sweet dreams are made of this

The Word for today:
Hebrews 1

mark this: Hebrews 1:1-2
God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son.

Did you ever notice that (unless you jump into the air) your shadow is always attached to you?

That’s why it is perfectly appropriate that the book of Hebrews follows directly upon the heels of the book of Leviticus in our reading schedule.

We should think of the book of Hebrews as the substance (the real thing) that casts the shadow we know as “Leviticus.” (Or, to say it another way, Hebrews is the substantiation or embodiment of Leviticus.)

This pattern — shadow turning into substance, prophecy turning into performance -- is the pattern followed throughout scripture:

• The Passover was a shadow and prophecy of the cross to come.
• Aaron the high priest of Leviticus who enters the Holy Place to offer the blood sacrifice is a shadow and prophecy of Jesus our High Priest.
• King David, representing all of Israel in the battle against Goliath, is but a shadow and prophecy of the great King to come, who will single-handedly defeat sin and death on behalf of all the people.
• Over the past three days, we watched the concept of Jubilee (in Leviticus) turn into a Person (in the book of Luke) who then walked into a Nazareth synagogue and said so.

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Two of Hebrews’ great verses touch on the relationship of a shadow to that which cast it; and of a word to that which it expresses:

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. (Hebrews 11:1/NKJV)

God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son. (Hebrew 1:1-2)

Hebrews teaches us that the covenant promises God made to Abraham and to Israel have turned into the real deal, Jesus.

Hebrews shows us that longing, dreams, hope, and desire have a Name.

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