The types and “shadows” of the old covenant find their substance and fulfillment in the Son, Jesus Christ – Hebrews 8:1-5.
The Law was incomplete, and not without its shortcomings.
The fact that a new priesthood was necessary indicated the need for a change of
law: “For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change
also of the law.” There was a setting aside of the former commandment
because of “its weakness and un-profitableness, for the Law was unable to
perfect anyone.” That deficiency included the Levitical sacrificial system and
the previous covenant concluded at Sinai.
- (Hebrews 8:1-5) – “A crowning point on the things being spoken; such a one as this we have as high-priest, who sat down on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, of the Holy place a public minister, and of the Real Tent that the Lord pitched and not man. For every high priest for the offering of both gifts and sacrifices is constituted; whence it was necessary for this one also to have something which he might offer. If indeed, therefore, he had been on earth, he had not, in that case, even been a priest since there are those who are offering the gifts, according to the law, who, indeed, are rendering divine service with a glimpse and shadow of the heavenly things; even as Moses received intimation, when about to complete the tent, For see! He says: You shall make all things according to the model which has been pointed out to you in the mount.”
The previous but now outmoded system of
sacrifices and offerings was ordained by God. The priests who served in the
Tabernacle did render divine service, but in doing so, only of the “glimpse
and shadow of the heavenly realities”, “copies” patterned after the
heavenly realities that were foreshadowed by the Tabernacle, its furnishings, and
sacrifices. In contrast, Jesus did not enter the “copy,” but instead, into
the very presence of God:
- “For the law having a shadow of the good things to come, not the very image of the things, can never with the same sacrifices year by year, which they offer continually, make perfect those who draw near” (Hebrews 9:24, 10:1).
The result of his achievement was that he became
the “guarantee of a better covenant,” one that is “legislated
on better promises.” And if the first covenant with its “glimpses
and shadows” had been “faultless,” there would have been no need for
a second.
And rather than generations of priests and
repeated animal sacrifices, the new legislation is based on the once-for-all
sacrifice and the endless resurrection life of
its one high priest, Jesus Christ - (Hebrews
7:18-24, 8:7-13).
The recipients of the epistle were not facing
the temptation to revert to paganism or gross immorality, but instead, to return
to the “shadow” of the Heavenly Reality now available in
Jesus. Effectively, if they took the easy path, they would reject God’s appointed
high priest and the “purification of sins” achieved by him and would
then regress to the obsolete and incomplete “shadows” of the old
legislation.
The theme of fulfillment in Jesus
is one found throughout the New Testament. The old has been superseded by the new,
and the promised substance is now found in him. As Paul wrote to the Colossians:
- “Though we were dead in our offenses and by the uncircumcision of our flesh, he has brought us to life together with him, having in grace forgiven us all our offenses, having blotted out the handwriting against us by the decrees… And having taken away the same nailing it up to the cross… Let no one, therefore, be disqualifying you in eating and in drinking, or in respect of a feast, or new moon, or Sabbath, which are a shadow of the things to come, whereas the substance is of the Christ” - (Colossians 2:9-17).
If the fulfillment of the covenant promises has
arrived in His “Son,” why return to the “shadows” cast by him? To
do so is regression to what was always partial, fragmentary, and promissory,
and not without fault.
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