5th February 2024
Shadows
This is the first in a series of studies about shadows in scripture
…a shadow of the good things that are coming… Hebrews 10:1 (NIV)
If we are to live the world of the Apostle Paul, we have to be intimately aware of Old Testament scriptures. If we are to live in Jesus’s world – then and now – there is the same imperative. They are as much his life story as are the gospels. Much of the language in the gospels and epistles is Exodus language; it is Genesis language; it is language from the ancient prophets and from the poetry of the Psalmist. However, it is the gospels and the apostolic witness that flood these ancient scriptures with the light of the revelation of Jesus, revealing his presence there, as the unifying centre of its message.
With Jesus at the centre, the scriptures are biographical – even autobiographical. After all, who was it who was behind the authorship and inspiration of any of scripture, from the majestic, sweeping prophecies of Isaiah to the admonitions of an apostle to a house church in modern-day Turkiye; from the sometimes harrowing accounts of a nation doomed to wander in an inhospitable wilderness to the graphic, futuristic images of Revelation.
The redemption story, with Christ at its centre, is revealed throughout the gospels, and carefully explained by the apostles as they fulfilled Christ’s command to preach the gospel and baptise. But even before his human birth, Christ can be found throughout the pages of the Old Testament – the only scriptures available to the people who witnessed his time on earth. These scriptures are full of shadows – images that are shifting, sometimes insubstantial, and hard to pin down. Light casts shadows by wrapping itself around solid objects, and even if the shadows are a bit unclear, they tell us a lot about what it is that creates them.
Paul talks about shadows in the second chapter of Colossians: ‘Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.’ (Colossians 2:16-17).
He is talking about what can often define a religious community, and those things that Jewish Christians in New Testament times wanted to hang onto from their past – food, festivals, circumcision, and celebrations, and he describes them as ‘shadows’, replaced by something more permanent, in the person of Christ – something that was light, not just a product of the light. The author of Hebrews adds, ‘The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming— not the realities themselves.’ (Hebrews 10:1).
The Old Testament sacrifices, detailed in the opening chapters of Leviticus, are seen as a shadow of the sacrifice that was to replace them – that of Jesus Christ. The writer of Hebrews describes them as an annual reminder of sins – shadows that could not achieve what the reality was able to.
There are other, more subtle, shadows throughout the Old Testament scriptures. Hebrews presents us with a list of people of faith. They are all with their human weaknesses – weaknesses that we share – but many of them can be seen as shadows of what was to come. In each one, there is an element of the Creator, of the final sacrifice, of the author and finisher of our faith. (Hebrews 12:2)
In 1 Corinthians 15:45-58 Paul draws clear parallels between the first created man and his Creator when he speaks of the first and second Adam – that is Adam and Jesus Christ. Christ casts his shadow across the first imperfect man, Adam, as well as across others that we meet in the 39 books that make up the Old Testament. Looking at these lives in the weeks ahead is one way of looking at the life of our Creator.
Prayer
Father, thank you that we have the preserved scriptures through which Christ shines. Open our eyes to see what is written there. In the name of the Word, our Saviour, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Study by Maggie Mitchell
About the writer:
Maggie Mitchell attends the Market Harborough congregation of Grace Communion International
Local congregation:
GCI Market Harborough
9 The Point
Rockingham Road
Market Harborough
LE16 7QU
Meeting time:
Sunday 4.00pam
Local congregational contact:
Sinead Henderson
Email: sinead.henderson@gracecom.church
Word of Life contact:
wordoflife@gracecom.church