What does it mean that Israel’s festivals are a ‘shadow’?

According to the witness of Scripture, God never changes. He swore this to us, this promise has come down to us from our fore-bearers Adam and Eve to this day. Men change all the time, but God never changes.

“Because I, the LORD, do not change, you descendants of Jacob have not been destroyed.”

Malachi 3:6 Berean Study Bible

If something is true at one time, it’s always true, forever. For all of eternity, because God is eternal.

Going back to the shadow imagery, a shadow is created by a tangible object. Objects create shadows. Even if all you see is a shadow, the object of the shadow exists and the object hasn’t changed. You can study the upper right corner of the shadow, but the rest of the shadow is still there, and more importantly, the object creating the shadow is still there. The shadow is the evidence of something else there.

Here’s how the Berean Study Bible translates Colossians 2:17:

These are a shadow of the things to come, but the body that casts it belongs to Christ.

Colossians 2:17 Berean Study Bible

Note in the New American Standard Bible rendering, the word “mere” is italicized, meaning it’s not in the Greek source text. That reflects the value judgment of the translators that the appointed times of the LORD (aka festivals of Israel) are “only” foretellers of the Messiah — nothing more.

But by studying the shadow with intention, we can learn a lot about the object that made the shadow. We may not understand it completely, but we will learn a little bit more along the way as we study.

God has given us the TaNaKh¹ and the New Testament, as “shadows” because we can’t look at the subject of those books yet, which is God Himself, However, as we study the shadow, we will slowly learn more about the object. When we studying the Bible, we’re not studying the Torah, which is God’s instruction book, in order to obtain salvation. God gives us that when we accept the yoke of the Messiah. We study God’s word to learn our job assignment in this life, as well as the next life.

God have given all of us jobs to do and the Bible is where we find out what those jobs are. We should study to be well prepared for whatever task God has for us.

We study the shadow God has given me to the best of my ability. The Scriptures are full of examples of people who were given tasks by God to do, and their successes and failures are recorded for our education. These things are recorded so we can learn from their mistakes.

The Bible is our instruction book for life but much of what is revealed in there, particularly those things regarding God Himself are shadows because we can’t understand Him completely. We will not master all the lessons God has for us in His Word.

He has given us enough about Him so we can walk in His way. God gives us difficult tasks but He does not give us a job that is beyond us to do. The jobs He has for us will stretch us, but we will learn from them.

Rather than casting the shadows aside as irrelevant, study the shadows in the Bible as deeply as you can. Study the shadows that God has given you.

God is an excellent teacher. He has given us everything we need to be prepared for whatever task He has for us. The shadow is evidence of something greater. The “shadows” we see in Scriptures should spur us to look for the Creator of the shadow. The shadow is the pattern of the original, as the earthly tabernacle is the “shadow” or “pattern” of what is in Heaven.

Yeshua the Mashiakh² spoke in parables on purpose. He spoke in such a way as to stretch the minds of those who were really seeking understanding but obscuring the meaning for the lazy and simple-minded (Matt. 13:10–15).

The writer of Hebrews connected the shadow with the pattern as an essential pair.

“Now if He were on earth, He would not be a priest, since there are already priests who offer gifts according to the law. The place where they serve is a copy and shadow of what is in heaven. This is why Moses was warned when he was about to build the tabernacle: ‘See to it that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.’”

Hebrews 8:5 Berean Study Bible

The shadow is the pattern of heavenly things. It’s not “merely” a shadow, it’s not something forgettable. The shadows in the Bible are there to show us heavenly realities. The shadows show us what is happening in heavenly places.

As we follow the pattern, we learn what has happened, is happening and is going to come.

Those who claim that since we know Yeshua as the Messiah, we can throw away the shadows are missing out on learning the heart and intent of God. How can we know who the Messiah is supposed to be if we don’t as regularly as God prescribes immerse our hearts and minds in the patterns for the Messiah in the scriptures? If we ignore the patterns or the shadows of the Messiah, we can be just guessing as to Who He is and what He is doing. We would be changing the Word of God and misunderstanding the Word made flesh.

“The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

John 1:14 Berean Study Bible

As we see in John’s gospel, the pattern of Israel’s tabernacle that was shown to Moshe is what you’re going to see in Yeshua. If you know the tabernacle, you will know Yeshua. You can’t discard the tabernacle as unimportant and think you can understand Yeshua without understanding the tabernacle. Otherwise, you will end up with a different view of Yeshua than the view given to us by God in the Scriptures.

“You pore over the Scriptures because you presume that by them you possess eternal life. These are the very words that testify about Me, yet you refuse to come to Me to have life.
I do not accept glory from men, but I know you, that you do not have the love of God within you. I have come in My Father’s name, and you have not received Me; but if someone else comes in his own name, you will receive him. How can you believe if you accept glory from one another, yet do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?
Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father. Your accuser is Moses, in whom you have put your hope. If you had believed Moses, you would believe Me, because he wrote about Me. But since you do not believe what he wrote, how will you believe what I say?”

John 5:39-47 Berean Study Bible

The Pharisees thought they understood Moses, but they didn’t. If they had, they would have recognized Yeshua as the Messiah. They would have studied the shadows and found Yeshua.

“For the Law, since it has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the very form of things, can never, by the same sacrifices which they offer continually year by year, make perfect those who draw near.”

Hebrews 10:1 NASB

In Hebrews 10 and Leviticus 1–6, we learn that the offerings brought to the tabernacle were the “shadows” to help bring people toward the presence of God. However, the animal offerings had no efficacy in and of themselves, as David points out in Psalm 51:16–17 and Yeshiyahu in Isaiah 1:10–13. Merely going through the motions doesn’t get anyone close to God. The Torah, the Prophets, Yeshua and His apostles all confirm that discarding the shadows isn’t helpful but pretending that the shadows have no progenitor, no Creator doesn’t bring us closer to the creator either.

1. A Hebrew acronym for Torah, Neviim (Prophets) and Ketuvim (Writings), i.e., the Hebrew Scriptures. ↩︎
2. Hebrew for Messiah, Christ, Anointed. ↩︎