Joy to the World - Pt 15

Now the point in what we are saying is this: we have such a high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, a minister in the holy places, in the true tent that the Lord set up, not man. (Hebrews 8:1-2 ESV).

The use of shadow in photography can be incredibly unusual and surprising as the picture I’ve chosen today illustrates. Often the shadow is not at all like the real thing. This is something of what the writer of Hebrews is communicating on our reading today. Yesterday I introduced the incredible truth that Jesus is God’s replacement of “shadows” with the real thing; the Law was never intended to be all there was for our redemption. The system of sacrifices of the Old Testament was merely a shadow of the final sacrifice. Our reading from yesterday’s devotional cannot be left with the brevity of that one devotional. It is a summary statement that bears more time and space. The point is that the one priest who goes between us and God, and makes us right with God, and prays for us to God, is not an ordinary, weak, sinful, dying, priest like in the Old Testament days. He is the Son of God—strong, sinless, with an indestructible life. Not only that, he is not ministering in an earthly tabernacle with all its limitations of place and size and wearing out and being moth-eaten and being soaked and burned and torn and stolen. Christ is ministering for us in a “true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, not man.” This is the real thing in heaven. This is what cast on Mount Sinai a shadow that Moses copied. Another great thing about the reality which is greater than the shadow is that our High Priest is seated at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven. No Old Testament priest could ever say that. Jesus deals directly with God the Father. He has a place of honor beside God. He is loved and respected infinitely by God. He is constantly with God. This is not shadow reality like curtains and bowls and tables and candles and robes and tassels and sheep and goats and pigeons. This is final, ultimate reality: God and his Son interacting in love and holiness for our eternal salvation. Ultimate reality is the persons of the Godhead in relationship, dealing with each other concerning how their majesty and holiness and love and justice and goodness and truth shall be manifest in a redeemed people. This is the birth we celebrate at Christmas! Now we do not need to rely on a “shadow.” The real thing has come to us. The Gospel is that story of grace coming to mankind. Advent is celebrated because the end has been revealed. What God began so many millennia ago has been finished in Jesus!