The OT Sacrificial System, A Pattern of What Was To Come

Jesus celebrated the Passover with His disciples on the very night that he was betrayed by Judas, one of Jesus' own chosen disciples. The Gospel of John records one stirring event that night that has been imitated again and again by Christian communities as they remember and celebrate the Lord's Supper  in Holy Week. Jesus laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel wrapped around Him. This was, of course, the lowly task of a servant in the household of a great lord and certainly not the work of the Messianic King—or at least so the disciples thought.

Peter objected to what Jesus was doing, saying, "You shall never wash my feet."

Jesus answered him, "If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.". . . And then he went on to explain, "You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. - John 13:8,13-16 ESV

The writer of Hebrews 8 uses this same word, example (hypodeigmä in Greek), to describe the entire Old Testament sacrificial system. He also calls it but a shadow (skia in Greek) of the heavenly things. God had given Moses specific instruction to make everything according to the pattern (typos in Greek) given to him. The tent had to be just so in size with a specific number of rooms. In each room certain specific objects were to be fashioned and placed. The high priest, in turn, was to be dressed in specific clothing and he had detailed instructions about how and when to carry out his duties.

The ministry or service that the high priest performed, says Hebrews, was not what goes on in heaven before God. All these rituals and sacrifices were but copies or shadows of what was to come when Christ, the true promised Messiah, came. They pointed forward to the substance or the living body and ministry of Christ (Col. 2:17). The entire law, Hebrews will go on to say, was but a shadow of the good things to come. It was not the true form (icon in Greek). 

In the next chapter he will use yet one more word to describe the various gifts and bloody sacrifices offered by the high priest for himself and the worshippers. He calls them all a parable ( parabolē in Greek) for that particular time, a period that came to an end when Christ, the true High Priest, fulfilled his duties upon the cross (John 19:30). 

So Hebrews practically exhausts the Greek language in order to point out that the whole sacrificial system, with the Tabernacle and later the Temple, the high priest and his helpers, the thousands of sacrifices of bulls, sheep and goats and all the various rituals—the entire system— was not and never was intended to be anything other than a . . . 

• shadow
• example
• copy
• pattern and
• parable

. . . of what was to come and what Christ completed once and for all in the presence of God, in the heavenly places. Watch how again and again the writer makes that point. In the words of Christ, "It is finished!" No more sacrifices, no more blood and no more death. It is over. The debts are paid. And what a comfort it is for all of us who put our faith and trust in Jesus, our true High Priest. 

Good Morning—Night Is Over

I sat at my computer quite early in the morning, pondering the meaning of Psalm 107 and the beginning of Book Five of the Psalter, when all of a sudden a quiet rain began to fall on the deck outside the sliding glass doors of my study. What a happy sound. We could always use a soft, soaking rain, I thought. Even the birds outside acknowledged it as they begin their morning songs.

As I listened to the gentle rain falling in the darkness it struck me how different some rains are from others. It wasn't that long ago that Sylvia and I huddled on the floor, in the hallway of our Houston area home while terrifying winds and rain pounded our house in the deep shadows of Hurricane Rita. We feared for our lives and prayed for the shadows to pass.

Different shadows, different darkness, different times. So the Biblical writers will at times speak of the sheltering shadows of the LORD's wings or of his hand (Ps. 17:8, Ps. 51:1, Ps. 63:7, Ps. 91:1, Isa. 49:2, Isa. 51:16). Thus protected, nothing can harm them. But at other times they tremble, because they are prisoners in a land of darkness, forced to dwell in the shadow of death (Ps. 107:10-14).

The comforting lesson of Psalm 107 is that when our very soul is fainting, trapped by pain, affliction, fear and the dark shadows of impending death, we have but to cry out, return to Him who so deeply loves us that He went before us into that dark valley of the shadow of death (Ps. 23:4). As Zechariah said, the sun is about to rise and final salvation awaits (Luke 1:78-79). Death is but a shadow, no longer a certainty at all. We shall not be cut off from our God and from His people. Because of the cross and the sacrifice of Calvary, we are forgiven, once more declared His children, sheltered in the shadow of His wings, protected by the shadow of His hand.

The sun rose, even as I completed this little piece. The rain was very brief. A bright, radiant springtime day awaited me. Once more I was reminded by the springtime that days of darkness, fear and death will soon be over—forever. The dawn has come. The shining Light is dispersing the shadows. Jesus is that Light of the world and the darkness cannot put it out (John 1:5, 8:12). Alleluia!

Death Is But A Shadow

This week is celebrated around the world by Christians as the most significant week in all of human history. It is a week we call holy, because in this week our Lord and God in the person of Jesus Christ accomplished for us what only He could do. He offered up His life as full and final payment for our sin. And next Sunday we will celebrate His glorious return from death. 

There is an oft told story about Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse, a beloved Bible teacher and pastor in the middle decades of the twentieth century. While still a young man in his thirties, his first wife died of cancer, leaving behind three daughters under the age of twelve. Dr. Barnhouse decided to conduct the funeral service for his wife. On the way to the service with his heartbroken children, their car came to a stop light just as a massive truck pulled up next to them, blocking the light of the sun. Seeing the immense shadow that had overtaken them, Dr. Barnhouse asked his oldest daughter if she would rather be run over by the truck or by the shadow of the truck. "By the shadow, I guess," she replied, "because the shadow cannot hurt you." Turning to all of his children, Dr. Barnhouse said, 'That's what has happened to your mother. Death cannot hurt her because the Lord Jesus Christ took her to heaven. It is only the shadow of death that took her from us."

I used that story in a sermon I preached last Sunday, pointing the congregation to Psalm 23, the text Barnhouse used at that funeral: "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me." Many in that assembled congregation thanked me afterwards. As I was taking off my robe in the sacristy, a man stepped in to tell me how important that sermon was to him and his family. His wife's 92 year old mother had just died the previous night. They were comforted to know that death has indeed lost its power. We prayed together at that moment, commending Mom into the hands of the Lord and thanking Him for the wondrous news that death is but a shadow for those of us who are in Christ Jesus. 

My prayer is that all of us will find comfort and strength in the sacrificial death of our Lord Jesus and in His miraculous rising from the dead on Easter morning.