Just like God...

January 13, 2013 Evening:

Title: The Visible God

Old Testament Passage: Daniel 3:24-25 - “like a son of the gods”

Gospel Reading: John 10:22-31 - “I and the Father are one.”

Sermon Text: Hebrews 1:3b “and the exact imprint of his nature”

Sermon Point: Jesus Christ, who is with us through our trials, is the perfect visible representation of the invisible God, and even God with us.

Jesus is not a bad copy of God.

Many prophets, priests, and kings prepared us for His coming as our Savior from heaven. They did their part, but none of them was the perfect glorious image of the Father.

God created man male and female after His own image, in knowledge, righteousness, and holiness, with dominion over the creatures. Every human being should have been completely dedicated to the imitation of God. But no matter how pious, wise, or holy any of them would have been, none would have approached what Christ accomplished.

Christ is the fulfillment of every holy desire within us to be like God. He is the exact image of the Father.

Our Father in heaven has an essence, an essential character and being. Jesus is full of sovereign majesty. We can never surprise Him. We could never defile Him. He is the unchanging standard of all that is right and good.

Jesus came as the exact representation of this One great God. More than that, He Himself is God. He needed to come to earth for our salvation. He entered the fiery furnace of the wrath of the Almighty in order to save us from certain doom. And He achieved what He set out to do.

He is the exact visible representation of the holiest being that ever has existed and ever will exist. In particular, Jesus was filled with the Holy Spirit without measure. He perfectly imaged the divine nature who has loved us with an everlasting love.

Here is a shock: What Jesus has in fullest measure is also for those who would follow Him. Through the promises of God, we can become partakers of His divine nature. God is love. We can be filled with a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him who called to his own glory and excellence. We need to pay clear attention to His promises and to believe His Word.

All the godness of the Father was perfectly present in our humble Savior, Jesus our Lord. All of the divine boldness and the humility of the Messiah which He lived out, was displayed for our salvation.

Even when we have been a bad copy of Jesus, our confidence remains this: Our Savior is an exact representation of all the image of God that any man could ever possess. He is with us in the fiery furnace of present trials. He will carry us through our worst moments to glory. He is God with us.