Men of the Lightნიმუში

Illuminating the Father

If you wanted to know what George Washington (1732-1799) looked like, you could, of course, go online and look it up.

If you did, you’d see numerous paintings (no photography in his day!), covering a range of artists’ views of his appearance, all from a slightly different perspective—this one emphasizing his nose a little more, that one emphasizing his chin, etc.

Looking over them, you get a great sense of what he must have looked like. Even if the pieces have slightly different emphases, the overall collection makes a compelling portrait.

Of course, none of this would be nearly as clear a vision as simply sitting in the room with him face-to-face would be. Nothing could be nearly so clarifying of his appearance as that.

As we saw in yesterday's devotional, a child was born in a small village called Bethlehem 2000 years ago, who the Scripture says was bringing “light” into the world (John 1:9).

And as Jesus was born, one of the ways that He brought light was in how we saw God.

The author of Hebrews said these illuminating words:

“The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word...” (Hebrews 1:3)

Through Jesus, God was revealing to the world exactly who He is.

Many before had experienced God in various ways and described God as they experienced Him or as was revealed by the Holy Spirit.

But in Jesus, God came face-to-face with humanity, revealing Himself to us in the clearest way possible.

If we want to know what God is like, we can just look to Jesus. Jesus takes all the mystery, glory, majesty, nature, and character of the Almighty and literally brings it down-to-earth for us, making God accessible and understandable in a way that had never happened before.

In Christ, the darkness of any confusion about God or misunderstandings about Him is pushed back by the light of Christ’s arrival. Jesus reveals God to us in the most personal way possible.

As men who follow this Light, we seek to know God more through Jesus. Through the Word, by the Holy Spirit, and with believers that we trust, we grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord through Jesus (2 Peter 3:18), walking in the light of His revelation as we do.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, show us more about who God is and what He is like! Reveal the glory of the Father to us, and help us to understand how You want us to live as men. Amen.

Reflection: What is something about the life/teaching of Jesus that surprises or challenges you when you think about God? Why do you think that is?