The Image of Christ

A shadow is a person, object or event that is a prophetic symbol of someone or something that will come. "Shadows" biblical like this or have similar characteristics of the individual or event in question. For example, the Passover lamb is there in Exodus 11 and 12 is a shadow of Christ.
Role of blood atonement and the protection of the Passover Lamb in the prophecy of Christ shows the role that will fulfill when He died for the sins of the whole world. The image of the Old Testament Passover lamb which precedes the fulfillment of the new covenant of Christ, the Lamb of God.

Another example is the Old Testament laws of God, which is described in Hebrews 10:1 as "the shadow only of the salvation that will come, and not the nature of salvation itself. Therefore with the same victim, who continually offered every year, the law can not be perfect those who come to take part in it. "
Because of what Christ did, then the animal sacrifices are no longer required for the redemption of sin. What Christ has to do is sacrifice "once and for all" for sin and salvation is available to all who received him wherever he is at all times (John 3:16; Hebrew 9:11-12, 23-28, 10 : 10, 1 Peter 3:18).

The image of the Old Testament is not yet perfect, God planned it that way because this is only a shadow of what will take place entirely within the bounds of the New Testament affirmed by Christ. Intervention of God with His people throughout history to change His plan for mankind while more and more open. The Mosaic law has so many rules given to the Israelites to prepare them for the coming of the Son of God. Galatians 3:24-25 says, "So the law is a guide for us until Christ came, so we are justified by Faith. Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of a guide " ( Romans 7:6).

It is wrong to insist that the special rules designed for the good of the nation of Israel at a time in the history of the person charged to the Christian today. An example of this is for instance the food laws of the nation of Israel. This law may be useful for the health of a person, but to assert that these laws is the law of God for all time would constitute a serious misinterpretation.
Paul says in Colossians 2:20-23 that the rules about what we eat can not save us, and that the only justification by faith in Christ is sufficient for salvation (Acts 10:9-16, 1 Corinthians 8:8, 10:3).

Another example is the collection of the Mosaic law on the need to sacrifice animals on a regular basis so that the forgiveness granted by God. In the book of Hebrews chapter 9 and 10, demonstrated the absolute superiority of Christ's sacrifice on the "blood of the goat and the blood of bulls and heifer sprinkling of ash ... how the blood of Christ, who by the eternal Spirit who had offered himself to God as a sacrifice irreproachable, will purify our consciences from acts that waste, so that we can worship the living God."

It is important to understand that God in the history of the progressive states the plan of salvation, the highest yield of the plan that has been established by God is death and resurrection of His Son.
This does not mean that the eternal principles of Old Testament had been knocked out but on the contrary, these principles have formed the Old Testament, to lead us to the revelation of God is very important and that His Son Jesus Christ.