It is interesting to note the key words of the Epistle to the Hebrews, contrasting the Tabernacle and types with their ineffectual shadows, with the glorious fullness of the Antitype, the Lord Jesus Christ, and His effectual Sacrifice.
“BETTER” is one key word.
Christ … “better than the angels;” “a better hope;” “a better Testament;” “a better Covenant;” “better promises;” “better sacrifices;” “a better country;” “a better … substance;” “a better resurrection.”
“ONCE,” or “ONE,” is a key word.
“Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many;” “once for all;” “one sacrifice for sins;” “one offering;” in contrast to the unending sacrifices under the law, which could never take away sins.
“NO MORE” is a key phrase.
“No more conscience of sins;” “no more sacrifice for sins,” another way of showing forth the complete efficacy of Christ’s work on the cross.
“ETERNAL” is another key word.
“Eternal redemption;” “eternal salvation;” “eternal inheritance;” “eternal Spirit;” “eternal judgment.” To these might be added “an unchangeable priesthood.” “They truly were many priests, because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death: but this Man, because He continues ever, has an unchangeable priesthood” (Heb. 7:23-24).
Thus is contrasted the stability, permanence, and perfection of Divine things with the temporary character of “carnal ordinances” (Heb. 9:10). The Antitype stands in great contrast to the type; the glorious Substance to the fleeting shadows. With the coming to this earth of our Lord Jesus Christ, the shadows necessarily passed away. They had done their service, and were swallowed up in their fulfilment.
What marks the poverty and blindness of present-day ritualism is the slavish copying of the shadows. The more elaborate the ritual the feebler the spiritual life. How can anyone who really knows the glorious Antitype go back to “the weak and beggarly elements” (Gal. 4:9), in which God Himself declared He “had no pleasure” (Heb. 10:6).