'So let no man judge you in food or in drink, or in regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ.' {Colossians 2:16-17}

In his book The Republic, Plato tells a story about a group of people who have lived chained to the wall of a cave all of their lives, facing a blank wall. The people watch shadows projected on the wall by things passing in front of a fire behind them, and begin to ascribe forms to these shadows. According to Socrates, the shadows are as close as the prisoners get to viewing reality. He then explains how the philosopher is like a prisoner who is freed from the cave and comes to understand that the shadows on the wall do not make up reality at all, as he can perceive the true form of reality rather than the mere shadows seen by the prisoners. That’s essentially the point that Paul is making here.

It’s about Jesus. It’s not about some feast, it’s about understanding that Jesus is the fulfillment of each feast. It’s not about keeping the Sabbath, its about realizing that He is our Sabbath rest. The feasts and dietary laws and even the Sabbath were all pictures or shadows of Him.

The Christian is one who has learned to see the reality to which all shadows point. In Christ, we see the fulfillment of every picture, and the substance of every shadow. And that changes the way you go through life. So think back to the last time you marveled at a beautiful sunset. You know those sunsets that are so beautiful they just take your breath away. There are colors in there that we don’t even have names for. As Christians we don’t just see a beautiful sunset. We see the artisonship of a master painter. When we look up into the heavens on a starlit night. We don’t just see the vast expanse of the heavens. We see the glory of God being displayed because the Psalmist tells us that the heavens what, declare God’s glory right.

And so here’s where we start to get off… We get off when we place more emphasis and weight on the shadow then we do on Christ. So rather then seeing the beauty in creation and letting that propel our hearts to worship the God who created those things, we worship the creation. We take the things that God has made, that were meant to point us to Him, and we elevate those things and begin to worship those things over the creator. And in doing so, we become idolators. And just as an example of this… We’ve got these two dogs and they’re more or less our vacuum cleaners. So I’ll drop some food on the ground from time to time and I’ll call my dog over to lick it up for me. But sometimes the dog won’t see the food so I’ll point to it and say, ‘No, it’s over there.’ And there have been times when my dog will start licking my finger. I’m thinking, what you want is over there. But they just don’t get it. That’s like us. We don’t get it. All these things we enjoy are like fingers pointing us to Jesus. He’s what we want. He is the fulfillment, the substance and the essence of it all.

God Bless,

Daniel