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| NEW LIGHT ON THE OLD TESTAMENT |
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| rituals of the Old Testament: Passover feasts, sacrifices, and other priestly duties. They were mere shadows, expressing the reality to come in Jesus Christ. No ceremony alone, however elaborate, can adequately express the experience of God himself, any more than a photograph of a whale or a mountain can adequately represent a whale or a mountain. According to Hebrews, the Old Testament rituals were a copy, but Christ is the original. The author pulls up time-hallowed images from the Jewish tradition - sacrifices, laws, blood, the tabernacle, the priest, the Day of Atonement - and explains how Christ revealed once and for all the meaning of these images only hinted at. The incomplete, shadowy copy contrasts with the perfect, genuine reality. Which is Better? As always, Hebrews stresses the advantages of living now, rather than in the Old Testament ("the first covenant"). Because of Christ, sacrifices are no longer necessary (10:11-12), and God's laws are now written in our minds and on our hearts, not in a formal code (8:10). "It is finished," Christ cried out from the cross; the author of Hebrews describes how. Copies have some value. A photograph of a whale, for example, conveys much to those who will never encounter one. But, as the author of Hebrews asks, who would prefer a copy to the real thing? Life Questions: What practical help does Hebrews give on how to read the Old Testament? Of what value are the Old Testament laws and religious rituals? |