“For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near” (Hebrews 10:1 ESV).
Hebrews 10:1 speaks of “the good things” that were foreshadowed under the Old Covenant. But what were those “good things”? Well, we can find a list of some of those things in the Old Testament book of Deuteronomy.
As mentioned earlier, Deuteronomy 28:1-14 provides us with a summary list of blessings that God made available to the people of Old Testament Israel. Those benefits foreshadowed the greater blessings that God graciously provides under the New Covenant…
“The Lord will establish you as a holy people to Himself, just as He has sworn to you, if you keep the commandments of the Lord your God and walk in His ways. Then all peoples of the earth shall see that you are called by the name of the Lord, and they shall be afraid of you. And the Lord will grant you plenty of goods, in the fruit of your body, in the increase of your livestock, and in the produce of your ground, in the land of which the Lord swore to your fathers to give you.
The Lord will open to you His good treasure, the heavens, to give the rain to your land in its season, and to bless all the work of your hand. You shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow. And the Lord will make you the head and not the tail; you shall be above only, and not be beneath, if you heed the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today, and are careful to observe them” (Deuteronomy 28:9-13).
Nevertheless, we should note that each of these Old Covenant blessings were external (or material) in nature. The missing element was the blessing of an internal mindset that was good and acceptable before God.
The continuous nature of those Old Covenant sacrifices provided a reminder of the distance that remained between God and His people. Since the Old Testament Law failed to change the internal attitudes of those who brought these sacrificial offerings, the people lingered at a distance from God despite the external blessings He graciously provided.
The following verse will explore this aspect of the Law in greater detail. In the meantime, we can say that God now offers the additional blessing of intimate fellowship and camaraderie with Him through Jesus’ sacrificial work on our behalf.