Hebrews 8:5

Hebrews 8:5

A copy and a shadow

There are two potent verses in Exodus that probably are never given the attention they deserve. Exodus 25 describes the precise instructions given by God to Moses about the building of the Tabernacle and the furnishings within it. Twice the Lord says to Moses, “Make this tabernacle and all its furnishings exactly like the pattern I will show you.” V9, v40. When God instructs us to follow a pattern, it is always in the context of it being a shadow or an earthly replica of a heavenly reality. Throughout the centuries of Jewish worship and rituals it didn’t seem to dawn on anyone that all their sacred objects and their sacrificial offerings were merely reflections of a greater, spiritual reality. The sanctuary was just “a copy, a shadow of what is in heaven.” It took the coming of Christ Jesus, and the revelations to the Apostles, to unlock this mystery and to explain it all so that we might understand. This is exactly what the author of Hebrews is seeking to do for his Jewish friends.

In truth, there are many Christians today who still don’t get it! For them, church buildings, the sacraments and the priesthood are the full-on representatives of the faith, they do not understand that the true realities lie far beyond, in a spiritual world that so few understand. It’s apparent that even many ministers and priests don’t get it either! The giving of the Holy Spirit was designed to bridge the gap, to take us beyond this world, to show us that we are now connected to heaven and that our faith is not about earthly religion but heavenly realities. We don’t just have a heavenly High Priest but there is also a heavenly Tabernacle with heavenly furnishings. There is one, heavenly offering that atones for all and a heavenly priesthood which all true believers have been invited to join. The Tabernacle and its ceremonies were important because they showed the world how sinful people can approach a Holy God and find forgiveness and acceptance. The whole point of the existence of Israel and its religion was to demonstrate the truth about God to the entire world, and to declare His love and righteousness so that we may all believe. It’s not just the Jews who have made a mess of it, we all have, especially the established church! 

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