Question 13
What does the Bible mean by a shadow of things to come?
Bible
Hebrews 10:1
"For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect."
Answer
The shadow of things to come in Colossians 2 refered to the law that pointed forward to Christ's sacrifice that was to come in the future. It was a shadow of things to come because it was all about the law of sacrifices pointing forward to Jesus’ death. These yearly Sabbaths started with the sacrifice of an animal. The sacrificed animal represented Jesus' death on the cross which was still future. On the other hand, the weekly Sabbath of the 10 Commandments was not a shadow pointing forward to anything. It was a memorial pointing backward to creation.
