The Express Image of God

…who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.

Hebrews 1:3

        In a famous sermon illustration, a little girl comes home from Sunday school and starts to draw a picture. “What are you drawing?” asks Mom.

“I’m drawing a picture of God,” replied the little voice.

Mother responded, “Nobody knows what God looks like.”

“Well, they will after they see my picture,” the girl said with confidence.

Humans are hard wired to get in touch with their Creator. This drive often takes wrong turns that lead to false religions that superficially cover that longing. Most Americans would jump at the chance to see God, if it would take 10 minutes or less and cost little or nothing. Others sometimes call themselves atheists and ignore or repress that drive but that usually leads to feelings of emptiness, hopelessness, or frustration. 

For this reason, idols and images became popular even during Adam and Eve’s lifetime. The children of Israel bowed down before golden calves and thought they were worshipping the LORD and in the Middle Ages praying to icons and images was standard practice. Since this goes against the second commandment, it’s not the way God planned for knowing Him.

Jesus is the express image of God. This doesn’t mean that He has the same facial features as God or that He is a small version of a gigantic human-like figure in heaven. Christ was a living, breathing object lesson that demonstrated the character of God. His words, actions, and attitudes reveal to us the true and living God, so much so that He could say, “If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also” (John 8:19).

It’s interesting that one reason Christ came to save mankind was that we would be conformed to His image (Romans 8:29). In Genesis 1:27 “God created man in His own image” but the resemblance was marred by sin. Now, through Christ, we can be conformed to the image of theExpress Image of God.