The Shadow And The Substance
THE SHADOW AND THE SUBSTANCE
HEBREWS 8:1-7
We must make sure we are not going through the motions of being Christians without really coming to grips with the reality or reckoning with the wholehearted demands of Christ.
Throughout the ancient world there turns up from time to time a distinction between what is real and fundamental, and what is merely a copy or shadow of the real. The author has some such idea which he brings out at intervals during the following chapters. The thought is probably indebted to Exodus 25:40 (quoted in 8:5). The point which our author is concerned to drive home is that in the Levitical priesthood and sacrifices we see something resembling true priesthood and sacrifices. But the truths to which the shadows point are found in Christ alone.
As he begins to bring this out, the author outlines the chief points in his argument so far. First, he insists that Christ’s is the true priesthood because offered in “the true tent” (8:2), “the heavenly sanctuary” (8:5). The fact that if he were on earth he would have no priestly ministry (8:4) is not significant. It is what happens in “the heavenly sanctuary” which matters, and the service rendered in what is no more than “a copy and shadow” of that sanctuary is comparatively unimportant. There is a clear warning here for those who were tempted to go back from the priest in the true sanctuary to the priests in the copy of the true. And we should not overlook the fact in our eagerness to condemn the recipients of this letter that in our age as well as any other it is easy to prefer the shadow to the substance. “Christians” can still go through the motions, but without getting to grips with the reality or really reckoning with the wholehearted demands Christ makes.
The final thought leads us into the new covenant which dominates the next couple of chapters. The point made here is that it is “enacted on better promises” (8:6). It is a covenant of pure grace, with Christ’s atoning sacrifice at its basis. It offers people the promise of full and free forgiveness. If this could have been given by the first covenant, the author reasons, there would have been no need for a second (8:7). The very existence of the second shows the inadequacy of the first.