Heb. 1:1-4; John 1:14-18 The Glorious Son: Express Image

There were times, in the OT, that people saw Someone that made them exclaim, as did Manoah, the father of Samson, We shall surely die, because we have seen God (Judges 13:22)!  God did not disagree with them, that we are told.  In the case of Samson’s parents, they saw “the Angel of God.”  It was one of those God-appearances we spoke of previously, a “theophany.” 

Yet, John 1:18 tells us no one has seen God at any time.  Is this a contradiction?  No!  We considered this in our previous post.  The Son of God is the One of the Godhead who makes visible manifestations of God to men.  God is invisible; He is to be worshiped as invisible: Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, to God who alone is wise, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen (1 Tim. 1:17).  Thus, what we can say of these people who claimed to see God, is that …

·       They were seeing God, manifested in a form chosen by God to fit His purposes.

·       And they were seeing God through the eyes of faith.  Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen (Heb. 11:1).   Thus, Moses by faith … forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured as seeing Him who is invisible (11:27).

There is something in John 1:18 that tells us this was not an accident or a mere technicality in the Godhead.  This was God’s express purpose in His Son, that He should “declare” Him.  This word, in the Greek, was a very technical term.  When the Greeks wanted to talk about their “gods” in some way and tell about their exploits in some way, they used this term (exegeomai).  Literally, we might say they were giving a “shout out” about their gods.

The NT uses this term in exactly the same way. 

·       Luke 24:35: The two disciples on Emmaus Road told what things Jesus did in their presence, and how He became known to them.

·       Acts 10:8: Cornelius told his soldiers all the things the Lord told him to do, in sending to Joppa for Peter to come.

·       Acts 15:12, 14: Barnabas and Paul declared the miracles and wonders God had wrought among the Gentiles. Peter had declared how God had opened up the hearts of the Gentiles in the house of Cornelius.

·       Acts 21:19: At Jerusalem, to the Jewish believers, Paul declared the things God had done among the Gentiles.

Thus, we are not surprised that, in speaking of His Son, the One with such a perfect intimacy in the Godhead (who is in the bosom of the Father), that He is the Word who became flesh and dwelt among us, whose glory we beheld, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father.  He is the One who has declared Him.  What better “shout out” could there be of the Father than the Son!