Hebrews 1:1-3 God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets,… The sun is presented to us here as the emblem of the Father; the radiation proceeding from it, the emblem of Jesus Christ. Now this is well adapted to meet many a cavil which unbelief may call up against the absolute Godhead of Christ. It is asked, for instance, does not the relationship of Father and Son imply that the Father existed before the Son; and if so, is the Son eternal? Again: was the existence of the Son at all dependent upon the will of the Father? and if so, where is the self-existence, the "I am," which is a property of Godhead? Now, St. Paul's words in the text teach us, first, that the expressions, Father and Son, are employed, in consideration of our infirmities, to give us some idea of the relationship between two persons in the Trinity, but that we are to lay aside everything that is gross or earthly in contemplating this heavenly connection, retaining only the idea of the one being identical in existence and proceeding from the other. They the, put before us an image, calculated to enlarge and purify our view of this simple truth. There is the sun m the firmament, no unfitting type of God the Father; the sun of the great system that He has called into being, the author of light and life, both physical and spiritual! But in what way does the sun communicate with the different parts and provinces of his subject system? by his rays — the ἀπαύγασμα τῆς δόξης — the brightness of his glory, the radiation proceeding from the central and substantial mass of light, that travels far and wide into the realms of space, and floods our universe with beauty and brilliance. And what are the rays? Now mark how the particular truths of Christ's Godhead are all shut up in this emblem. The rays of the sun are of the very same substance with the sun; thus representing to us the perfect unity of substance between Christ and His Father. The rays are generated by the sun, and yet they are coeval with the sun: the first moment of the sun's existence saw him scattering his rays into space around him. So Christ was the only-begotten of the Father, and yet co-eternal with the Father; the everlasting past, that has never been without the presence of the Father, having never likewise been without the radiated effulgence of Christ. But we have not yet exhausted our emblem. It has helped us to gather at least an idea of the pre-existent relationship of Christ to His heavenly Father. Now we shall see how it holds good in reference to, and illustration of, His present relationship to ourselves. The sun communicates, by its rays, with various other worlds besides our own; but in the case of ours alone, so far as we know, does it experience anything like difficulty or obstruction. Thus God communicates, by His Son, with the different provinces of His intellectual dominions; and everywhere He meets with a welcome worthy of the character He bears and the blessings He bestows. But when He sought to make His way to this earth of ours, there was a cloud to be penetrated, a dark and dense mass of noxious vapour exhaled from the moral corruption below. Yet not for that was the sunbeam of the Divine glory to be thwarted in its course. It had undertaken a mission to earth; it had undertaken to burst through the barrier, make the homes of men bright with a visitation from an hitherto offended and enclouded God. And those among us who have, on some doubtful day, watched the battle between sunshine and storm for the mastery, will surely grant that it affords no unapt emblem of the great spiritual conflict which decided whether our day of gloom were to deepen into everlasting night, or be followed by a morning of "clear shining after rain." The hosts of darkness marshalled all their strength, and the solitary sunbeam seemed to be struggling, not for power, but for existence among them; nay, for a little season they closed over it, and it was hidden from the view of man, and, to all appearance, obliterated and extinguished. But again it bursts brightly forth; it manifests its indestructible nature; it manifests its prevailing power. And what is the consequence and the result to earth? Is there nothing more than the shedding down of light, thus revealing more clearly the barrenness of the moral landscape? Oh no! The sunbeam of the Father's glory has a fertilising, as well as an enlightening power. "The wilderness and the solitary place are glad for it; and the desert rejoices and blossoms as the rose." Yet, observe, He has not altogether chased the clouds from our sky. He might have done it; blot in our peculiar condition, He knew them to be necessary for the fulfilment of His gracious designs. Sunshine and rain, in due proportions, bring to maturity the natural productions of the soil. And some tears, ay, and some temptations, alternating, with bright intervals of spiritual joy and consolation, give sweetness and ripeness to all those fruits of righteousness, which are, by Jesus Christ, to the praise and glory of God. Again, observe how strikingly the relative condition and office of God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ is represented by this emblem. The Father's place, like that of the celestial luminary, is in the highest heavens. Nothing that takes place below affects His condition. He sits in supreme majesty, in the midst of His own uncreated brightness. But it is by Jesus Christ, the ray proceeding from the central glory, that He visits us. Once more. The rays are the only means whereby we obtain an idea of the existence, the form, or the nature of the sun. No man ever saw the sun. We see a picture of the sun, wrought by the rays upon the retina of the eye. Just in the same manner, "no man hath seen God at any time; the only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him." It is only in His light that we can see light. The infinitude of God's power, the purity of His holiness, and inflexibility of His justice, the excellence of His wisdom, the height, and length, and breadth, and depth of His love, — what should we have known of all, or any, of these attributes, but from beholding them embodied and illustrated in the person and character of Christ? And, observe, this knowledge is not purely speculative; for as the ray throws upon the human eye the very image of the sun, so we, "beholding as in a glass (i.e., through the medium of Christ's humanity) the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image, from glory to glory." (T. E. Hankinson, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, |
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