The book of Hebrews as an exposition of Leviticus starts by saying that Christ is the speaking of God, the image of the invisible God, the effulgence of God’s glory and the impress of God’s substance (see Heb. 1:1-3).
Our Christ is all-inclusive, and in the book of Leviticus we see many types, figures, and pictures of how He is everything to God and to His people.
These types and figures are expounded and applied to our experience by Paul in the book of Hebrews, where we see that Christ is a wonderful and all-inclusive person who came to replace the offerings, fulfill the type of the priesthood, and be our full enjoyment as the many feasts.
Hallelujah, only Christ can satisfy God and man, only Christ can bring God to man and man to God, and only Christ is the unique way for God to come to man and for man to go to God.
He came to replace the old covenant and establish the new covenant. He came to be the reality and fulfillment of all the offerings, and He replaced these offerings with Himself.
God gave His people the offerings as a way for them to come close to God by means of the sacrifices, and please God by means of the offerings.
So Christ came to be the perfect sacrifice, the better sacrifice, and He not only covered our sins but also removed them, offering Himself to God once for all and obtaining an eternal redemption. Hallelujah!
Christ offered Himself to God to appease God and also to satisfy God. Through His offering, God is satisfied, and He can eat of what Christ is and what He has obtained.
If we were to read the book of Leviticus and try to understand the types, figures, offerings, priesthood, and feasts with all the ordinances, we would not get very much unless we have the book of Hebrews to expound these and show us the wonderful Christ as everything to God and to His people.
In Leviticus there’s a deep thought, which is that the all-inclusive Christ is everything to God and to His people for their living, service, and fellowship.
This is indeed a deep thought, which is developed and expounded in the book of Hebrews, where Paul takes offering by offering, ordinance by ordinance, and type by type, to apply it to our experience as believers in Christ.
Today we want to see how Christ is the speaking of God as the word of God to express and define God, and He is the effulgence of His glory and the impress of His substance to be God coming to us.
Seeing that Christ is the Center of Hebrews, and He is the Speaking and Expression of God
Christ the Son of God is the center, the focus, of the book of Hebrews (see Heb. 1:2-3; 13:8). In the old God spoke in many portions, in many ways, and through many people, but now, at the last of these days, He speaks to us in the Son.
The language and means of speaking for God today is the Son of God, Jesus Christ. God’s speaking in the New Testament is very simple – it is centered on one person; the unique person and unique way of God’s speaking is Jesus Christ.
Christ is the focus of the book of Hebrews, and He’s also the focus of Leviticus; however, it is not so easy to see how Christ is the focus of Leviticus, where we mainly see the offerings, the priesthood, the ordinances, the feasts, etc, until we come to Hebrews.
For us to get into the real understanding of the book of Leviticus we need to see Christ, and He needs to be everything to us. Hallelujah, today God speaks to us in Christ, the Son of God, in the person of the Son (Heb. 1:2).
The mouthpiece of God is Christ. The oracle of God is Christ. Christ, the Son of God, is God’s speaking.
And Christ is God Himself, so God speaks to us in Himself. God speaks to us in His divine being, not through some agent or prophet.
Christ is God Himself (Heb. 1:8), and He is God expressed. Christ is the word of God (John 1:1, 14). No one has ever seen God, but Christ, the Son of God as the word of God, is God’s speaking, His word, and He has come to declare God, express God, define God, and explain God.
The book of Leviticus begins and ends with God’s speaking – first God speaks in the tabernacle, and then He speaks to His people; the whole book of Leviticus is God’s speaking.
Now, as an exposition of this book, Paul in Hebrews says that our God speaks to us in the Son of God, and this one is the word of God who became flesh to express and define God. God the Father is hidden but God the Son is His expression.
As the word of God and the speaking of God, the Son of God has declared the Father with a full expression, explanation, and definition of Him (John 1:1, 18).
Our words express us and define us, conveying to others what is in our heart and our being.
In the book of Leviticus God spoke to His people concerning ordinances, offerings, feasts, the priesthood, etc; He spoke to His people so that He may gain an expression. Today God is speaking to us in Christ, the Son of God, who is God’s word to express Him, define Him, and explain Him.
Hallelujah for our Christ!
Thank You Lord Jesus for coming as the word of God to express God, explain God, and define God to us. Hallelujah, our God is a speaking God, and at the last of these days He speaks to us in the Son! Lord Jesus, we take You in as the Word of God that defines and explains God. We take You as our unique person and unique way for us to know God, contact God, and be one with God. Praise the Lord for Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who is the speaking of God, the expression of God, the declaration of God!
In the Godhead Christ is the Effulgence of God’s Glory and the Impress of His Substance
In Heb. 1:3 Paul tells us that this Christ, who is the speaking of God today, is the effulgence of God’s glory and the impress of His substance.
These expressions are very particular, and they refer to some specific things: the glory and substance of God. In the Godhead the Son of God is the effulgence of God’s glory and the impress of His substance.
The glory is the outward expression, and the substance is the inward essence. With respect to glory as the outward expression of God, the Son of God is the effulgence of God’s glory, the brightness of the Father’s glory.
The Father could be likened to the sun, whom no one can approach or touch; the sun, however, has a sunshine, the rays of the sun, the effulgence of the sun, which is what warms us up, causes life to grow, and brings in many positive things.
The Father dwells in unapproachable light, but the Son has come to us as His effulgence, the brightness of His glory; through the Son’s coming, we can enjoy the Father and receive His riches and His life.
God is like the sun, and Christ is like the sun rays reaching us. These two cannot be separated, just as you can’t separate the sun from its rays. We shouldn’t consider the Son as separated from God; the Son is the expression of God, and God is expressed in the Son.
Christ is nothing less than God; Christ is God Himself expressed. Christ is God coming to us to reach us; He is the effulgence of God’s glory to reach man and bring God to man.
When we enjoy Christ, we enjoy God coming to us, and we enjoy a great salvation (Heb. 2:3).
Christ the Son is also the impress of the substance of God; He is the express image of God. The impress of God’s substance is like the impress of a seal. Christ is the expression of what God the Father is; God’s substance is Spirit (John 4:24), and Christ is the impress of this substance.
Christ is the reaching of God to us, the effulgence of God’s glory, and the impress of His substance. In His glory, God reaches us through the Son as the effulgence of His glory – this is outward; in His substance, God reaches us through Christ as the impress of His substance – this is inward.
The Son of God is God coming to us; when God doesn’t come to us, He is simply God, but when He comes to us, He comes in the Son and as the Son, who is the effulgence of His glory and the impress of His substance.
Day by day through His speaking God comes to us; we are daily under His shining and under the impress of His substance.
The Spirit of God is sealing us, impressing us, with His image, and He transmits into us what is in God; the result is that we become His expression corporately. Hallelujah, God is always coming to us, reaching us, as the Son of God!
Lord Jesus, bring us into a deeper appreciation of Yourself as the effulgence of God’s glory and the impress of God’s substance. May we see and receive Christ, the Son of God, as the brightness of the Father’s glory and the expression of what the Father is. Amen, Lord, keep us under Your shining, Your speaking, and Your impressing all the days of our life so that we may be infused with God and become His people. May we daily receive the transmission of all that God is in the Son and through the Spirit!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by James Lee for this week, and portions from, The Conclusion of the New Testament, msgs. 379, 381 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Leviticus (2), week 3, Hebrews as an Exposition of Leviticus.
- Hymns on this topic:
# Who, being the effulgence of His glory / And the impress of His substance / And upholding and bearing all things / By the word of His power, / Having made purification of sins, / Sat down on the right hand, / the right hand of / The Majesty on high. (Scripture song)
# Lord, Thou art God’s eternal Word / With life divine in Thee; / In Thee His grace we all receive / With His reality. / Effulgence of God’s glory true, / The Son of God art Thou; / The very substance of Himself / In Thee we all avow. (Hymns #57)
# Thou art Thyself the very God, / Thou dost embody Him; / In Thee is manifested God, / And we see God therein. / Effulgence of God’s glory, Thou, / By Thee God shines on us; / Expression of His substance, Thou, / In Thee He’s real to us. (Hymns #56)
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