2nd April 2019

Earlier this year I watched a master puppeteer in action. His ‘puppets’ were shadows, and he moved his hands in front of the light with incredible dexterity to make wolves and rabbits and even an elephant. But my favourite shadow was two monkeys, sitting on their haunches, and laughing and making up mischief. What a funny thing it all is. Just a shadow. Nothing real. Just an image that prompts the mind to make sense from an outline and to fill it with life and story.

But how different is that sentence in the Book which speaks about the Son of God in his relationship with the Father. Can anyone ever plumb the depths of it? “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being.” Whatever it means, it does not mean that the Son is a mere shadow-puppet of the Father. And whatever it means, it does not mean that the Son of God is only a product of our own created thinking.

Surely it suggests that the Father and Son are not just separate persons, but related persons, and in relationship as Father and Son. And surely it suggests that the Son and the Father are equal but different.  And surely it suggests that the Son is the One who represents the Father and shows to us the Father’s will. And surely it suggests that if we would know God best, then the best place to look, is at the Lord Jesus Christ.

DM 2^nd April 2019