Right at the beginning of the New Testament book of Hebrews, the author of this amazingly profound letter begins to describe Jesus.

God has appointed Jesus Christ, the Son, to be heir of all things. He is heir of everything. Everything is going to be centred in Jesus. Everything is going to end up with Jesus, and everyone is going to appear before Jesus, and this same Son of God was present at creation, creating.

How are we to translate verse 3? Jesus Christ is the "raying forth" or the "shining forth" of the glory of God. May we see again something new or something more of the glory of God, which is nothing other than Jesus Christ, shining forth?

Jesus is the exact representation of God, like the imprint of the seal on wax, and Jesus is "under all things and keeps them up".

"Underneath are the everlasting arms" we read in Deuteronomy Chapter 33 and at verse 27. He is underneath you, carrying you, and upholding you, by His powerful word.

This is why it is so absurd to try and place anyone else alongside Jesus Christ. This makes Jesus Christ unique.

Many would want to have Jesus Christ as just one of the ways to God the Father, but Jesus says, "No man comes to the Father except through me".

The next sentence shows us even more clearly why Jesus is unique. Once Jesus offered his sacrifice, and once the work which Jesus Christ came to perform was complete, and once his thirty four or so years away were over, and having been totally obedient to His Father, he returned and sat down.

What Jesus did never has to be repeated. There is no one who could ever repeat what he did once on the cross to save and rescue mankind.

These Hebrew people were used to having sacrifices repeated and repeated. Priests were always on their feet offering bulls and goats, but the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross to purify us from our sins, was done only once.

These Jews would also be used to the shedding of blood. They knew that there could be no forgiveness of sin except through the shedding of blood, and we read of that in Chapter 9 and at verse 22.

Do check all this out in the book of Hebrews because there is so frequently a very special blessing and reward to those who read and study the Word of God.

And, Jesus was superior to angels. God never spoke these words to any angel. Angels are servants. In this letter it is Jesus Christ who is presented as being unique and uniquely superior.

No other leader approaches the character and quality of this leader and he is more than able to provide mankind with everything we require. When we consider Jesus Christ we are considering perfection.

Sandy Shaw