Do you have a relationship with a shadow? – Thursday, 24 August

“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: Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.”
Colossians 2:16-17 KJV

“In the past these things were like a shadow that showed what was coming. But the new things that were coming are found in Christ.”
Colossians 2:17 ERV

“These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.”
Colossians 2:17 NIV

A shadow by definition is a faint indication; it’s a vague representation. If you see my shadow you don’t see me – you see a vague representation of me. You don’t have a relationship with my shadow because it isn’t me. It’s simply a representation of me.

Rules about what to eat and drink, or what we shouldn’t eat and drink, rules about feasts and holy days and the Sabbath (the law of Moses) were simply shadows – indicators of something, or rather Someone, who was coming. Far too many Christians have embraced a relationship with the shadow of Christ and haven’t enjoyed a relationship with Christ Himself.

“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.”
Hebrews 10:1 KJV

You cannot have a real relationship with a shadow. There is no substance in a shadow – the substance is in what the shadow represents. Following and adhering to the shadow of the law cannot make you clean and righteous. But that was not its purpose, to begin with!

“Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions (sin; violation)…  So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.”
Galatians 3:19; 24-26 ESV (Brackets mine)

The word “added” shows us that law was not a part of God’s original plan. The law (the covenant which came through Moses) was “added” to the Covenant of Promise that God had already made with Abraham. The purpose of this was to expose sin and show that self-salvation could never be attained. The law prepared us for the covenant of grace (through Jesus) in which we need to let go of our effort for acceptance and blessing, and trust in our Saviour.

“So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came”
Galatians 3:24 ESV

The word “until” shows us that the law was a temporary situation “until Christ came”. Jesus came to fulfill the law; He came to complete it and bring it to an end.

“For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.”
Romans 10:4 KJV

It is not possible to obtain right standing (righteousness) before God based on our effort and obedience to the law. It’s only by faith (believing) in what Christ has done for us.

“I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.”
Galatians 2:21 KJV

If you could be right with God by obeying and living by the law (the Old Covenant), then it would frustrate (void, stop the flow or reject) the grace of God (the free gift of undeserved favour) and it would mean that Christ’s death had no purpose.

Much love,