A Shadow of Things to Come

This past week has been unusual as far as weather is concerned. Not only have we seen much rain, but thunderstorms as well. Some areas around central Kentucky even saw tornados and other parts of the Midwest dealt with even more destructive weather as thunderstorms and tornados were more widespread. We are reminded that many folks fear the shadows of dark clouds for they know the storm is coming.

The casting of shadows many times leads to fear. The shadow of the hawk causes the hen to sound a warning to her brood to take cover. In ancient times, the shadow of the moon upon the earth during an eclipse was seen as a bad omen.

Shadows are not all bad however. Seeking the shadow of a tree can cause much relief on a hot, summer's day. In like token, the Old Testament was a shadow of "good things to come" (Hebrews 10:1.) The apostle Paul reminds us that "the things written in former days were written for our learning, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope" (Romans 15:4.) The Old Testament contains examples (I Corinthians 10:6) for us so as not to repeat their mistakes.

A study of the Old Testament will yield many treats for serious students of the Bible. We learn about the nature of sin (Romans 7:7), and the holiness of God (I Peter 1:15-16.) We learn about how God punishes sin and the separation from God it causes. But we also learn about the coming Messiah that would take away sin. The law was intended to lead us to Christ and teach us of Him (Galatians 4:1-4) and was never intended to be in permanent force since Jesus came to fulfill it (Matthew 5:17-18.) Once fulfilled, it was to end but while it is not in force today there is much to be gained by a study of it. Don't be guilty of ignoring those holy scriptures that revealed the coming Messiah.