Every shadow is a distortion

Dear Friend,

Every shadow is a distortion. This is true in the natural, and it is also true in the spiritual. The scriptures are filled with shadows, or rather foreshadows of Jesus Christ. But each of these stories is distorted in some way, as is every shadow. This becomes obvious when we realize that human beings are representing and pointing forward to Jesus Christ, for instance, David in Psalm 22 and Isaac in Genesis 22.

In this particular story of Haman and the king, the foreshadowing is this: when the man died on the uplifted pole, the wrath of the king subsided. The distortion is in the specifics. Haman was guilty and deserving of death, while Jesus was sinless. In the book of Esther, the wrath of the king merely "subsided" whereas in Christ, God's wrath was fully exhausted (for believers). So the picture is distorted, as are all shadows. But the gospel is there in story and shadow form (as it is in every book of the Bible), and we do well not to miss it.

I think a better example to help explain this is the story of Jonah. We know that Jesus said that Jonah was a "sign" that pointed forward to Him, in that as Jonah was three days and nights in the belly of the fish, so Jesus would be three days and nights in the heart of the earth. But that is where the analogy stops, for we know that Jonah was guilty and running from God, whereas Jesus was innocent and doing the will of His Father. But again, the gospel is there, though somewhat distorted. We can think of Jonah being taken from the wood of the ship and thrown into the deep of the ocean where he remained for three days and nights before "resurrection." His "self-sacrifice" saved the lives of those on the boat. But clearly this shadow is somewhat distorted, as are all shadows.

So we do not look for every detail in every story to match up to the gospel. Rather we take the "big picture" and see in it the cross and its results. Hence, the Passover lamb teaches us about the covering and protection of the blood of Jesus and the release from slavery. But we certainly don't want to compare Jesus to an animal. The smitten rock teaches us that we are given life and satisfaction, and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit through the cross of Jesus Christ where He was "smitten" for us. We certainly don't want to miss the gospel in this story just because Jesus is not a rock. The New Testament tells us to see Christ in this rock.

I hope this helps to clarify.

grace and truth,
Mike Cleveland
team member www.settingcaptivesfree.com