By Robert Pennington

(Speaking about the priests) “They serve at a sanctuary that is a copy and shadow of what is in heaven.” (Hebrews 8:5)

While I was reading through Hebrews this verse really stuck out to me. I stopped and asked myself, “How is a shadow different from the object it is portraying?” To find out the differences I thought about a building’s shadow, seeing as that is what the verse is talking about. Think about it, what are the differences between the shadow of a building and the actual building itself?

• The shape can be distorted from the actual building.
• The beauty of the building cannot be displayed in a shadow.
• The contents of the building remain unknown by looking at a shadow.
• The dimensions of the building are lost in the two dimensional shadow.

Basically, if you were to look at the shadow of something, you wouldn’t have a clue as to what the real thing looks like other than the basic outline of the object. So, what does the heavenly temple look like? Personally, I can’t imagine, and with good reason, because in Luke chapter twenty-one it stated, “Some of his disciples were remarking about how the temple was adorned with beautiful stones and with gifts dedicated to God.” And historians have stated that the Jerusalem temple, built by Caesar, was so magnificent that even the Romans that went there were astounded with its beauty. So if that remarkable and amazing building was just a shadow, how can we possibly even imagine what the Heavenly Temple looks like, seeing as that one was built with stones and human hands and the heavenly one is being built with men and women of God (1 Peter 2:4-5)?!

I don’t know about you, but all I can do is praise Him, HALLELU YAH!

1 Peter 2:6

“See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.”