Shadows

          The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming—not the realities themselves. For this reason, it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. Otherwise, would they not have stopped being offered? For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins. But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins. It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. (Hebrews 10:1-4) 

          We’ve talked about the priests and the temple being only shadows of things to come. Now the author of Hebrews tells us that even the Law was just a shadow, Shadows tell us that there is something substantial attached, something real. Have you seen the picture of the the camels in the desert taken from a plane? At their feet are tiny bright patches. It turns out that the patches are the camels, and what we thought were the camels were actually their shadows. The outlines of the shadow show a two-dimensional (length and width but no depth) distorted (foreshortened or elongated) representation of the real thing.
           If the temple is the model of the universe, and if the priest is the type of Christ, the Law is the shadow of the Spirit. It is the substitute teacher for the One Jesus promised would come to be our teacher. The law is perfect. It has all its facts straight. But it is mechanical. Its dictates are in line with God’s character (wisely understood) but it cannot interact with a person. It’s two dimensional and depending on where you stand in relation to God, it may be foreshortened or elongated, or even two-dimensional. But, it speaks of the nearness of the reality.