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Introduction
When an individual is
outside, whither walking, driving or
working, it is always best to be
aware of that which is happening
around them.
In my final years of working for
the phone company, often some part
of my day was spent outdoors, at the
side of a road.
One thing that always
amazed me while I was doing this
work was pedestrians, for some of
the neighborhoods I found myself in
might be referred to as “rough”.
There was no way of knowing if the
next person coming along might be
high on drugs or alcohol, or just
angry with life in general. I
always scanned the sidewalk in each
direction and made note of the foot
traffic. Very often however, I was
surprised when a person's slow and
steady plodding had them arriving at
my location sooner than I expected.
Now imagine for a moment you are
standing, facing the sun while
another person with their back to
the sun is approaching. As sure
and as steady as that person's
approach may be, it will be their
shadow that reaches you first. This
was what brought to my mind the
truth of “shadows” in the
scriptures.
The Law Was A Shadow
When Paul wrote to the saints at
Colossae, he either told them or
reminded them of something God had
previously kept secret. It was one
of several “mysteries / secrets” of
God now made known, and it was that
the person of Christ would indwell
the believer. Furthermore, that the
indwelling Holy Spirit would be the
believer's hope and confidence of
promised future glory (Eph.
1:13-14). Then added to this he
informed them that the believer is
'complete' in Christ through His
redemptive work on the cross at
Calvary. When the Lord cried, “It
is finished” (Jn. 19:30), it meant
that there is now justification not
based on the fulfilling of the law
which man could not do (Rom. 8:3)
much less for the accepting and
keeping the philosophies and
principles men had devised.
Very specifically, Paul tells us
that the things of the Law were but
a ‘shadow’ of something that was yet
to come. That something, yet to
come, is the person of Christ, the
Messiah, the anointed one (Col.
2:16-17).
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In the epistle to the
Hebrews there can be read
of: |
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a) |
Persons (prophets and
angels, of Moses and Israel) |
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b) |
Happenings (of an entering
into rest and the High
Priest who entered into the
Holy of Holies) |
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c) |
Things (Old Covenant and the
tabernacle) |
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d) |
Sacrifices (the blood of
bulls and the ashes of an
heifer). |
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All of these builds to a
crescendo where we see that
Christ's once-and-for-all
offering of Himself for sin
is better . . . greater,
even than any and all of the
offerings and sacrifices for
sin required by the Law.
The sacrifices and rituals
of the law had to be
constantly repeated season
by season, year after year,
and the reason for the
constant repetition was
twofold: |
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a) |
The weakness of the natural
to keep the law (Rom. 8:3). |
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b) |
The inability of the law to
make man justified before
God (Gal. 3:11). |
Why did God give the law when it was only a shadow?
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When I was a little boy I
had a garage and little toy
cars. Of course they were
not the real thing but they
taught me lessons about real
life, so with the law. It
was God’s elementary lesson
book for the real thing, the
Person and work of Christ at
Calvary and His High
priestly ministry. |
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a) |
Paul informs the readers
that the purpose of the law
is also to be a tutor for
us, to bring humanity
to understand their
inability to keep the law
and lead those seeking
justification before God to
bring them to the all
sufficient work of the Lord. |
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b) |
It was never given to stop
us from sinning, but to show
humanity how “spiritually
unclean” they were. The law
is called a “mirror”. Now
when anyone looks at their
face in the morning and sees
it in the mirror, they do
not take the mirror off the
wall and try to clean their
face with it. The law, the
ten commandments, makes man
aware of how often he fails,
and unfortunately for man,
the law demands 100%
perfection. |
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i) |
“For the law having a shadow
of good things to come, and
not the very image of the
things, can never with those
sacrifices which they
offered year by year
continually, make the comers
thereunto perfect. . . . But
in those sacrifices there is
a remembrance again made of
sins every year. For it is
not possible that the blood
of bulls and of goats should
take away sins” (Heb.
10:1-4). |
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ii) |
“Now when these things were
thus ordained, the priests
went always into the first
tabernacle, accomplishing
the service of God. But into
the second went the high
priest alone once every
year, not without blood,
which he offered for
himself, and for the errors
of the people: The Holy
Ghost this signifying, that
the way into the holiest of
all was not yet made
manifest, while as the first
tabernacle was yet
standing: Which was a
figure for the time then
present, in which were
offered both gifts and
sacrifices, that could not
make him that did the
service perfect, as
pertaining to the
conscience” (Heb. 9:6-9). |
The Superiority of The New
Covenant
The covenant of law was by
contrast a shadow of the New
Covenant:
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Old Covenant |
New Covenant |
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Mediated by Moses |
Mediated by the Lord (Heb.
9:15-18) |
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Ratified by the blood of
animals (Heb. 9:19) |
Ratified by the blood of the
Lord (1 Cor. 11:25) |
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Characterized by “law” (Rom
7:1-5) |
Characterized by “grace” (Jn.
1:17) |
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Leads to death (kills) (2
Cor. 3:7) |
Gives life (2 Cor. 3:6; Gal.
3:11, 6:8) |
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Enslaves (Gal. 4:3, 9, 24,
25) |
Makes man free (gives
freedom) (Jn. 8:32, 36; Gal.
5:1) |
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Exposes sin (Gal. 3:19) |
Provides forgiveness and
justification (Rom. 4:1-8) |
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Brings a curse (Gal. 3:10) |
Redeems from the curse (Gal.
3:13) |
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Is a shadow (Col. 2:14-17) |
Is the reality (Heb.
10:1-18) |
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Brings the ministration of
condemnation (2 Cor. 3:9) |
Brings the ministration of
righteousness (2 Cor. 3:9) |
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Had many high priests (Heb.
7:23) |
Has only one high priest who
lives in the power of an
endless life (Jesus Christ)
(Heb. 7:24-28) |
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Had an earthly priest (Heb.
5:1-4) |
Has a
heavenly priest (Heb. 9:24,
10:12) |
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Makes priests by law (Heb.
7:28) |
Made Christ a priest by an
oath (Heb. 7:12, 28) |
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Had an
earthly tabernacle (Heb. 9:2)
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Has a heavenly tabernacle
(Heb. 8:2) |
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Priesthood was in the
lineage of Aaron |
Priesthood is a Melchisedec
priesthood (Heb. 7:11, 21) |
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Priests (high priest) were
sinners (Heb. 5:1-4) |
The priest (Jesus Christ)
has no sin (Heb. 7:26) |
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The law was written in stone
tablets (2 Cor. 3:3) |
The law is written in
people’s hearts (Jer. 31:33;
2 Cor. 3:3) |
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Brought sin to remembrance
(Heb. 10:3) |
God pledges to remember
their sins no more (Heb.
8:12, 10:17) |
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Was written with ink (2 Cor.
3:3) |
Is written with the spirit
of God (2 Cor. 3:3) |
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Is for Israelites only
(Deut. 4:7-8) |
Is for all men (Lk. 22:20) |
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It is an elementary
observation but an important
one, there are only these
two Covenants specifically
spoken of as the “Old” and
the “New”. The reason
being, none of the other
Covenants were done away
with and replaced with that
which is better. |
Conclusion
How grateful I am to
the God of grace that I am under the
true and not the shadow. I can look
back to the finished work of the
Lord and by depending on His
reconciling sacrifice and glorious
resurrection, I can have
perfect peace with God and now live
under the “shadow”.
Based on notes from Brother Russell
Hodgkin |
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