Shadow

“…. Which are a shadow of the things to come; but the body is Christ’s.”

The Old Testament ceremonial law, the feasts and the feast days, were the semblances of those that were to come in the eternal kingdom when Christ would come and the gospel message would be openly preached. They are only as it were, symbols of the coming days of glory for the Christian believer. They are shadows of the coming glory in the gospel age and were meant to lift the heart and mind to God in celebration and enjoyment of what God has provided in the reality of the coming Saviour.

They are mere shadows of the reality of the manifestation of Christ and since Christ is now come and made plain to us, there is no more need of them. We do not cling to a phantom when the real person is with us. The Lord has provided good things for us, in our souls and we rejoice in that provision.

“Then he said to them, “Go your way. Eat the fat, drink the sweet, and send portions to him for whom nothing is prepared; for this day is holy to our Lord. Don’t be grieved; for the joy of the LORD is your strength.”

Nehemiah 8:10

We enter into the enjoyment in Christ and the provision for our souls in the gospel. The Lord provided for His people abundantly and was not stingy nor did He hold them back from the enjoyment of the fruits of their labours. The Old Testament feasts were celebrations of the mercy and provision of the Lord, both in this world and the coming kingdom. They were all images of the coming kingdom, where all is prepared for the people of God. God provides for our souls in the person of Jesus and in the inner working of the Holy Spirit in our souls. He blesses us with all spiritual blessings in Christ.

God loves His people and will lavish all good things on them, of the good of their spiritual life. God’s people are more important to Him than any other consideration in this world. Christ loves the body, the whole group of Christians that have been given to Him as His own inheritance, and He will bring each one safely to the heavenly home. We are His handiwork and are beyond price, for the price paid for us was beyond compare. He will not let His children be torn apart by petty cultural differences that divide and separate. The body of Christ is one unit and is held together by the work of the Holy Spirit in each person as individuals. We will be presented as glorious beings before the throne of God and be with Christ, our head for ever.

All things are given for our enjoyment and good pleasure. Even in the suffering of this present world we are blessed to know that all is working for the good of each one of us. Every Christian can testify to the faithfulness of the Father in the middle of deep troubles. He spreads a table to joy in the life of every one of His children and no one can take the joy of the Christian away from them.

Jesus the Bridegroom will protect His bride, the people of God, and bring her safely into the heavenly kingdom for that great marriage supper. We will there enjoy all good things prepared for us and rejoice to be a part of the feast, for all those around the table will be redeemed people, and all judgment will be over. The reality of the shadows will have come to full fruition and the full light of heaven’s day will shine.

“My beloved is mine and I am his; he pastures his flock among the lilies. Before the day breaks and shadows flee…”

Song of Songs 2:16-17

The shadows have now gone and the full light of gospel revelation is shining. Christ is the embodiment of all these ceremonies and is the manifestation of all the grace and love of God. The light is now shining for all those who will believe. Christ is the fulfilment of these pictures from the Old Testament and is the revelation of them to us. The Apostle is adamant that the old shadows will not linger when the light of day now shines.

Beloved, we rejoice in the Lord Jesus and enter into the reality of knowing Him and experiencing the provision He has made for our souls.

Judging

“Let no one therefore judge you in eating, or in drinking, or with respect to a feast day or a new moon or a Sabbath day,”

Since the ceremonial and everything outside the moral law is now passed away, we do not hold to the keeping of traditional religious feasts and days of religious observance. Indeed the rules for the culture of living have passed away and we are free to choose many things that we do and pay attention to.

We are not to judge each other outside the moral law and make value judgments about each other based on what we do in the living of our lives, or even what religious observances we hold to. We are not to judge eating or drinking, what people like to eat, how they eat it, when the eat it, etc… same with drinking. We all make our choices about these things and we are set free by the Scripture to do so. We are not to judge about days that are set aside for God, what they are or when they are.

Unfortunately for us we can be legalistic in our outlook and use all kinds of personal prejudicial judgments to oppress other people. This should not be so among Christian people. People love to tell each other what to do and how to do it, and we display the root of pride that is still in our psyche and that feeds that judgment. It is especially prominent in holiday times, as different cultural groups celebrate differently and have various preferences and traditional habits that the Scripture allows. Too many seek to over ride the Word of God and substitute their own pet likes and dislikes for the various habits of other people. So divisions arise in the mind, and prejudice grows.

Prejudice is a despicable state of mind and harbours ill will towards people who are different and who have different habits from ourselves. It is the root of all the -isms, the barriers that have grown up between the differing cultural groups, genders, age groups, and so on. We impose our own foolish consciences on other people and make shackles for the feet of the redeemed! This should not be so, and is not the way of Christ or Christian people. I am reminded that this is for issues outside the moral law, it is not a free-for-all to do whatever we like. We must not deliberately provoke people either, and make problems where problems do not exist!

Where prejudice shows itself, we must address it, before it spreads and is accepted into the general psyche of the group. Prejudice against anyone is ugly and we should watch our own thought processes and speaking. We should be careful about our language and examine the things we say to make sure they reflect good attitudes and not prejudicial thinking.

Holidays and special days of celebration, are free times and are to be celebrated as we choose. We are free people and must not be put under the yoke of bondage again, as in the group that insisted on circumcision and caused division in the early church. This issue is a continuation of the thought process that sets the Christians free to live their lives for God and not tradition. The old has passed away and the new has come.

Triumphing

 

“having stripped the principalities and the powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it.”

The triumph of the cross cannot be held high enough for it to be shown for what it is. What was accomplished there we will never really be able to grasp. The enormity of the victory that was achieved for us and the depths and breadths of the payment for our sin will never be realised by any human. The Lord Jesus has gained the victory over every enemy of our souls and it is so extreme, He is able to save completely anyone who comes to Him. The victory is so universal that He is able to put to flight every power that raises itself up against Him or His precious people. 

“He is the head of the body, the assembly, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.”

Colossians 1:18

This verse we are studying says that He showed the evil powers and authorities up for what they really are. He showed the wickedness in the hearts of the human authorities by the way they treated Him at His death. The record we have in the Scripture is the sight of despicable human beings full of envy and wrath, spewing out their hatred on the Son of God. He dealt with them with such dignity and majesty that they could not understand.

The treachery of one of His own disciples fills us with fear, lest we should also be found in such a state. The story of Judas is a sorry tale of the cowardice and greed in the human heart. The powers of darkness gathered around the Saviour of the world and tried their utmost spite against Him, knowing they could never succeed yet hounding Him to the cross. The dignity and divine majesty of the Lord Jesus is clearly seen in all He said and did and shows us that He really is who He says He is. 

Jesus put to death the power of Satan, so he can conquer the people of God no longer. The victory is complete, because the price is paid and all spite and sorrow is gone forever for all who will believe. Satan is finally shown to be who he really is and is stripped of all his vaunted pomp and show. He is low and beaten and cannot hurt us anymore. 

Christ is the conquering king, as the sign that was put above the cross tells us. 

JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS. 

His triumph is compete because He has bought a people for Himself who are now delivered from the wrath to come and who will serve Him and reign with Him in all eternity.

“I saw the heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and he who sat on it is called Faithful and True. In righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes are a flame of fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has names written and a name written which no one knows but he himself. He is clothed in a garment sprinkled with blood. His name is called “The Word of God.” The armies which are in heaven followed him on white horses, clothed in white, pure, fine linen.Out of his mouth proceeds a sharp, double-edged sword, that with it he should strike the nations. He will rule them with an iron rod.He treads the wine press of the fierceness of the wrath of God, the Almighty.He has on his garment and on his thigh a name written, “KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.”

Revelation 19:11-16

Nailed

“wiping out the handwriting in ordinances which was against us; and he has taken it out of the way, nailing it to the cross;”

Here is the central kernel of the blessing in Christ. The record of all our sin is wiped out because all our sin is nailed to the cross of Christ, and is paid for by Him. The permanent, written handwriting of accusation and blame is expunged and our sins are remembered no more.

It has all been taken out of the way and paid for on the cross. The picture is strong and specific. It is nailed to the cross never to get down and bother us again. The record of our sin is taken out of our way and it has really been dealt with and we will never be accused of any of it. This fact should bring us great joy and great relief. The law has no more hold on the Christian and there is no more condemnation for the believer.

The handwriting upheld by the ordinances of the Old Testament is now gone and we are not required to do any of it and are therefore free people. The grace we experience in Christ sets us free to live and there is no remembrance made of our sin any more. We are not subject to the shadows of the spiritual life in the kingdom, for the kingdom has now come and the old has passed away. 

“There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who don’t walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.”

Romans 8:1

All the blame has been put away with the nailing of the handwriting of the dead ordinances on the cross of Christ. God is now for us, not against us, as we are covered by the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus and are now free people. The ceremonies have gone and with them the admission of guilt and blame. Christ has done way with the ceremonies, with no memory of the obligation to God we carry around in our souls because of our sin. It is all forgiven…

“You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free….If therefore the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.”

John 8:32 and 36

It is the truth in Christ and the truth that is Christ, that sets us free and not the observing of dead ordinances that are against the grace of God.

Forgiven

“You were dead through your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh. He made you alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses,”

Here in this verse we have the reason why God had to chose us first in order to save us and make us spiritually alive. Without the Lord we have no faith, no love and no hope. We are dead in our trespasses because of our sin and the sins that we commit daily. This sin separates us from the Lord and makes us insensible to His voice and His pleading. Only when the Holy Spirit works in our lives do we start to feel the destitute nature of our state and we begin to seek God. 

In our fleshly lives we are uncircumcised. We live our earthly lives lost to the Lord, with no love for Him or desire to know Him personally. As we have discussed in verse eleven, the circumcision that God requires is the circumcision of heart that binds us to God and takes us away from the things of this vain world. We would never choose God, left to our own devices, but we will cling on to the sin that so easily besets us, unless we are shown the seriousness of the consequences of it, and the cost to our eternal souls, if we neglect this great salvation. The consequences of rejecting the provision of God are so serious and everlasting, that we must consider the end of our choices and where we will spend the ages of eternity. We must be forgiven, for to face the holy God with no salvation is serious in the extreme. 

However, those who do come to God, are made spiritually alive in Christ and have the power of God residing in them, to give them desires after holiness and the humility to follow the Lord Jesus wherever He might lead them. God gives the ability to choose him, when our inner eyes are opened to see the truth about ourselves and the truth of the gospels message. He sets us free to make a good choice and not a wretched one. To be alive in Christ, and to Christ, is the greatest state to be in. To know His love in our lives and to be able to conquer the giants of doubt and temptation that infiltrate our thinking and doing, is the power of God. 

How wonderful to know for sure that your sins are all forgiven and you are regarded by God as a holy person, because of the Lord Jesus. We are forgiven because of Him and we continue to thrive in our Christian lives because of Him.

We fight the uncircumcised desires and practices of the flesh and put to death the desires of the physical life in this world that incline our hearts and minds away from Christ. Our redeemed self puts on righteousness and seeks the spiritual life found only through faith in Jesus. Anything else is worldly and unprofitable for it will not stand the test of God at the end of our lives. Many will find their work and witness for God as “wood, hay and stubble” which will be burnt in the fires of testing. There will be no works of righteousness to give to the Lord, for they are so contaminated by our flesh, that they will not survive. 

Beloved, we rejoice to know our sins are forgiven and cast into the sea of God’s forgetfulness, and we deny self and the flesh to put on righteousness and produce work fitting for the Lord. Then our hearts will be truly circumcised to God and acceptable to Him. Then we will be alive together with Christ. 

“He will again have compassion on us. He will tread our iniquities under foot; and you will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.”

Micah 7:19

Baptism

“having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.”

Baptism does not save us or do any spiritual good for the salvation of our souls. It is not a precursor for salvation nor does it set us apart for salvation. Many are baptised and die in their sins, having never come to personal repentance in Christ. It is a cogent and personal act of choice for someone who has trusted in Christ and wants to follow the example of Christ and be immersed in the waters of baptism. It is a sign of something spiritual that has happened in their lives and an outward confession of faith in Christ the Saviour.

The witness of baptism shows the reality of what has happened in the soul of the person being baptised. The person goes down into the water of baptism and is buried in it to show the going down into death of the Lord Jesus as He paid the price of the sins of His people. The person is then bodily raised out of the water to signify the raising of Christ from the dead as the victorious Saviour and Lord of all. The Christian is given new life to serve God and glorify Him forever. We identify with the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus for we have died to sin and are resurrected to a new life in Christ through our faith in the power of God that raised Jesus from then dead.

“You were buried therefore with him through baptism to death, that just like Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life.”

Romans 6:4

The spectacle of baptism is an outward witness of the inner work of the Spirit of God in salvation. We are raised to a new life in Christ to walk in the power of the Spirit in obedience and faith.

“This is a symbol of baptism, which now saves you—not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,”

1 Peter 3:21

This verse follows on in the Scripture, from the picture given of the salvation of Noah and his family in the ark through the waters of the flood. They were rescued by the Lord from the destruction and judgment of the pre-diluvian world and brought to new life through the salvation of God. So also the picture of baptism shows the salvation of God in the life of the believer and is therefore the salvation of baptism. The baptism shows what we have been saved from and saved to.

It is not the washing of the flesh but the confession of the work of conscience in the soul that has brought the person to repentance and faith. There is no salvation without repentance and faith and therefore no baptism either. We are brought into a new and glorious life as Jesus was raised from the dead and bought eternal life for us.

“Philip opened his mouth, and beginning from this Scripture, preached to him Jesus. As they went on the way, they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “Behold, here is water. What is keeping me from being baptised?” He commanded the chariot to stand still, and they both went down into the water, both Philip and the eunuch, and he baptised him. When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away, and the eunuch didn’t see him any more, for he went on his way rejoicing.”

Acts 8:35-39

The Ethiopian is constrained to be baptised after confession of Christ and he and Philip go down into the water and the Ethiopian is baptised. There is rejoicing for the newly converted Ethiopian who has obeyed the Lord. So also for the Christian believer who has trusted in Christ and wishes to identify themselves with their Lord and Saviour. It is an outward and abiding witness of a inner and living spiritual event that has happened to them and a reality that they now live in. We are now dead to this world and made alive in Christ for the salvation of our souls.

Baptism in the New Testament is never a precursor to salvation. The faith in Christ and the confession of personal change in the Believer comes first and the desires to identify with the Lord by going down into His death and being raised in resurrection power is the outworking of the personal faith. Paul is reminding the Christians at Colosse about their faith and obedience to the Lord in baptism and is constraining them to continue in that way. So as the Christian looks back at the event of their baptism they are encouraged to keep following the Lord and obeying Him.

Separate

“..in whom you were also circumcised with a circumcision not made with hands, in the putting off of the body of the sins of the flesh, in the circumcision of Christ;”

Circumcision was a big issue for the Jewish believers, but in this verse we see another circumcision, the circumcision of the soul. The outward show is as nothing and only feeds the religious feelings and exclusivity of the Jewish religion. It was superseded by the institution of the early Church and passed into the history of the Jewish religion and practice. To carry on the practice after the coming of Christ in the incarnation is to deny Christ. To mix the old and the new is the essence of the teaching of the false teachers in Paul’s day who were called the concision and are cut off from Christ. To carry on with the figure of the outward sign is to deny the inner work of the Spirit and the work that was accomplished on the cross.

God requires more that the outward signs of religion and therefore separates His people to holiness of life in the Spirit. The inner workings of the circumcision of the Holy Spirit is the separation from the world that God is looking for in the lives of His people. This does not involve any outward ritual but the sanctifying work of the Spirit to bring the believer into close fellowship with the Father and the Son.

No human being can administer this spiritual ritual, but only the Holy Spirit within the life of the Christian believer. It is a spiritual work and not any outward, fleshly manifestation. Those days of the old law and the old covenant are over and now the new has come in Christ. It is a better and permanent covenant that cannot fail, for it is with God, between the three persons of the godhead, to save a fallen group of people. The covenant was ratified at the cross of Calvary, and shown in power and glory in the resurrection. This is the basis for the New covenant, not on outward show, but the glory of the life of God within a person.

The entrance into the kingdom of God is not through outward works of religion or good works in the world, but the setting apart of the life for God. It is the expression of the life of faith, a life that trusts God completely and will obey the Word of the Scripture and put selfish consideration away. The inner circumcision will result in a life that is separate from this world and rejecting of the unfruitful works of darkness that abound in our day, and embrace the life of holiness and obedience. It is the cutting off of the signs of the flesh that abound in us still, and the putting to death the immoral deeds of the body.

Christ took on Himself the form of a servant and was obedient to the Father, even to the death on the cross! How much more we should rejoice to obey the Lord and walk in the way of His commandments. We separate ourselves from sin and self and live our lives in increasing fellowship and love for the Lord Jesus Christ. This is true circumcision- circumcision of the heart and mind.