Now if He were on earth, He wouldn’t be a priest, since there are those offering the gifts prescribed by the law. These serve as a copy and shadow of the heavenly things, as Moses was warned when he was about to complete the tabernacle. For God said, Be careful that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown to you on the mountain.Hebrews 8:4-5 HCSB
I can remember the first copy machine that I saw. It only made black and white copies and took several minutes to complete the copying process. A copy is only a replica or shadow of the original. Today we can place an original on a copy machine and it makes a perfect copy, even in color. Sometimes the copy seems to be even better than the original. And today, even the printers we have in our homes are capable of making copies.
The earthly priests were a copy or shadow of the original or heavenly priest – Jesus Christ. Because Jesus was from the tribe of Judah, He would not have qualified to be a priest under the Jewish law; only those from the tribe of Levi were eligible to become priests. The tabernacle that Moses built in the wilderness was to be an exact duplicate of the perfect tabernacle in heaven. God instructed Moses to make everything according to the pattern shown to him.
Challenge: God is a God of details. He wants everything done exactly as He has prescribed. Just as Jesus was the original for the earthly priests to copy, He is also the perfect example of what each Christian should strive to be like. Work at becoming the copy or shadow of Jesus Christ in everything you do and say. Do others see Jesus in your life?