Shadows of Reality: Jonah

Have you ever been outside in the summer when a shadow crossed the ground? At first, you might stare at its fuzzy outline, trying to determine its cause. Then, looking around the sky, you wonder was it a bird? A plane? Superman? Ultimately, if you can locate the source of the shadow, you can confirm or disprove your original speculations.

When it comes to the Bible, the Old Testament is like that shadow. People look at the Old Testament and wonder why God would give these rules and stories. They wonder if any of it is true, especially things that sound like exaggerated ‘fish stories,’ (like the one about a literal giant fish who swallows a man and then spits him out three days later?! And what about that time that water covered the whole earth while people hung out with all kinds of animals? — Lions, tigers, and bears — oh my!).

But ultimately, these questions can only be proven true or false if you look at the source of the object making the shadows.

For the Old Testament, the source is Jesus. As the theme verse of camp says, “these rules are only shadows of the reality yet to come. And Christ himself is that reality.”

The Old Testament shadows cast by Jesus were placed there to get the attention of God’s people so they’d look around and discover the source. Now, knowing the origin of the shadows—Jesus Christ—we can understand how the Old Testament rules and stories, even the seemingly impossible ones, were foreshadows of what would come.

Are you prepared to accept Jesus and His Word as reality?