God is mysterious. He is altogether a mystery. But this mystery has been revealed by God’s speaking. Without the divine speaking, God would remain forever unknowable. But our God no longer is mysterious. He is not a mystery, but a story. The story of God is absolutely a matter of speaking. God has a history, and His history is a speaking story. We can tell the story of God. The story of God is a matter of continual speaking; it is a speaking history.
Firstly, God spoke through some people who were chosen and moved by Him. He spoke in various ways through Adam, Abel, Enosh, Enoch, Noah, and Abraham. After Abraham, God spoke through Moses and many other chosen ones — priests, kings, and prophets. Everyone who spoke for God, whether he was a king or a prophet, was motivated by God’s Spirit. Therefore, the history of God is a history of speaking.
After God spoke through so many different kinds of people, through high and low, educated and uneducated, kings and shepherds, His speaking was still insufficient. Regardless of how much these people were used to speak for God, their speaking was not adequate. God had to speak by Himself directly. So He came in the person of the Son. Heb. 1:2 says that God has spoken to us in the Son. According to the Recovery Version of Hebrews, in 1:1 there is a definite article before the word prophets. However, in 1:2 the definite article before Son is in italics, indicating that this word is not in the Greek text, but that it is necessary for the sake of English idiom. In the English language it is difficult to say, “God spoke to us in Son.” Some of the better versions say, “God has spoken to us in the person of the Son.” Even the Amplified Version uses the phrase in the person of a Son. This means God Himself speaks in the person of the Son. Formerly He spoke through the prophets; now He speaks in the Son. We must see that the Son is different from all the prophets. All of the prophets were men used by God to speak for Him, but the Son is God Himself speaking. Verse 2 says that God has spoken to us in the Son, and verse 8 tells us that the Son is God. This indicates that God speaks in Himself. In verse 2 it seems that God and the Son are two, for it says that God spoke in the Son. But in verse 8 it is evident that the Son and God are one, for the Son is addressed, “O God.” To say that God has spoken in the Son means that God speaks in Himself.
In the four gospels the Son came. He came to speak God, not only with clear words, but also with what He was and what He did. He is altogether the Word of God and the speaking of God. Sometimes He spoke with words and other times He spoke with actions. All that He was and all that He did spoke God. “No one has ever seen God; the only begotten Son, Who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him” (John 1:18).
The Son is the Word, the speaking, the expression, and the definition of God. When the Son speaks, His word is the Spirit (John 6:63). Eventually, to the churches, He is the speaking Spirit. At the beginning of each of the seven epistles in Revelation 2 and 3, the Son speaks, but at the end of each epistle, it is the Spirit speaking to the churches. God speaks in the Son, and when the Son speaks to the churches, He is the speaking Spirit. By His speaking the churches will become one with Him. At the end of Revelation the Spirit and the church speak as one (Rev. 22:17). God speaks in the Son, the Son becomes the speaking Spirit, and the speaking Spirit is one with the church speaking for God. This is the speaking history of our God, a history that is a speaking story.
This speaking story is recorded in the Bible. The entire Bible is a history of God. As we have seen, this history is a speaking story. When God created all things, He did so by speaking. When He contacted humanity in the Old Testament times, He did it by speaking in the prophets. When He came to mankind in the New Testament age, He spoke in the Son, in the Person of the Son as His Word. How does He come into the churches today? By speaking as the speaking Spirit. By speaking as the Spirit, He makes Himself one with the churches. Eventually, this speaking story not only consists of Himself, but also of all the churches. Meeting after meeting, the church life is a speaking story. We are a speaking people. By this speaking God is transfused into people. By this speaking so many human beings are being infused and saturated with the divine element. This is the church life. This is God speaking.
The book of Hebrews is a book of God’s speaking. The essence of the letter to the Hebrews is God speaking in the Son. God speaks in the Son, the Son speaks as the Spirit to the churches, and ultimately the Spirit speaks with the church. It is altogether by this speaking story that God is brought into man and man is brought into God. God and man, man and God, become one. This is the wonderful church life.
Now we are ready to see the Son. Hebrews chapter one reveals two main things concerning the Son — His person and His work.
The writer of the letter to the Hebrews, being absolutely in the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, had the wisdom to say that the Son is the effulgence of God’s glory (1:3). The effulgence of God’s glory is like the shining or brightness of the rays of the sun. The Son is the shining, the brightness of God’s glory. Can you separate the effulgence from the glory? This is like separating the shining of the sun from the rays of the sun. It cannot be done, for the shining and the rays are one. Consider the example of electric lights. Can we say that light is one thing and electricity is another? Absolutely not. Light is simply the expression of electricity. Electricity is a mystery. Has anyone ever seen electricity? Although it is a mystery, it is nevertheless a reality. How can you tell that electricity is in a certain room? By looking at the lights. Light is the effulgence of the glory of electricity. Likewise, we should never consider the Son as separate from God. The Son is the expression of God Himself.
There are some so-called Christians who do not believe that Christ is God. That is the greatest blasphemy against the Lord Jesus. Our Lord is nothing less than God. He is God Himself. When I was in Manila in 1950, a group of so-called Christians who do not believe that Christ is God was very prevailing there. Some of their people turned to the Lord’s recovery. One day four representatives from that group came to see me: two attorneys, one medical doctor, and a teacher. They came with their Bibles to try to defeat me. The first question they asked was, “Mr. Lee, how can you say that Christ is God?” I replied, “How can you say that Christ is not God? You answer me first and then I’ll answer you. Tell me where it says in the Bible that Christ is not God.” They answered, “We cannot show you a verse that says that Christ is not God. Nevertheless, you should not guess that Christ is God.” I told them that I was not guessing and proceeded to quote John 1:1. Immediately they said, “This verse says that the Word was God, but it does not say that Christ is God.” I said, “What kind of people are you? Do you have a sound mind? Tell me, who is the Word?” They answered, “The Word is the Word. The Word is not Christ.” Then I said, “Don’t you have verse 14 which says that the Word became flesh?” They replied, “That is the flesh. That is not Christ.” I said, “I do not have time for this kind of twisting. What you speak is nonsense.” Although they tried to be devilishly humble with me and asked me to be patient with them, I said, “I don’t want to hear you. You speak nonsense. You don’t have a sober mind. Every sober mind understands that in the beginning was the Word, that the Word was God, that this Word became flesh, that this flesh was named Jesus, and that Jesus is God. But what you speak is absolute nonsense.” They were exposed and defeated. Some of the members of that group came to see that they did not have the truth, that what they had was falsehood.
We all must realize that our Lord Jesus is God. Do not consider that He is anything other than our God. He is God. Thus, 1:3 says that He is the effulgence of the glory of God.
The Son is also the express image of the substance of God (1:3). The glory is the outward expression and the substance is the inward essence. God has His essence, His substance, as well as His appearance. God’s essence is His substance. For example, a table is substantial. It has a substance, which is wood. Wood is the essence of the table. Likewise, our God is substantial. He has substance as well as glory. We do not have the adequate words to explain these things. We can only say that our God is glorious and substantial. As far as God’s glory is concerned, the Son is the effulgence of this glory. As far as God’s substance is concerned, the Son is the express image of this substance.
The express image of God’s substance is like the impress of a seal. A seal has an image. When the seal is pressed upon the paper, the paper bears the same express image. Suppose a seal has the letters USA. When the seal is pressed upon a piece of paper, the paper bears the same image as the seal. The Son is not only the effulgence of God’s glory, but He is also the impress of God’s substance. This means that the Son is God coming to us. When I hold the seal in my hand, the seal is there. When I put the seal upon you, the seal comes to you. Wherever you go, you bear the impress of the seal. When God does not come to you, He is just God. When God comes to you, He is the Son as the impress of His substance.
Our Christ is God coming to us. He is our God reaching us. How can the sun reach us? By the shining of its rays. If you think that there is no sun, you should stand outside for fifteen minutes at noontime. The sun will burn you because the rays of the sun reach you. This means that the sun reaches you. Who is the Son? The Son is God reaching us, God coming to be one with us. Many times people say, “Let us bathe in the sunshine.” After they take a sunbath, some element of the sun is transfused into them. This means that the sun reaches them. Likewise, Christ, the Son of God, is God Himself reaching us and coming into us. We do have a God who reaches us, a God who comes into us. This is our salvation, the great salvation revealed in chapter two. Our great salvation is God reaching us and coming to us. This is the Son of God.
Hebrews 1:8 reveals that the Son who is the effulgence of God’s glory and the express image of God’s substance is God Himself. Verse 8 says concerning the Son, “Your throne, O God.” This reveals that the Son is God Himself.
Verse 10 reveals that the Son is the Lord, the Creator. “And, You in the beginning, Lord, have founded the earth, and the heavens are the works of Your hands.” Christ, the Son of God, is God Himself, as well as the Lord, the Creator. Do not think that He is other than the Lord, the Creator. He is God and the Lord, the Creator.
We come now to the work of the Son. In Heb. 1:2-3 two categories of the Son’s work are revealed: creation and redemption.
Hebrews chapter one reveals that the Son created the heavens and the earth (Heb. 1:2, 10). All things came into existence through the Son (John 1:3; Col. 1:16; 1 Cor. 8:6). The Son is the Creator of the universe.
After creating all things, the Son became the Upholder (1:3). The earth is suspended in the air. There are no columns supporting it. After Christ created the earth, He began to uphold it. He upholds it by the word of His power. If you ask the scientists who holds the earth, they will say that something upholds it. The earth is one of many planets. The astronomers tell us that all the planets move according to their own track. If they were to move out of orbit, there would be a global accident. Who upholds the universe? The Son. He upholds the universe very easily. He does not do anything — He just speaks. He upholds all things by the word of His power.
Hebrews is a book on the word of God. In 11:3 we are told that the universe was framed according to the word of God, and in 1:3 we see that the universe is upheld by the word of power. The divine word is very meaningful. The Son is not only the Creator, but He is also the Upholder. He created and upholds the universe by His word.
In the past, He was the Creator; in the present, He is the Upholder; and in the future, He will be the Heir to inherit all things (1:2). The sun, earth, solar system, stars, galaxies — all are His. All things are for Him. He will inherit all things. In God’s creation He is the Creator, the Upholder, and the Heir. All things are of Him through Him, and to Him (Rom. 11:36).
In God’s redemption there are also three time periods. Firstly, the Lord purified our sins in the past (1:3). He has not only atoned for our sins, but also made purification of them. Atoning means covering, but purification means that our sins have been washed away. In the type of the Old Testament, the atonement was only able to cover sins (Psa. 32:1), but unable to take them away. So the atoning priests stood daily, offering the same sacrifices, and could never sit down (Heb. 10:11). But the Son has taken away sin (John 1:29) and has accomplished the purification of sins once for all. Therefore, He sat down forever (Heb. 10:10, 12). In the eyes of God, sin is over. In the eyes of God, throughout the whole universe, sin has been washed away. Sin should not be in you, in the church, or in your home. Sin has been washed away, and the purification of sin has been accomplished. The Son completed this work in the past.
What is the Son doing now? He is sitting, resting. He is enjoying some excellent sight-seeing. He is sitting on the right hand of God, watching His lovers and seekers experience His purification of sin. He is not doing anything there — He is just sitting. At least five times the book of Hebrews tells us that the Lord Jesus is sitting (1:3, 13; 8:1; 10:12; 12:2). He has no work to do. He does not need to wash you again, for He has thoroughly washed you already. Before you even made your confession, He already washed you. In fact, you were washed before you were born. Now the Lord has nothing more to do. This is much better than the work of the priests.
The Lord is waiting for His enemies to be subdued. This will occur in the future. The Lord lacks nothing except a footstool. He has the throne and the crown, but He does not yet have the footstool. He is only waiting for this. Be assured that one day He will obtain this footstool.
The book of Hebrews stresses the fact that Christ has accomplished everything for God and us, leaving nothing for us to do. His sitting at the right hand of God signifies that His work has been accomplished and that He is resting there, waiting only for one thing — that God will make His enemies a footstool for His feet. He is sitting there in the heavens waiting for a footstool that He may have complete rest.
In the Old Testament God spoke in the prophets, in men moved by His Spirit (2 Pet. 1:21). In the New Testament He speaks in the Son, in the person of the Son. The Son is God Himself (1:8), God expressed. God the Father is hidden; God the Son is expressed. No one has ever seen God; the Son as the Word of God (John 1:1; Rev. 19:13) and the speaking of God has declared Him and has been His full expression, explanation, and definition (John 1:18). The Son is the center, the focus, of the book of Hebrews. In the Godhead He is the effulgence of God’s glory and the express image of God’s substance. In creation He is the means through whom the universe was made, the power that upholds all things, and the Heir appointed to inherit all things. In redemption He has accomplished the purification of sins and is now sitting on the right hand of God in the heavens waiting for the subduing of His enemies.
The book of Hebrews reveals the contrast between the Old Testament and the New Testament. The Old Testament was of the law in letters and forms; of man, earthly, temporary; and by sight, issuing in a religion called Judaism. The New Testament is of life, spiritual, heavenly, permanent, and by faith, focused in a person who is the Son of God.
