The Shadow Is Not The Substance

It is not possible to appreciate the sacrifice of Christ without being made fully aware of sin and sinfulness. It is not possible to be aware of sin and sinfulness without knowledge of The Law. It is not possible to have knowledge of The Law except that God gave it.

So it was that God gave The Law, in the form of the Ten Commandments, to Moses on Mt. Sinai. This was done so that all would be aware of God's glorious standards for His creation. In this awareness, sin was revealed as was the great chasm that separates the created from the Creator. The giving of The Law was an illumination of sorts the byproduct of which was the casting of a shadow over mankind.

My study verse today is ...

John 1:17 (NIV)
¹⁷ For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

The Holy Bible : New International Version. electronic ed. Grand Rapids : Zondervan, 1996, c1984

With the knowledge and understanding of The Law and sin, mankind got onto a treadmill. On a treadmill, no matter how hard you try or how fast you run, you get nowhere. The benefits to the exercise are in the form of increased endurance, perseverance and overall health. But you never arrive. So it is with The Law. Despite our best efforts to observe The Law, we always fail. To be sure there are benefits of the exercise in the form of piety and increased realization of our own needfulness. But you never succeed. Trying to live according to The Law is to try and appease God and it is living in the shadow of God's glory.

But "grace and truth came through Jesus Christ"; this is the substance of God's glory. The Law was fulfilled by Jesus Christ and the shadow has been lifted for believers except what remnants they pull over themselves. When we receive the grace and truth that is Jesus, we step off the treadmill of The Law and onto the Highway of Holiness. Our efforts are no longer centered around The Law but rather around The Living. By this I mean that a disciple lives a life that is pleasing to God. Trying to live according to the grace and truth that is found in Christ is to try and please God and it is living in the blazing light of God's glory.

The Law is necessary to develop our understanding but it is only a shadow, not the substance. Grace and truth through Jesus is the very substance, the essence of life. I don't mind living in the shadow of The Cross but I will not live in the shadow of The Law. I want to live, I want to walk down the Highway of Holiness in the full light of God's glory. I choose the substance not the shadow.

Shalom,

Carl