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cross; and having spoiled principalities and powers, He made a shew of
them openly, triumphing over them in it. Let no man therefore judge
you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new
moon, or of the sabbath days: which are a shadow of things to come; but
the body is of Christ'.
Sometimes our 'study' may turn itself into a 'sanctuary'. The desk
becomes a very gate of heaven, and as we quoted the words of Colossians
above, a verse came to mind of a hymn we sometimes sing at the Chapel of the
Opened Book:
'Finished! all the types and shadows
Of the ceremonial law;
Finished all that God had promised;
Death and hell no more shall awe.
It is finished! It is finished!
Saints from hence your comfort draw'.
Praise is comely, and such an outburst need be no interruption.
In
Hebrews 9, the apostle speaks of the tabernacle of Moses:
'The Holy Ghost this signifying, that the way into the holiest of all
was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet
standing: which was a figure for the time then present ... But Christ
being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more
perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this
building; neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by His own
blood He entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal
redemption for us' (Heb. 9:8 -12).
In Hebrews 10 the ever standing priest, whose work was never done, is
set aside by Him Who 'by one offering He hath perfected for ever (unto
perpetuity) them that are sanctified' (Heb. 10:11 -14). The types are
equally set aside by the 'much more' of Hebrews 9:14 and the 'no more' of
Hebrews 10:17,18 and 26. We now come to the fifth sub -division.
(5)
Christ is all, in prophecy.
The angel of the Apocalypse said to John as he knelt in wonder before
Him:
'Worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy'
(Rev. 19:10).
This is set forth in many ways. We remember with joy the response of
Philip to the Ethiopian who was perplexed as he read Isaiah 53.
'Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same Scripture, and
preached unto him Jesus' (Acts 8:35).
To those who blindly searched the Scriptures in His day, the Saviour
said:
'They are they which testify of Me. And ye will not come to Me, that
ye might have life ... for had ye believed Moses, ye would have
believed Me; for he wrote of Me' (John 5:39,40,46).