REPLACING THE SHADOWS
Now the main point in what has been said is this: we have such a high priest, who has taken His seat at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, a minister in the sanctuary, and in the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, not man. —Hebrews 8:1–2
The point of the book of Hebrews is that Jesus Christ,
God’s Son, has not just come to fit into the earthly system
of priestly ministry as the best and final human priest, but
he has come to fulfill and put an end to that system and
to orient all our attention on himself ministering for us
in heaven.
The Old Testament tabernacle and priests and sacrifices were shadows. Now the reality has come, and the shadows pass away.
Here’s an Advent illustration for kids (and for those
of us who used to be kids and remember what it was like).
Suppose you and your mom get separated in the grocery
store, and you start to get scared and panic and don’t know
which way to go, and you run to the end of an aisle, and
just before you start to cry, you see a shadow on the floor at
the end of the aisle that looks just like your mom. It makes
you really happy and you feel hope. But which is better?
The happiness of seeing the shadow, or having your mom
step around the corner and seeing that it’s really her?
That’s the way it is when Jesus comes to be our High
Priest. That’s what Christmas is. Christmas is the replacement of shadows with the real thing.
(For more on how the coming of Christ replaces the Old Testament, see the appendix at the end of this book.)
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