the Father and the Son are one in nature. To radiate God's glory is to shine
with the brightness of His glory. To do that you must be of the same essence. Jesus is the
radiance of God's glory because they are of the same nature. That's why Jesus said to His
disciples in John 14:7 “If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From
now on, you do know him and have seen him." If we want to see what God is like, we look
to Jesus, for when we see Jesus we see God, for He is God. We do not look to angels, to
Moses, to the Law, to the priesthood, or to any other person, place or thing for our
assurance of salvation, or for our knowledge of the greatness of God.
The word used here for radiance, or brightness as in the KJV, is used only this once in
the Bible. It means the out-raying of divine glory. Just as you cannot have the sun
without its rays, so you cannot have the glory or light of God without the rays of that
glory and light. The two are one, and Jesus is as one with the Father as the rays of light
are one with the sun from which they radiate. The glory of God is His combined
attributes, and these attributes are seen fully in the Son, just as the rays of the sun convey
the attributes of the sun. The sun and its rays are one, as the Father and Son are one. The
sun shines and we see its glory in its rays. The Father’s majesty and glory shine, and we
see it in the life of our Lord. He is the manifestation of all that is to be admired, adored
and worshiped in God.
John MacArthur has written, “The phrase "being the brightness of His glory" is
very simple. The brightness is the word apaugasma. It means "radiance." It means
"to send forth light," or "to send forth brightness." It's simply saying He is the
shining forth of God. Just as the radiance of the Sun reaches the earth to light us, to
warm us, to give us life and growth, so in Christ do we sense the warmth and radiance
of the glorious light of God touching the hearts of men. The brightness of the sun is of
the same nature as the Sun. It is as old as the Sun. And never was the sun without its
brightness. The brightness of the sun cannot be separated from the sun and yet it is
distinct. And so, Christ is God and yet distinct. He is God and yet He is the
manifestation of God. He is the glory of the Lord who shouts the reality of God, which
is only whispered and spoken in time past. He is the Son of righteousness risen with
healing in His beams.”
S. Lewis Johnson writes, “"Who does not see," asks Athanasias, "that the brightness cannot
be separated from the light, but that it is by nature proper to it and co-existent with it and is not
produced after it." For example, we do not think of the sun as having been created and then
given light later on, but rather that light belongs to the sun and is part of its being. "Think not,"
St. Ambrose admonishes, "that there ever was a moment of time that light existed with
radiance." And we read here that the Son of God is the brightness of the glory of God! There
never was a time in which the glory of God did not have brightness and our Lord possesses that
brightness! Thus, when you look at Jesus Christ, you see all of the rays of the glory of the
attributes of the Everlasting God. And only God Himself may reflect the glory of God. So this
is a testimony to the deity of the Son of God. When you look at Him, you look at God. When
you look at Him you see the true light that lights every man, that has come into the world.”
If you want to see a picture of God, and a perfect picture of Him, then look at Jesus,
for in seeing His glory you are seeing the glory of God. Louis Evans writes, "The
character of God must radiate; He must express Himself. Jesus Christ is the earthly and
human expression of God, God’s own character in human form… When we analyze Jesus
Christ we learn about the radiant source, the glory of God… ‘He who has seen me
(recognized my true identity, accurately analyzed me) has seen (understood,
comprehended) the Father’ (John 14:9)." A small boy was looking at a picture of Jesus,
musing long over it in thoughtful silence. Noticing the boy’s studious quietness, his father
asked, "what are you doing, son?" "Looking at this picture of Jesus." Then with an
approving and decisive nod of his head, the boy added, "Hmmm, best picture God ever
had taken." When we see Jesus we are looking at the face of God. Again, I try to say it in
poetry.
We cannot see God the Father;
The Holy Spirit leaves no trace.
These facts our faith need not bother,
For in Jesus God has a face.
God has a face that we can see
In both time and eternity.
He joined the human race just so
His heavenly Father we could know.
The eyes of man are so finite
There’s much of God in shades so dim,
But Jesus came to give the light
That we might get a glimpse of Him
You cannot see and live to tell
If God’s glory comes your way,
But Jesus came and bore our hell
And by it tore the veil away.
He let the light of heaven shine
On this dark world of sin and shame.
He took away your sin and mine,
To show love was his aim.
He came to show to our blind eyes
What can be found no other place.
He made it clear as sunny skies,
That God has a loving face.
God has a face and we can see it
If we in his light will run.
God has a place and we can find it
If we say “Thy will be done.”
God has a grace and we can feel it
If all evil ways we shun.
God has a space and we can fill it
If we make Him number one.
God has a face and we can see it
In the person of His Son.
We cannot look into the sun for any length of time without going blind, and we could
not look at the glory of God for a second without going blind, and more than likely,
without going out of existence in a puff of vapor. But we can behold the glory of God in
Jesus, for He brought that glory down into a human existence where men could see the
nature of God. In John 1:14 we read, “The Word became flesh and lived for a while
among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the
Father, full of grace and truth.” The earthly life of Jesus was a taste of the glory of God,
but Jesus wants his followers to have the full dose of his glory, and so he prays in John
17:24, “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am , and to see my
glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the
world.” We will obviously have new bodies and eyes that are capable of seeing such glory
without being vaporized. In heaven we will see the fullness of God’s glory in Jesus, and
He will be forever the most glorious person in the universe.
Jesus gave some of His disciples a brief glimpse of His heavenly glory on the Mt. of
Transfiguration. His face began to shine like the sun and his garments became bright
with glorious light. God spoke from heaven saying He was pleased with His Son. Moses
and Elijah appeared representing the law and the prophets. The whole picture was
revealing that Jesus was superior to all that God had done and spoken before. They were
now to listen to the Son, and all of this supernatural expression of glory was to convince
them that Jesus was God final and supreme authority. That is also the primary purpose
of the book of Hebrews, and especially in these opening verses, which exalt Jesus above
all that has ever been, or could ever be. He is the very radiance of God’s glory and none
can surpass that glory, and so it is folly for the Hebrews, or anyone else, to even think of
turning back to the law and prophets, or any other authority, as a foundation on which to
build. When you have found Jesus, you have found the very best, and everything and
everyone else is like a candle in comparison to the glory of the noonday sun.
Arthur Pink makes this comment: “Someone has suggested an analogy with what is
recorded in Matthew 17. There we see Christ upon the holy Mount, transfigured before His
disciples; and, as they continue gazing on His flashing excellence, they saw no man "save Jesus
only." At first, there appeared standing with Him, Moses and Elijah, and so real and tangible
were they, Peter said, "If Thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles; one for Thee, one for
Moses, and one for Elijah." But as they looked "a blight cloud overshadowed them." and a
Voice was heard saying, "This is My Beloved Son: hear Him" (Luke 9:35). How significant are
the words that immediately followed: "And when the Voice was passed, Jesus was found
alone." The glory associated with Moses and Elijah was so eclipsed by the infinitely greater
glory connected with Christ, that they faded from view.”
A poem written in Venice in 1495 and translated from the Latin by John M. Neale expresses
the glory of this experience.
O wondrous sight! O vision fair
A type of those bright rays on high
Of glory that the church shall share,
Which Christ upon the mountain shows,
Where brighter than the sun He glows!
From age to age the tale declares
How with the three disciples there
Where Moses and Elijah meet,
The Lord holds converse high and sweet.
The law and prophets there have place,
Two chosen witnesses of grace,
The Father’s voice from out the cloud
Proclaims His only Son aloud.
With shining face and bright array,
Christ deigns to manifest that day
What glory shall be theirs above
Who joy in God with perfect love.
And faithful hearts are raised on high
By this great vision’s mystery;
For which in joyful strains we raise
The voice of prayer, the hymn of praise.
O Father, with the eternal Son,
And Holy Spirit, ever One,
Vouchsafe to bring us by Thy grace
To see Thy glory face to face.
Peter was so impressed with what he saw that day on the mountain that he gave his
testimony about it in II Pet. 1:16-19. “We did not follow cleverly invented stories when
we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were
eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received honor and glory from God the Father when
the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, saying, “This is my Son, whom I love;
with him I am well pleased.” We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when
we were with him on the sacred mountain.” Peter uses terms like majesty and Majestic
Glory, for these are the highest terms he can find to express just how glorious the sight
was. These are terms used of royalty and their grandeur. He was seeing Jesus as the King
of Kings with a majesty never experienced or expressed by any other king of history. It is
because His glory was expressing the weight and worth of God Himself.
The Amplified Version says, "He is the sole expression of the glory of God the Light
being, the out-raying of the divine and He is the perfect imprint and very image of
[God's] nature, upholding and maintaining and guiding and propelling the universe by
His mighty word of power." Note, He is the sole expression of the glory of God. There is
no other who can convey the fullness of God’s glory, for there is no other who is the
fullness of God. The fullness of all God’s attributes is His glory, and these can be seen
nowhere but it Jesus. All other glory is but a faint reflection of the fullness of Glory we
see in Jesus. Nobody ever really knows God until they know Him in Jesus. Blot out the
rays of the sun and you will see no sun. Take Jesus out of your view of God and you have
no God, but only some man made image. You have no sun without its rays of brilliance,
and you have no God without the radiance of Christ. Jesus said, “He who has seen me has
seen the Father.” We cannot see God directly, but we can see Him by looking at Jesus.
"The Sun of God in glory beams
Too bright for us to scan,
But we can face the light that streams
From the mild Son of man."
Paul put it in 2 CORINTHIANS 4:6 “For God, who commanded the light to shine out
of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of
God in the face of Jesus Christ.” There is deep Christology is this one phrase of Jesus
being the radiance of God’s glory, and Dr. Gouge in a commentary way back in 1650 did
a great job of expressing it. Let me conclude with what he wrote: "No resemblance taken
from any other creature can more fully set out the mutual relation between the Father
and the Son: "1. The brightness issuing from the sun is the same nature that the sun is-cf.
John 10:30. 2. It is of as long continuance as the sun: never was the sun without the
brightness of it-cf. John 1:1. 3. The brightness cannot be separated from the sun: the sun
may as well be made no sun, as have the brightness thereof severed from it-cf. Proverbs
8:30. 4. This brightness though from the sun is not the sun itself-cf. John 8:42. 5. The sun
and the brightness are distinct from each other: the one is not the other-cf. John 5:17. 6.
All the glory of the sun is this brightness-cf. John 17:5; 2 Corinthians 4:6. 7. The light
which the sun giveth the world is by this brightness-cf. John 14:9 . . . Thus the Son is no
whit inferior to the Father, but every way His equal. He was brightness, the brightness of
His Father, yea, also the brightness of His Father’s glory. Whatever excellency so ever
was in the Father, the same likewise was in the Son, and that in the most transplendent
manner. Glory sets out excellency; brightness of glory, the excellency of excellency."
There can be no doubt that Jesus is the most glorious person in the universe.
