Hebrews 10 discusses the law’s animal sacrifices. In so doing, it states the principle about the law’s purpose in pointing toward Christ’s realities.
The law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities. (Hebrews 10:1 cf. Colossians 2:17)
The law’s physical items are shadowy in nature, and that principle would include its bells and trumpets. These instruments belong to the tiny model that pictures spiritual realities found in Christ. But we already sense that, don’t we?
- Think about the bells that jingle on Aaron’s robe to keep him alive (Exodus 28:33- 35). Isn’t that strange, that those tiny items protect the priest from his God? And why does the all-knowing God need anything—a sound or anything else—to warn Him of a person approaching? The sheer absurdity of this picture suggests its shadowy quality. Surely, in their miniature way, the bells point ahead to something real and important, like the protection Christ now gives us as we come into God’s presence.
- Remember the silver trumpets (Numbers 10:1-10). Does it seem odd to you that earthly things are necessary for getting God’s attention, to stir Him for battle? Does God forget and thus need a reminder? Does He need trumpets “that you may be remembered before the LORD your God”?
- What about the law about priests blowing their trumpets over the animal sacrifices (Leviticus 25:9; Numbers 10:10; 2 Chronicles 29:27-28)? If the priests prefigure Christ, and the animal sacrifices prefigure Christ, what about the accompanying trumpets? Does consistency indicate that these instruments also belong to the picture that prefigures Christ? His call to heaven really is needed and really is effective.
- Burning incense smells good to our noses. But what about God? Does He have a nose that sniffs earthly fragrance like our noses do? Does spiced smoke bring Him special pleasure? Wouldn’t it make more sense that incense serves as a picture of a spiritual reality—such as prayers made pleasing by Christ? That is, in fact, the correct interpretation. David himself recognizes the similarity between incense and prayer (Psalm 141:2 cf. Luke 1:10). Much later, Revelation 5 explicitly uses golden bowls of incense to symbolize prayers.
The twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. (Revelation 5:8)
- Symbols can have various meanings. Thus, in Revelation 8, incense also signifies that which is added to prayers to bring them to God. What goes with our prayers to make them acceptable to God? The New Testament would answer that our prayers benefit from Christ’s sacrifice and intercession on our behalf.
And another angel came and stood at the altar with a golden censer, and he was given much incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar before the throne, and the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, rose before God from the hand of the angel. (Revelation 8:3-4)
- Music thrills human ears. But does God have physical ears that need physical music? Do artful sounds—the twanging and blowing and thumping of our instruments—stir God’s senses with pleasure like ours? Could the Old Testament’s music point to a spiritual reality that truly does please God? Recall that the priests and Levites offer instrumental music while they offer burnt sacrifices (2 Chronicles 7:4-6). The priests are shadows that prefigure Christ. Their animal sacrifices are shadows that prefigure Christ (Hebrews 10:1-10). What about the instruments in the same picture? As a matter of consistency, are they shadows also? If so, what is their meaning?