Living
in the Shadows
Recently I ran across a group of Christians who were
bound hand and foot by biblical shadows!
They insisted that all “true” Christians, live
according to their laws and that they must adhere to biblical shadows, or else
they were not Christians!
Laws, even God’s Laws are mere shadows of things to
come!
Even the Ten are shadows!
Heb 10:1 For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and
not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they
offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect.
Col
2:16-17
16 Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink,
or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath
days:
17 Which are a shadow of things to
come; but the body is of Christ.
The group I came across considers
all who celebrate Christmas as being apostate!
Personally, I know not one Christian
who considers celebrating Christmas as a sign of Christianity!
Almost all retail stores speak well
of Christmas, and a few are actually Christians!
The Bible is filled with shadows!
Death is a shadow!
Matt
4:16 The people
which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up.
But, if so much is just shadow, what
is real substance?
To the human mind this may appear to
be a bit off, but faith is a real thing!
Faith is a substance!
Heb 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence
of things not seen.
Many times we look at the shadows as
if they were real! But, all too many
ignore reality and prefer shadows!
Many worry and fret about death when
it is just a shadow!
Many consider the Sabbath or Sunday
as real things when both are only shadows! The real Sabbath is coming for those
who have faith in Christ Jesus!
Heb 4:9 There remaineth therefore a rest
to the people of God.
Many cling to shadows when they have
no substance! Shadows have nothing to hold on to!
Cling to faith!
Stop living in shadows!
Look again at Colossians 2:17
Special days, foods, etc., are
merely shadows of “things to come!” But, “the body is of Christ!”
Christ Jesus is reality!
It seems as if the Church is
diverse, but it is not diverse! We are united in Christ Jesus! Our goal is to
take the Gospel to all the world!
Today, many clamor for a rebuilt
Temple in Jerusalem! Even that with all
the trappings, gifts, and offerings, if built, will be just a shadow!
Heb 8:4-5
4 For if he were on earth, he
should not be a priest, seeing that there are priests that offer gifts
according to the law:
5 Who serve unto the example and shadow
of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make
the tabernacle: for, See, saith he, that thou
make all things according to the pattern shewed to
thee in the mount.
A Temple in Jerusalem is nice, but
the real Temple is within each Christian, and it is in heaven!
1
Cor 3:16
Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that
the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
If you know anything about sewing
clothing, you know each piece of clothing has a pattern, but the pattern is not
the real thing!
Reach out! Grab a hand full of air!
Now, what do you have?
Nothing!
If you grab a shadow, you will get
the same result!
But, if you have faith in Christ
Jesus you will gain all the goodness and truth that is available to men!
Christmas, Passover, all such holy
days, Sunday, and as we have seen, even the current Sabbaths themselves are
just shadows of what God has for those who follow His Christ!
The Sabbath you now honor is just a
shadow of the true Sabbath that awaits those who follow Christ Jesus!
But surely the Sabbath is not a
shadow. Yes it is!
Matt
12:1-2
1 At
that time Jesus went on the sabbath day through the
corn; and his disciples were an hungred, and began to
pluck the ears of corn, and to eat.
2 But
when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto him, Behold, thy disciples do
that which is not lawful to do upon the sabbath
day.
If you read those verses and the one
that follow, you will see that Christ Jesus did not admonish the Apostles for
breaking the Sabbath! Why not? Because,
the current Sabbaths are just a shadow of the Great Sabbath to come!
Heb 4:8-10
8 For
if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of
another day.
9 There remaineth
therefore a rest (Gr. sabbatismos-σαββατισμός) to the people of God.
10 For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath
ceased from his own works, as God did from his.
The fact is that saving faith is the
faith OF Christ imputed to us
by the power of the Holy Spirit and reflected back to our Lord Jesus!
1
Cor 12:3b
no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost.
Rom
3:22
Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for
there is no difference:
The KJV is the one of the few major translations
that recognizes the Greek genitive Subjective!
Rom 3:26
To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness:
that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in [of] Jesus (Gr. Ieesou-Ihsou).
Gal
2:16
Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have
believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works
of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.
Gal
3:22
But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given
to them that believe.
Eph 3:12
In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by
the faith of him.
Phil
3:9
And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law,
but that which is through the faith of
Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:
Rev
14:12 Here is the patience of
the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.
Christ Jesus is the true Light, and
Light disperses shadows!
Do not attempt to cling
shadows, instead cling to Him!