"Since the law has only a shadow of the good things to come, and not the actual form of those realities, it can never perfect the worshipers by the same sacrifices they continually offer year after year. Otherwise, wouldn't they have stopped being offered, since the worshipers, once purified, would no longer have any consciousness of sins?" (Holman Christian Standard Bible)
"The Law of Moses is like a shadow of the good things to come. This shadow isn't the good things themselves, because it cannot free people from sin by the sacrifices that are offered year after year. If there were worshipers who already have their sins washed away and their consciences made clear, there would not be any need to go on offering sacrifices." (CEV)
"The old plan was only a hint of the good things in the new plan. Since that old "law plan" wasn't complete in itself, it couldn't complete those who followed it. No matter how many sacrifices were offered year after year, they never added up to a complete solution. If they had, the worshipers would have gone merrily on their way, no longer dragged down by their sins." (MSG)
I love these verses. And I hope they expose in your heart, as they have in mine, the areas in our minds where the Law of Moses (the Jewish Law, as rendered in the Good News Translation) is still in effect. To put it straight forwardly, we are victims of a mixture of a law-keeping covenant and a grace-given covenant.
I want to again highlight to you the Message translation. Look how it ends: "the worshipers would have gone merrily on their way, no longer dragged down by their sins."
If you cannot go merrily on your way and no longer experience remorse and captivity because of your sins, then I would suggest that there remains for you a greater revelation and application of the glory of the Gospel of the Grace of Jesus Christ. I know far too many people who are laboring under the guilt of their sins and failures, when, if they only knew the truth, they could walk freely and joyously, never again to yield themselves to temptation.
But as it remains, the level of success they achieve never seems to rise above the attempt to constantly manage their behavior. They're like patients who refuse to leave the hospital because they think they're still sick. They're holding onto those train tickets that will never get them to destination "holiness". They go to classes on sanctification; they sweat for Jesus at the gym.
I have a friend who recently married--his name is Franco, and he's an amazing guy. It's pretty cool, in fact, because in the flash of a moment he went from being unmarried to being married. Since the moment he became a married person, he has continuously been a married person. However, if we asked whether or not he's always felt married since that moment, I imagine he might say that he's had to come to believe it. Surely there is a period of time where the reality of such a wonderful event must take root in a person's thought-life. Nevertheless, no matter what his feelings have told him, from the moment the pastor at his wedding said "I now pronounce you...", he has, in fact, been entirely and legally (and he would say FINALLY!) married! (Love you, Franco.)
In the same way, we are holy and righteousness not because of what we've done, but because we have faith in the one perfect sacrifice. Because of this, we should be merrily on our way, no longer dragged down by our sins. Our condition is a reality, and knowing that reality is key to experiencing freedom from the enticement of sin--even if we do fail.
So, leave the hospital, get off the "holiness train", skip the classes on how to be sanctified, and throw away those gym membership cards. Dr. Jesus healed you completely, you've already arrived at your destination of holiness by being seated with Jesus, the Holy Spirit is your teacher and is revealing Christ in you to you, and the strongest man in the world is already residing inside of you.
Grace=Peace,
Jeremy
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