Types & Shadows

"Son of man, these men have taken their idols into their hearts..." (Ezekiel 14:3) The making of primitive idols was about fashioning a material by the hand of man. Simple and direct material representation. In this day, the imagination, the image-making capacity of the soul, creates an "idol" which finds lodging in the soul of the man. And then the image, born of the imagination, is exalted in the heart and spirit of the man. This is the more advanced form of idolatry which occurs when the demon is taken into the spirit/heart of the man. "For what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God." (Luke 16:15) "He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts..." (Luke 1:51) This present age is more wicked in the imaginations of the heart than any previous time---it is an age characterized by the proliferation of idols.

As Isaiah declares: "These have chosen their own ways, and their soul delights in their abominations." (66:3) All politics today is obsessively concerned with "image" making. Any connection to the reality of the politician is purely coincidental! What are the seven abominations in the heart of the person in Proverbs 26:24-25? What is in the golden cup full of abominations that the great harlot holds in Revelation 17:4? Are not these "spirits"?

"Woe to the rebellious children," says Yahweh, "...who set out to go down to Egypt...to take refuge in the protection of Pharaoh, and to seek shelter in the shadow of Egypt!"

Consider the shadows of the flowers and the candles which are cast on the wall behind: they do render a facsimile of the real thing, but they are not real flowers... Would it be a stretch to say people have come to believe in the religious shadows that their so-called "light" has cast on the "Light" of God, the uppermost candle of the hanukkiah? For if you will observe carefully, you will see that each of the lower candles has generated a shadow, a total of three "images" of the upper candle. If there were eight candles, they each would project an image: all of them would be false shadows, types, of the real candle. Such is the case in this religious age: each "light" projects a shadow or type of faith which the "believers" hold as the reality of God, His ways, His truth, His plan... Is there any reality or truth to these images and imaginations of men? We are forced to give them some credence because the true "believers" are willing to kill others, even their own children, on behalf of their image or shadow. A Jewish Apostle of the 1st century dismisses all these images, including the religious ones, as shadows of the reality of God. Made into idols, these imaginations of the soulish mind beguile people into believing that the "lie of the shadow" is the reality of God. Projected light from the "created candles" of man can never reveal God. They can only become idols of the most darkening age.