<p>1:3 <em>Who being the brightness of His glory and the exact image of His person, upholds all things by the word of his power- </em>Nearly all the titles of Christ used in the letter to the Hebrews are taken from Philo or the Jewish book of Wisdom. The writer to the Hebrews is seeking to apply them in their correct and true sense to the Lord Jesus. This explains why some titles are used which can easily be misunderstood by those not appreciating this background. For example, Philo speaks of &ldquo;the impress of God&rsquo;s seal&rdquo;, and Hebrews applies this to the Lord Jesus. The phrase has been misinterpreted by Trinitarians as meaning that Jesus is therefore God; but this wasn&rsquo;t at all the idea behind the title in Philo&rsquo;s writings, and neither was it when the letter to the Hebrews took up the phrase and applied it to Jesus. This sort of thing goes on far more often than we might think in the Bible- existing theological ideas are re-cast and re-presented in their correct light, especially with reference to the Lord Jesus. Arthur Gibson notes that &ldquo;there is an important second level within religious language: it is a reflection upon, a criticism of, a correction of, or a more general formulation of, expressions which previously occur&rdquo;.</p><p>3 Enoch also known as <em>The Hebrew Book Of Enoch</em> spoke much of an Angel called Metatron, &quot;the prince of the presence&quot;, &quot;the lesser Yahweh&quot;, who appeared as Yahweh to Moses in Ex. 23:21, sat on &quot;the throne of glory&quot; etc (3 Enoch 10-14). Early Jewish Christianity appears to have mistakenly reapplied these ideas to Jesus, resulting in the idea the first of all Jesus was an Angel, and then coming to full term in the doctrine of the Trinity. J. Danielou devotes the whole fourth chapter of his survey of the development of Christian doctrine to the study of how Jewish views of Angels actually led on to the Trinity. Paul's style was not to baldly state that everything believed in by the Jews was wrong; he recognized that the very nature of apostasy is in the mixing of the true and the false. He speaks of how Jesus truly has been exalted and sits at God's right hand (Rom. 8:34) and has been given God's Name, as the Angel was in Exodus (Phil. 2:9-11); but his whole point is that whilst that may indeed be common ground with the Jewish ideas, the truth is that Jesus is <em>not</em> an Angel. He came into physical existence through Mary (&quot;made / born of a woman&quot;, Gal. 4:4), and as the begotten Son of God has been exalted above than any Angel. The language of Heb. 1:3-6 clearly alludes to the Metatron myth and deconstructs it in very clear terms. For Jesus is described as &quot;being the effulgence of his glory, and the very image / pattern of his substance, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had made purification of sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high; having become by so much better than the angels, as he hath inherited a more excellent name than they. For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son, This day have I begotten thee? and again, I will be to him a Father, And he shall be to me a Son? And when he again bringeth in the firstborn into the world he saith, And let all the angels of God worship him&quot;.</p><p><em>When he had accomplished the purification of sins- </em>In a sense, all sins were purged by the Lord's death. Sin, the 'devil' of Heb. 2:14, was destroyed; He &quot;made an end of sins&quot; (Dan. 9:24). We can easily forget the wonder of this; Peter uses the same word about those who had forgotten their purging s.w. from their old sins (2 Pet. 1:9). They lacked the spiritual vision to look back to the cross and perceive that now, human sin is no longer a barrier between God and ourselves. The Lord's blood is therefore of such power as to purify even our conscience from the guilt of past sins (Heb. 9:14; Tit. 2:14). But this was all achieved at a specific historical point- when the Lord died on the cross.</p><p><em>He then sat down on the right hand- </em>In his time of dying, Stephen saw the Lord Jesus <em>standing</em> at the right hand of God (Acts 7:55). But about 13 times in the New Testament, the point is made that the Lord <em>sits</em> there, unlike the Mosaic priests who stood (Heb. 10:12). The Lord Jesus was passionately feeling for Stephen; and He just as emotionally and passionately feels for us in our struggles. This alone should lift us out of the mire of mediocrity. Prayer will have meaning and power. It won&rsquo;t just be the repetitious conscience-salver it can descend into. Many of those 13 NT references to the Lord being seated at the right hand of God are in Hebrews; and this again encourages us to see Hebrews as Paul's deeper reflections upon Stephen's speech. This would especially be the case if the Jews in the council actually saw something of what Stephen saw.</p><p><em>Of the Majesty in Heaven</em>- It is a majestic, glorious theme of the Bible that God is revealed as a real being. It is also a fundamental tenet of Christianity that Jesus is the Son of God. If God is not a real being, then it is impossible for Him to have a Son who was the &ldquo;image of His <em>person</em>&rdquo; (Heb. 1:3). The Greek word actually means His &ldquo;substance&rdquo; (RV). Further, it becomes difficult to develop a personal, living relationship with &lsquo;God&rsquo;, if &lsquo;God&rsquo; is just a concept in our mind. It is tragic that the majority of religions have this unreal, intangible conception of God.</p>