Who being the effulgence of His glory and the expression of His substance, and upholding all things by the word of His power, having made by Himself the purification of sins, set Himself down on the right hand of the greatness on high. Hebrews 1:3 JND
The Epistle to the Hebrews is a book of superlatives, contrasting the Lord Jesus Christ with all that came before or will come after. The epistle opens with the greatness of His Person. He is greater than the prophets and the angels. He is the expression of God’s “substance,” or “representation of His nature” (Heb. 1:3 nasb). This means that in His essential being He is of the same nature or substance as God.
He is the Creator of the “worlds,” or “universe.” There are three passages in the New Testament where His divine glory as Creator is revealed: John 1, Colossians 1, and Hebrews 1. He created “all things,” including invisible angelic beings (Col. 1:16). “Not one thing” that has come into being has done so apart from Him (Jn. 1:3). He is the “Heir of all things” by promise (Ps. 2:8), but also by virtue of the fact that He is the Creator.
But, wonder of wonders, it is this same Person, this Creator of the universe, who has made the “purification of sins”! Only He could accomplish this. The sins were ours but the work of purification was His alone. Having accomplished this work, He “set Himself down on the right hand of the greatness on high.” No mere man could sit at the right hand of the greatness on high. Christ indeed was and is a Man, but a divine Person. There is no place or honor higher than the right hand of God, and our Savior has sat down there, for He alone is worthy. Today, let us meditate on the greatness of His Person and what He has accomplished on our behalf.