ONLY A SHADOW

ONLY A SHADOW
Heb 8:1-6
"…a sanctuary that is a copy and shadow of what is in heaven." (v.5).

THE IDEA BEHIND THIS PASSAGE would have appealed to Plato, believed to be the greatest of the Greek philosophers. He taught that there existed two worlds: the real and the unreal. The world we live in, of space and time, is but a reflection of another world, the real world. For example, every table we see and touch is only a copy of a perfect table somewhere in another world. Everything we have is a photocopy; the original is kept beyond our view.

The author of Hebrews speaks of the earthly Temple as a shadowy copy of the real Temple in heaven. The two words he uses are interesting. The first word translated "copy" means "specimen" or "sketch-plan". It is not the real thing, just a sample or a draft to give us an idea of the actual thing.

The second word translated "shadow' has been used in ancient Greek to denote the shadow on a sundial. A shadow again is not the real thing. In the Indonesian wayang kulit, a kind of puppet show, you see only the shadow of the puppets, not the puppets themselves. A shadow is only an image, and often we see only the outline, not the texture, the colour or other details.

The Temple in Jerusalem, the tabernacle in the wilderness, all the sacrifices offered in them, even the Law of Moses (10.1), are all shadows. They all point to the reality, Jesus and his high priestly ministry. He "serves in the sanctuary, the true tabernacle set up by the Lord, not by man" (v.1). No wonder Jesus' ministry is superior to the ministry of all who had lived before Him, just as the original is superior to the copy, and the person is superior to his shadow.

Like the readers of Hebrews, we are in danger of pursuing the shadows. With the coming of Jesus, the rituals of the old order have passed away. They were object lessons or pointers to God. Sometimes we mistake the pointers for what they point to. When we listen to a magnificent piece of music, or take in a breath-taking scenery, or experience the first thrill of love, we need to remind ourselves that they are but the gifts of God. They are not themselves gods to be worshipped or pursued for their sake. Beyond everything that is good and beautiful is the LORD God. Unless we see everything in relation to our Creator, we see only the shadow.

Am I chasing shadows?