"The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven" (Hebrews 1:3)

When you picture God, what comes to mind? For many, the image is of a distant figure on a cloud, lightning bolt in hand, ready to strike. It’s an image propelled by the feeling that we are constantly falling short, waiting for our mistakes and messes to finally catch up with us. We look at our own struggles and failures and assume God must see us with the same disappointment.

However, this idea of an angry, waiting judge is not the picture of God painted in the Bible. A profound truth waits for us if we are willing to see it: we can truly understand God by looking at Jesus.

Jesus Has Revealed God to Us

A few days before His crucifixion, Jesus was giving final instructions to His disciples. He told them, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him" (John 14:6-7).

This was a consistent theme throughout His ministry. He told people that by seeing Him, they had seen the Father. These statements often fueled anger and misunderstanding, but Jesus was unwavering in His mission. He came to reveal God to humanity in a way that had never been understood before. As John wrote, "No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known" (John 1:18).

Jesus is the perfect imprint of God’s nature, manifest in the flesh. The writer of Hebrews says He is "the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being" (Hebrews 1:3). Jesus is the visible demonstration of the invisible God, the outpouring of His glory. To understand God’s true character, we must look to Jesus and understand the role He played in history.

Mankind Grew from God’s Desire for a Family

It's important to understand that God was never lonely. He didn’t create humanity because something was missing from His life. From eternity past, perfect love, unity, and fellowship existed within the Trinity—God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Their desire to create mankind grew from a selfless longing to share this incredible love with a family.

Because God is love, He created human beings with free will. He chose us, and in that choosing, gave us the right to choose or reject Him in return. In His foreknowledge, God was fully aware that sin would enter the world and attempt to mar His beautiful creation. Yet, He chose to create anyway. The fall of mankind did not catch God by surprise. Jesus was not a backup plan. He was the solution long before the problem ever existed. As Peter tells us, "He [Jesus] was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake" (1 Peter 1:20).

Since Jesus was always the solution—the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world (Revelation 13:8)—God moved forward with His plan for a family. He spoke the world into existence, and the creative force of that word was Jesus. John explains, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made" (John 1:1-3).

Jesus not only created the world but also upholds it. He "sustains all things by his powerful word" (Hebrews 1:3). He built the world and He maintains and propels it forward. This act of creation, born from a desire for family and granting us the freedom to choose Him, is one of the first ways Jesus illustrates the true nature of God.

God’s Desire Was to Reconcile, Not Condemn

The paradise of the Garden of Eden didn’t last long. Sin entered, corrupting creation and deadening our ability to walk in fellowship with God. But as we’ve seen, God already had a plan. This is why Jesus was chosen before the creation of the world to be our substitute (1 Peter 1:19-20).

In an act that perfectly mirrored God's loving nature, Jesus entered humanity to bridge the gap between us and God. The famous words of John 3:16-17 should forever remove the notion that God is angry with us because of our sin: "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him." Because of His immense love, God sent Jesus to save us, not to condemn us.

Our Sins Are Completely and Eternally Forgiven

As humans, we still sin. We struggle with it and often feel guilty because of it. It’s easy to assume that our sin remains a major issue for God. This perspective fuels the idea that God is upset with us. Even as believers, we can become more sin-conscious than God-conscious. But this should not be.

The profound truth of the gospel is that Jesus has paid for the sins of the entire world. "He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world" (1 John 2:2). If our sin was atoned for by Jesus' blood, then we are forgiven by God. This forgiveness extends even to those who reject Him. We know this because Jesus made one sacrifice for all sin for all time. "And where these have been forgiven, sacrifice for sin is no longer necessary" (Hebrews 10:18). Sin is not the issue standing between humanity and God; the issue is what we do with Jesus.

Jesus, the one who created the universe and holds it together, is the same one who "provided purification for sins" (Hebrews 1:3). Purification is both an action and a result. This means Jesus not only took away our sins but also cleansed us from the guilt associated with them. Just as God rested after creation was finished, Jesus "sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven" because our redemption was completely and eternally finished.

The same powerful Word that upholds the universe also upholds our purification. It is a done deal. Paul explains this beautifully in Colossians 1:19-22: "For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things... by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. Once you were alienated from God... But now he has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation."

If we are forgiven and free from accusation, the only thing that keeps us from approaching God with confidence is our own lingering sin-consciousness. But Christ’s work was twofold: we were forgiven of sin and cleansed from its guilt. "How much more, then, will the blood of Christ... cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!" (Hebrews 9:14).

This is a life-changing truth. Jesus took care of the sin problem. Knowing you are forgiven gives you the confidence to approach God by faith—faith placed in what Jesus did to restore your relationship with Him. "Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need" (Hebrews 4:16).

Jesus is the perfect imprint of God's nature, showing us His goodness, love, and mercy. Since Jesus is seated at the Father’s right hand, we know our redemption and forgiveness are secure. This truth takes God off the judgment cloud and reveals Him for who He truly is: a loving Father who created a world so He could have the family He always desired. He has done everything possible to bring you into this family. The choice is yours. What you do with Jesus changes everything.

Personal Reflection Questions

1. How does seeing Jesus as God's exact likeness change how you view the Father?

2. If your forgiveness is already complete in Jesus, how does that help you let go of guilt?

3. Since you are free from accusation, what might keep you from confidently coming to God?