#DailyDevotion Jesus, Truly God and Truly Man

Heb. 1 He has spoken to us by His Son, Whom He made the heir of everything and by Whom He made the world. ³He Who shines with God’s glory and is the Expression of His Being sustains everything by His mighty Word.

God the Father made Jesus, His Son, the heir of everything. While planned from all eternity it took place in time when Jesus died, rose and ascended into heaven with His human body. This is important for us because it is why it is important that Jesus is truly human. As Paul says in Roman 8, “¹⁷and if children, then heirs, God’s heirs, and joint heirs with Christ since we share in His suffering in order that we may also share in His glory.” We who have been joined to Jesus through faith in Him and baptism are now co-heirs with Him. As members of His Bride, the Church, everything that belongs to Jesus according to His human nature is ours. Even more than that, Peter in his second epistle says through the promises we are participants in the Divine nature as well, that being righteous, holy, merciful, full of grace and the like.

Secondly, it was by Jesus the Father made the world. Jesus is the Divine Logos, by whom, through whom and for whom the world was made. John tells us this in his Gospel ch. 1, “³Everything was made by Him, and not one thing that was made was made without Him.” The author Hebrews echos Paul here in Col 1, “¹⁵He is the Image of the invisible God, the Firstborn over all creation, ¹⁶since in Him was created everything visible and invisible in heaven and on earth — thrones, lords, rulers, or powers — everything was created by Him and for Him. ¹⁷He was before everything, and He holds everything together.” While in the creeds we attribute creation to the Father, Jesus is the means He created and sustains everything. There is nothing in creation that Jesus did not create and for whom was created for Him. That said, as a participant in our human nature and through our participation in Him, creation can also be said to have been created for us. We can see this in Genesis 1 where God gives dominion of the world to man looking forward to the time He would join us in creation as one of us.

Jesus is the One who shines with God’s glory and is the Expression of His Being. Paul expresses it as being the “Image of the invisible God.” In other words, Jesus, according to His divine nature is God and gets His substance from the Father as the source of divine being. He is the mirror image of God, which in this case is a good thing. Jesus Himself tells us in John 14:9, “If you have learned to know Me, you’ll know My Father, too. From now on you know Him and have seen Him.” So not only is Jesus truly Man, He is truly God as the creeds say, “God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God.”

Hebrews here also echoes what Paul says from Colossians as quoted above. Jesus sustains all things by His mighty Word. “He holds all things together.” Such is the Jesus we worship, the Creator and Sustainer of all things. But His utterance (the Greek word rhema here) the earth remains in its orbit around the sun, the moon around the earth, day and night, rain and sunshine, He continues to hold all creation together on behalf of His body, the Church and for those who may come to faith and be joined to Him through Her. Would that He would quit speaking everything would fall apart, dissipate and fall into chaos.

Heavenly Father, may we continually look to our Savior, Jesus Christ, and give Him thanks and praise for His glory and for creating and sustaining all things, but especially by His grace be made co-heirs with Him in all things. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.