Types & Shadows!

..…things which are a mere shadow of what are to come; but the substance belongs to Christ. [Colo 2:17]

The Camping of the Israelites in the wilderness which was exactly in the shape of a Cross!

An insight into the style used in Bible as Types & Anti types, the means by which God speaks to us through the things He has created. God The Greatest Artist in His infinite wisdom used this pattern as a unique style which He only can ever think of. 

Beginning from the Eden [Genesis] to the New Jerusalem, the restored earth in the End [Revelation], God has spread this amazing style to veil & unveil the person, Jesus Christ.  All the more it shows the necessity of Holy Spirit to reveal the hidden nuggets in this multilayered spirit breathed word of God, to a carnal human mind and soul!  The entire concealed truth in the Old Testament is revealed in the New Testament via this peculiar typology.

“Therefore every teacher of the law who has become a disciple in the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom NEW treasures as well as OLD.”[Mathew 13-52]

The “OLD” things are the “TYPES” of the Old Testament, and the NEW things what they stand for in the New Testament. The New Testament is “enfolded” in the Old Testament, and the Old Testament is “unfolded” in the New.  

 Example, you cannot understand Leviticus without Hebrews, or Daniel without Revelation, or the Passover, or Isaiah 53 without the Gospel account of the Crucifixion. The value of the study of the “Types” and “Antitypes” is the proof they furnish of the Inspiration of the Scriptures. Their study proves beyond question that the Scriptures had but one Author-the HOLY SPIRIT.

The “Typology” of the Old Testament is the “PICTURE LANGUAGE” in which the Doctrines of the New Testament, such as the Atonement, are prefigured. For illustration! The “Brazen Serpent” and the “Cross.” 

Therefore no preacher or Bible Teacher is competent to preach the doctrines, of the New Testament who is not acquainted with the “Typology” of the Old Testament.

What do we mean by “Types?” The Apostle Paul gives the answer in 1 Cor 10-1:11

“Now all these things happened unto them for ENSAMPLES (examples, see verse 6) and they are written for our ADMONITION (instruction), upon whom the ends of the world (Age) are come.”

Of “whom” and of what “things” is the Apostle speaking? Of the Children of Israel, and the “things” that happened to them from the time of their “Egyptian Bondage” until they reached the “Land of Promise.” So we see that while the Old Testament is a record of the History of the Children of Israel, the events of that “History” are more than mere events; they are “TYPICAL” of the “Plan of Salvation” as revealed in the New Testament, and are neither “mythical” nor “allegorical,” but really happened to Israel and were recorded for our instruction.

The writer to the Hebrews tells us that the “Types” are but the “SHADOW OF GOOD THINGS TO COME, AND NOT THE VERY IMAGE OF THE THING.” [ Heb 10:1]

That is, the Old Testament “Types” are but “SHADOWS.” But there cannot be a “shadow” without some “REAL THING” to make it. And a “shadow” is not the “very image of the thing,” for a shadow is out of proportion, and is an imperfect representation of the thing it reveals. So the Old Testament Types are “shadows” in the sense that they are not the “Real Thing,” and are but imperfect revelations of it.

  “Type” then is some “person,” or “event,” or “ceremony” that is recorded to “foreshadow” some future “person,” or “event,” or “ceremony.” For illustration-

Knowing this different types or symbols or figures of the Bible, one can accurately understand the many hidden revelations in the Word of God!

I will explain few examples from Bible where this type & shadow principle is found.  Noticed Jesus used parables that illustrated the use of natural elements to project the spiritual truths. 

By definition a shadow – type will always point towards a prophetic person, a place, a thing or an event to come/ occur.

• Let me begin from Eden!! Adam Vs Jesus

Here an example of a shadow type will be “Adam”, because Adam was a shadow of the Christ to come!! [You see, how was it concealed in the OT and revealed in the NT]

“The first MAN, “Adam” BECAME A LIVING SOUL. “The last Adam became a life giving spirit.[1Cor 15:45]

As we all know, how the first Adam forfeited the Glory of God in the garden of Eden by his unbelief and how Jesus Christ, the last Adam becomes a life giving Spirit to all who believe in His redemptive work. The Typology here is pointing to Christ or how the substance or the reality is found in Christ can be pictured here.

• Joseph Vs Jesus!

 Joseph: the son of Jacob [ The story of Joseph is one which has got maximum shadows of Jesus Christ]

When we read the account of Joseph’s story we can see the followed!

 Joseph: – He was beloved to His father, hated by his brothers, sold for 20 pieces of Silver. Eventually he became the means of food for gentiles in Egypt and later to his brothers, revealed his true identity to His brothers on their second visit.

Did you see Jesus as a person in the character of Joseph (OT)

Let me explain, Jesus was beloved to His father God, and came to earth as a Jew, His Jewish brothers rejected and crucified Him for 30 pieces of silver.  Jesus became the savior [Living manna] for the gentile world for 2000 years and His second coming will reveal, himself, to Israel! [ Note :- Jesus did not reveal to Israel as HE IS their Messiah…as Joseph didn’t reveal to His brothers as He is Joseph in their 1^st visit]

• The Sacrificial Lamb – Christ The Passover lamb

“If the offering is burnt offering from the herd, you are to offer a male without blemish or spot [defect]. You must present it at the entrance to the tent of meeting so that it will be acceptable to the LORD [Leviticus 1:3]

Did you see Jesus Christ as an event/ ceremony here to play the role of a Sin offering! 

We all know that Jesus Christ was the Lamb of God who becomes our sin offering on the cross and through His death and resurrection we become justified, become the Righteousness of God in Him!

Here the words “without blemish & without spot “are old testament terms used with respect to sacrifices offered to God! In other words, it indicates that Jesus Christ is the real sacrifice which typified all that the Mosaic Law demands! As a ceremony, before the event of killing the lamb, it needs to be examined by the priest to prove that it is without blemish and without spot.

This was exactly our Lord Jesus experienced in Jerusalem during the days.  Day by day He was examined by the Pharisees, Sadducees, the scribes, the priests, and the elders. Though they tried to find a fault in Him, they couldn’t as per Moses’ law. They handed Him over to roman rulers – Pilate and Herod. Roman laws could not spot any defect in Him.  Finally collectively agreeing with all the sect, Pilate declared:

“I find no fault whatever in Him “[John 18:38]

 

Another way of Types and Anti types found in a combination of “As” [Type] & “So” [Antitype]

In studying the types In studying the “Types” the two comparative words “AS” and “SO” are forcibly called to our attention.

The word “AS” is used for the “Type,” and the word “SO” for the Antitype.

The first is Historic; the second is Prophetic.

“AS in Adam all die, even SO in Christ shall all be made alive ” 1Cor 15:22

“AS the days of Noah were, SO shall also the corning of the Son of Man be.” Mat 24:37

“AS Moses lifted up the serpent in the Wilderness, even SO must the Son of Man be lifted up. “John 3:14”

“ As Jonah was three days and three nights in the Whales belly; So shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth “ Math 12:40

The above “Types” with their “Antitype” stand out so prominently in Scripture that their meaning is clear to the most superficial reader. But there are “Types” in the Old Testament whose “Dispensational Teaching” does not lie on the surface, and is never seen by the superficial reader. For illustration take the story of

 ISAAC AND REBEKAH [Gen 24:1-67] – In this Story

A . Abraham Is a type of “GOD”

B. Isaac is a type of “Christ”

• Both Isaac and Christ were CHILDREN OF PROMISE.
• The birth of both was PRE-ANNOUNCED!
• Both were NAMED BEFORE THE BIRTH
• The birth of both was contrary to nature [Sarah was barren/Mary was virgin]..the list goes on..

Some “Types” have a double application.

Take the Prophet Jonah. Jesus uses the swallowing of Jonah by a “great fish,” and after 3 days being vomited up alive, as a “Type” of His own Resurrection from the Tomb of Joseph of Arimathea. [Math 12:40]

But Jonah is also a “Type of the Jewish Nation.”

• Jonah was called and sent to preach to a heathen city Nineveh, so the Jews were called and sent to preach to the heathen nations.
• Jonah disobeys and flees to Tarshish, so the Jews fail in their mission to the heathen.
• Jonah for his disobedience was cast overboard, so the Jews have been scattered among the nations.
• Jonah was miraculously preserved in the stomach of the fish, so the Jews have remained undigested by the nations.
• Jonah repented in his “grave” in the stomach of the fish, so the Jews will mourn their lost condition in the “graveyard of the nations.”
• Jonah was restored to the land, so the Jews will be restored to their own land.
• Jonah received a “Second Call” and obeyed, so the Jews will have a second opportunity to witness to the nations and will obey.

I believe God used typologies to show yet another proof that He and He alone authored the books of the Bible! In types we can reassure that the Bible was written by one author, the Holy Spirit. He used these kinds of amazing types and antitypes to reveal the extraordinary majesty and the supremacy of Christ in all from the Beginning till The End. The Alpha & Omega. All in One! The Infinite wisdom of God!