A Christmas Carol: W1 - THU
Shadows of things to come Hebrews 10:1 The old system under the law of Moses was only a shadow, a dim preview of the good things to come, not the good things themselves. The sacrifices under that system were repeated again and again, year after year, but they were never able to provide perfect cleansing for those who came to worship.
Deuteronomy 18: 17 “Then the Lord said to me, ‘What they have said is right. 18 I will raise up a prophet like you from among their fellow Israelites.
Up until I was about 21 years old, I had great vision. I could see for miles, crystal clear, and I used to struggle to imagine how people with glasses saw the world. I soon found out.
It happened one day when I was yelling at a friend who I saw walking across campus. The friend didn’t turn and wave, so I did what any reasonable extrovert would do, I began to chase them. I continued to shout their name and try to get their attention, but something very odd began to happen; my friend started running away from me. Long story short, it wasn’t my friend. What I thought I saw was a blurred image with a slight resemblance to my friend but definitely not my friend. Poor guy.
My vision has only gotten worse. Blurred images are my constant companion if I don’t have my reading glasses.
Why do I say this? Because I sometimes view the Old Testament as me learning to see and hear God and what He’s about. I love the phrase from the author of Hebrews, “a shadow, a dim preview of the good things to come.”
You see, through the human story, God meets us where we are and continues to reveal Himself to us as we are ready to receive him, but he certainly can’t do it all at once. If he did, we’d be overwhelmed, maybe even destroyed because he is so perfect, holy, and righteous, and we are not. So God in his grace reveals as much as we can take, when we can take it. And here’s the crazy thing, he is always doing this.
We will come to see in tomorrows’ reflection that in Jesus, we are given the clearest image of God that we’ve ever received, but even in Jesus, we will always have more to learn. Even in eternity, we will always have more to learn. We will never be able to completely plumb the depths of our God.
Jesus gave an example of this when he told his disciples, “There is so much more I want to tell you, but you can’t bear it now.” (John 16:12, NLT) Jesus told them what he knew they could handle, nothing more, and nothing less. Then, he promised to send the Holy Spirit to continue to bring the image of God into focus.
“But when the Father sends the Advocate as my representative—that is, the Holy Spirit—he will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you.” (John 14:26, NLT)
For now, the gift of Jesus with the Holy Spirit allows us to see that throughout all of Scripture, God has been revealing Himself to us, meeting us where we are and taking us, one step at a time, closer to Him. Until that day comes when we get to see Him face to face, everything else is a shadow of the things to come. May we keep pursuing Him as He is pursuing us.
Deuteronomy 18: 17 “Then the Lord said to me, ‘What they have said is right. 18 I will raise up a prophet like you from among their fellow Israelites.
Up until I was about 21 years old, I had great vision. I could see for miles, crystal clear, and I used to struggle to imagine how people with glasses saw the world. I soon found out.
It happened one day when I was yelling at a friend who I saw walking across campus. The friend didn’t turn and wave, so I did what any reasonable extrovert would do, I began to chase them. I continued to shout their name and try to get their attention, but something very odd began to happen; my friend started running away from me. Long story short, it wasn’t my friend. What I thought I saw was a blurred image with a slight resemblance to my friend but definitely not my friend. Poor guy.
My vision has only gotten worse. Blurred images are my constant companion if I don’t have my reading glasses.
Why do I say this? Because I sometimes view the Old Testament as me learning to see and hear God and what He’s about. I love the phrase from the author of Hebrews, “a shadow, a dim preview of the good things to come.”
You see, through the human story, God meets us where we are and continues to reveal Himself to us as we are ready to receive him, but he certainly can’t do it all at once. If he did, we’d be overwhelmed, maybe even destroyed because he is so perfect, holy, and righteous, and we are not. So God in his grace reveals as much as we can take, when we can take it. And here’s the crazy thing, he is always doing this.
We will come to see in tomorrows’ reflection that in Jesus, we are given the clearest image of God that we’ve ever received, but even in Jesus, we will always have more to learn. Even in eternity, we will always have more to learn. We will never be able to completely plumb the depths of our God.
Jesus gave an example of this when he told his disciples, “There is so much more I want to tell you, but you can’t bear it now.” (John 16:12, NLT) Jesus told them what he knew they could handle, nothing more, and nothing less. Then, he promised to send the Holy Spirit to continue to bring the image of God into focus.
“But when the Father sends the Advocate as my representative—that is, the Holy Spirit—he will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you.” (John 14:26, NLT)
For now, the gift of Jesus with the Holy Spirit allows us to see that throughout all of Scripture, God has been revealing Himself to us, meeting us where we are and taking us, one step at a time, closer to Him. Until that day comes when we get to see Him face to face, everything else is a shadow of the things to come. May we keep pursuing Him as He is pursuing us.
- What is something you used to believe about God, that you now think differently about?
- Is there something you’ve learned about God and his creation, recently?
- Humility is a cherished trait throughout Scripture. How does knowing that we don’t know everything there is to know, keep us humble?
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