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Colossians 2:17
17 Which [hos] are [esti] a shadow [skia] of things to come; [mello] but [de] the body [soma] is of Christ. [Christos] KJV-Interlinear
17 things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ. NASB
A shadow is something that is undefined, without substance, without the usual sensations obtained by the senses – no texture, no aroma, no depth, no color, no substance and so forth.
The body, here, represents that which has substance, form and color and texture and sound and aroma, etc.
In the last few verses, we have seen that all of the rules and regulations of the Mosaic Law, all of the rules and regulation, the norms and standards of society, all of these things are inefficient and otherwise useless in completing our life existence.
What we lack from birth is salvation, and then after salvation, maturity, and then after maturity, a productive life, and then after productivity, wealth. And all of these things in dimensions so vast, so abundant that we could never measure them all.
Anything of this earth is but a shadow, an empty bodiless emptiness capable of accomplishing nothing.
Christ is the body, the substance, the source of all growth, of all life, of all mechanisms for accomplishing ones completeness in life.
Paul has stated that he was graciously allowed to visit Paradise and Heaven, and he has returned after those visits. He never wrote down anything concerning his visit, but explained that what he saw and heard was so vast and so great, that words were inadequate for communicating them. However, he was prohibited from disclosing those things. So his visit was for his benefit not ours.
John and Daniel saw visions and they in turn wrote what they heard and saw, for our benefit. And this was the same for other prophets and apostles.
So if what we have in this world is shadow only, then what could the reality, the substance of reality be like?
If you have watched something like the History Channel on TV, then you probably have noticed that throughout history, there is a thread of violence resulting from mans arrogance, that flows through history.
With all of the reality of heaven and the afterlife in full view of everyone, then how could humanity have possibly ignored it all in pursuit of their empty efforts? All of those centuries of folks are gone. What did they accomplish for themselves? Nothing!
They are either in Heaven or in Torments, and only now understand the uselessness of their efforts in life. And what of people of today? What has anyone learned from history? What have we learned from Paul and others?
That there is a vast reality out there, beyond which we cannot even begin to imagine, but our access is as near to our possession as our own thoughts. And what does anyone do about it?
