Hebrews: The Attributes of the Son
Hebrews 1:3-4; John 12:44-46 - The Heir, the Creator, the Revealer, the Sustainer, the Redeemer, the Ruler, Supreme
“And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much better than the angels, as He has inherited a more excellent name than they.”
Hebrews 1:3-4 NASB1995
We learned in the first devotional for Hebrews 1:1-2 that the Son is appointed heir of all things and that He made the world. Now, in these next two verses, we encounter more attributes of the Son. There are seven total attributes described in these four verses; seven, of course, is the perfect number in the Bible, the number of completion.
And He is the radiance of His glory
Let’s do a word study! Radiance comes from the Greek noun ἀπαύγασμα or apaúgasma (Strong’s G541) with the following Biblical usages:
reflected brightness
of Christ in that he perfectly reflects the majesty of God
effulgence
shining forth, of a light coming from a luminous body (Vine)
out-raying (Vincent)
Christ perfectly reflects the majesty of God. This is not the weak reflection of sunlight that we see with moonlight, but it is the same perfection of majesty and glory as the Father. Here’s how Charles Spurgeon describes it, from Precept Austin:
Shade your eyes, for you cannot look upon this wondrous sight without being dazzled by it. Some commentators say—and it is not an inappropriate analogy, though we must not push any analogy too far—that, as light is to the sun, so is Jesus to the glory of God. He is the brightness of that glory. That is to say, there is not any glory in God but what is also in Christ: and when that glory reaches its climax, when God the Ever-Glorious is most glorious, that greatest glory is in Christ. Oh, this wondrous Word of God—the very climax of the Godhead—the gathering up of every blessed attribute in all its infinity of glory! You shall find all this in the person of the God-man, Christ Jesus. (Full Sermon Depths and Heights - Hebrews 1:2-3)
Jesus Himself talks about how looking at Him is actually looking at the radiance of God, as noted in John 12:
“And Jesus cried out and said, “He who believes in Me, does not believe in Me but in Him who sent Me. He who sees Me sees the One who sent Me. I have come as Light into the world, so that everyone who believes in Me will not remain in darkness.”
John 12:44-46 NASB1995
He is the exact representation of His nature
Jesus is God. He exactly duplicates the nature of the Father. Another word study:
The exact representation comes from the Greek noun χαρακτήρ or charaktḗr (Strong’s G5481) with the following Biblical usages (NOTE: This is the only usage of this noun in the New Testament):
the instrument used for engraving or carving
the mark stamped upon that instrument or wrought out on it
a mark or figure burned in (Lev. 13:28) or stamped on, an impression
the exact expression (the image) of any person or thing, marked likeness, precise reproduction in every respect, i.e facsimile
Charles Spurgeon nails it again, as found in Precept Austin:
Whatever God is, Christ is. The very likeness of God, the very Godhead of Godhead, the very Deity of Deity, is in Christ Jesus. Dr. John Owen, who loves to explain the spiritual meaning in the Letter to the Hebrews by the types in the Old Testament, explains the brightness of the Father’s glory by a reference to the Shekinah over the mercy seat, which was the only visible token of the presence of God there. An extraordinary brightness is said to have shone forth from between the cherubim. Now, Christ is God manifesting Himself in His brightness. But, on his forehead, the high priest wore a golden plate, upon which was deeply engraved, in Hebrew letters, the inscription, “Holiness to [or of] Yahweh.” Dr. Owen thinks there is a reference, in this “representation of his essence”—this cut-out inscription of God, as it were—to that which was on the forehead of the high priest, and which represented the glorious wholeness or holiness of Yahweh, which is His great glory. You see how glorious was His original—the “representation” of His Father’s person. How lowly did He become to purge away our sins, and that by Himself, too, using His own body to be the means, by His sufferings, of taking away our guilt. Not by proxy did He serve us, but by Himself. Oh, this is wondrous love! (Full Sermon Depths and Heights - Hebrews 1:2-3)
Really intriguing commentary! To think that He became lowly to purge away our sins and suffer on the Cross. It IS wondrous love!
And upholds all things by the word of His power
He is the creator all things and He upholds all things by just the word of His power. Wayne Grudem has a really superb (although a bit lengthy) commentary on this attribute of Christ, as found in Precept Austin:
“God keeps all created things existing and maintaining the properties with which he created them. Hebrews 1:3 tells us that Christ is “upholding the universe by his word of power.” The Greek word translated “upholding” is φέρω (G5770) “carry, bear.” This is commonly used in the New Testament for carrying something from one place to another, such as bringing a paralyzed man on a bed to Jesus (Luke 5:18), bringing wine to the steward of the feast (John 2:8), or bringing a cloak and books to Paul (2 Tim. 4:13). It does not mean simply “sustain,” but has the sense of active, purposeful control over the thing being carried from one place to another.
In Hebrews 1:3, the use of the present participle indicates that Jesus is “continually carrying along all things” in the universe by his word of power. Christ is actively involved in the work of providence. Similarly, in Colossians 1:17, Paul says of Christ that “in him all things hold together.” The phrase “all things” refers to every created thing in the universe (see Col 1:16), and the verse affirms that Christ keeps all things existing—in him they continue to exist or “endure” (NASB mg.). Both verses indicate that if Christ were to cease his continuing activity of sustaining all things in the universe, then all except the triune God would instantly cease to exist. Such teaching is also affirmed by Paul when he says, “In him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28), and by Ezra: “You are the LORD, you alone; you have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them; and you preserve all of them; and the host of heaven worships you” (Neh. 9:6). Peter also says that “the heavens and earth that now exist” are “being kept until the day of judgment” (2 Peter 3:7).
One aspect of God’s providential preservation is the fact that he continues to give us breath each moment. Elihu in his wisdom says of God, “If he should take back his spirit to himself, and gather to himself his breath, all flesh would perish together, and man would return to dust” (Job 34:14–15; cf. Ps. 104:29). God, in preserving all things he has made, also causes them to maintain the properties with which he created them. God preserves water in such a way that it continues to act like water. He causes grass to continue to act like grass, with all its distinctive characteristics. He causes the paper on which this sentence is written to continue to act like paper so that it does not spontaneously dissolve into water and float away or change into a living thing and begin to grow! Until it is acted on by some other part of creation and thereby its properties are changed (for instance, until it is burned with fire and it becomes ash), this paper will continue to act like paper so long as God preserves the earth and the creation that he has made.
We should not, however, think of God’s preservation as a continuous new creation: he does not continuously create new atoms and molecules for every existing thing every moment. Rather, he preserves what has already been created: he “carries along all things” by his word of power (Heb. 1:3, author’s translation). We must also appreciate that created things are real and that their characteristics are real. I do not just imagine that the rock in my hand is hard—it is hard. If I bump it against my head, I do not just imagine that it hurts—it does hurt! Because God keeps this rock maintaining the properties with which he created it, the rock has been hard since the day it was formed, and (unless something else in creation interacts with it and changes it) it will be hard until the day God destroys the heavens and the earth (2 Peter 3:7, 10–12). (See Systematic Theology page 269)
This is so, so good! Anyone who studies even the tiniest bit of science knows that there are principles involved that are mathematically and purely defined in the order of our universe and these are “rock solid”, no pun intended. Even bizarre theories like quantum entanglement (particles in a group cannot be described independently of the state of other particles even if they are separated by a large distance) are part of that order, if they are eventually proven to be true. His word of power preserves what has been created and maintains its coherence!
When He made purification of sins
Once again, Charles Spurgeon has wonderful commentary on this attribute of Christ, as found in Precept Austin:
There was never such a task as that since time began. The old fable speaks of the Augean stables, foul enough to have poisoned a nation, which Hercules cleansed—but our sins were fouler than that. Dunghills are sweet compared with these abominations; what a degrading task it seems for Christ to undertake—the purging of our sins! The sweepers of the streets, the scullions of the kitchen, the cleansers of the sewers, have honorable work compared with this task of purging sin. Yet the holy Christ, incapable of sin, stooped to purge our sins. I want you to meditate upon that wondrous work, and to remember that He did it before He went back to heaven. Is it not a wonderful thing that Christ purged our sins even before we had committed them? There they stood, before the sight of God, as already existent in all their hideousness. But Christ came and purged them. This, surely, ought to make us sing the song of songs. Before I sinned, He purged my sins away; singular and strange as it is, yet it is so. (Full Sermon Depths and Heights - Hebrews 1:2-3)
My sins, 2000+ years later, have been purged by the sacrifice of our Lord; I have to repent of them and believe in Him to receive His spirit! Think of the abominations of these sins that He was forced to carry on that cross - it makes one shudder at the depths that humanity can crawl into in their depravity. We couldn’t do this for ourselves and no amount of perfect bull or lamb’s blood could cover those sins (hearkening back to the Old Testament sacrifices). The writer of Hebrews is telling his audience that Christ is the perfect atonement. The late John MacArthur has this to say, as noted in Precept Austin (still at the same link):
This truth must have seemed especially remarkable to those to whom the book of Hebrews was first written. The cross was a stumbling block to Jews (1Co 1:23+), but the writer does not apologize for it. Instead, he shows it to be one of the seven excellent glories of Christ. (See Hebrews Commentary - Page 19)
He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much better than the angels, as He has inherited a more excellent name than they.
Spurgeon is one of my go-to commentators today, apparently. Here is what he says about this final attribute of Christ:
“He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.” There he sits, and he would not be sitting if he had not finished the salvation of his people. He dwells in the highest conceivable honor and dignity. None can stop his purposes or defeat his will. His cause is safe; his kingdom is secure.
The seated posture is one of of rest and yet in His exalted state Jesus is still bearing on all things toward their destined consummation, and is still dealing with sin as the Great High Priest, saving believing sinners in His precious blood and cleansing saints from the daily defilement of sin. This is not the rest following toil, but the rest of satisfaction in a finished work (cf “once for all” or “for all time” in the following verses - Heb 7:27+; He 9:12+, He 10:10+, He 10:12+; He 10:14+ John 19:30+)
We will see more about this consummation later in Hebrews, as noted in Spurgeon’s commentary referencing more verses to come. His name is above all names!
The seven attributes of Christ and how He is eternally and infinitely better than the angels can be summarized as follows, from Enduring Word:
Having become so much better than the angels: This description of Jesus in previous verses shows us that He is far superior than any angelic being. Yet this tells us that Jesus became better than the angels. We could say that He is eternally better than the angels, but He also became better than the angels.
Jesus became better in the sense that He was made perfect (complete as our redeemer) through sufferings (Hebrews 2:10) – something no angel ever did.
Griffith Thomas linked together the descriptions of Jesus given in these first few verses, culminating in Hebrews 1:4:
Christ the Heir.
Christ the Creator.
Christ the Revealer.
Christ the Sustainer.
Christ the Redeemer.
Christ the Ruler.
Christ Supreme.
A more excellent name than they: Jesus’ superior status is demonstrated by a superior name, which is not merely a title, but a description of His nature and character. There are many reasons why it is important to understand the surpassing excellence of Jesus, setting Him far above every angelic being.
We often best understand things when they are set in contrast to other things.
Though the Old Covenant came by the hands of angels to Moses, a better covenant came by a better being, Jesus. First century Jews might think that the gospel came at the hands of mere men – the apostles. But in truth, the gospel came by Jesus, who is superior to the angels.
There was a dangerous tendency to worship angels developing in the early Church (Colossians 2:18, Galatians 1:8), and Hebrews shows that Jesus is high above any angel.
There was the heretical idea that Jesus Himself was an angel, a concept that degrades His glory and majesty.
Understanding how Jesus is better than the angels helps us to understand how He is better than anyone or anything in our life.
In this sense, the purpose of Hebrews is like the purpose of the Transfiguration of Jesus mentioned in the Gospels. They each cry out and say, “This is My beloved Son. Hear Him!” (Mark 9:7)
That is so good! What else do you need in your life? Everything pales into shadows and insignificance compared with our Lord.
My next devotional examines Hebrews 1:5 - The eternal Sonship of Christ
Heaven on Wheels Daily Prayer:
Dear Lord - The insights today have been truly remarkable for me. Thank you for guiding me into the stunning realization (although I should claim to have already known that) that YOU are the center of all things and all eternity. Amen.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
The Blue Letter Bible was accessed on 10/02/2025 to review the lexicon for radiance, exact representation.
Precept Austin was accessed on 10/02/2025 to review commentary for Hebrews 1:3-4
Commentary from Enduring Word by David Guzik is used with written permission. Minor formatting changes have been made to improve readability.
Love this article. Hebrews is my favorite book in the Bible . Powerful message. Thank you.