After a trip to Afghanistan, my husband described a giant spider-like creature, commonly known as a camel spider, he encountered that appears to follow people. He told me how the spider moves when the person moves and stops when he stops. However, it turns out that the spider doesn’t actually follow the person; it follows the shadow of the person because it likes to stay in the shade. Like the spider, are we chasing shadows instead of the real thing?

The writer of Hebrews painstakingly described the difference between the things of heaven and the things of earth. He explained that the holy things of earth are merely shadows – copies – of the holiness of heaven. Referring to the Old Testament sacrifices of goats and calves presented by the priests for the sins of the people, the writer explains:

“Therefore it was necessary that the copies of the things in the heavens should be purified with these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these…. For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with these same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect” (Hebrews 9:23; 10:1, NKJV).

Our sacrifices, our prayers, our good works are mere shadows of the holy things in heaven. We live in a world of copies. We can follow the shadows and try to influence the copies, but we could not reach the real thing. True sacrifice, true holiness was always outside our realm – until Jesus came. “For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us…” (Hebrews 9:24). Jesus did not enter the earthly holy of holies, which was a copy of the heavenly place. He entered heaven, going into the genuine presence of God to atone for our sins. He unlocked the heavenly realm, then gave us the keys. Jesus said, “And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven” (Matthew 16:19). When we bind and loose on earth we are only dealing with the shadows; the heavenly realm where the real things reside is beyond us.

Until now.

Jesus has given us the keys to the kingdom and a direct link, through Him, to true sacrifice, true forgiveness, true redemption, and true authority. When we act on the copies on earth, he will mirror it in heaven on the real thing. If we bind the copy, the real thing in heaven will be bound. If we loose the copy, the real thing in heaven will be loosed. No longer do we go through the motions of symbolic obedience and ritual. We can stop chasing shadows and pursue the authentic and awe-inspiring presence of the one true God.