A TAPESTRY OF TYPES

Online Bible College ES107-01
Page 1
EVENING STUDY
Copyright © 1999, The Online Bible College.
This lesson kicks off a new module, a series of ten lessons that examine the rich
tapestry of types in the Bible. By now you would appreciate that the expression,
“The Bible is an extraordinary book,” is far
more than a mere cliché. Its unity of purpose
and message is unrivalled for a book compiled
over a period of sixteen centuries, and even
its two main divisions – the Old Testament
and the New Testament – are bound together
with threads of interdependent meaning.
In 1 Corinthians 10:11, Paul writes to New
Testament Christians and describes their
connection with the people of Old Testament
times. The New King James Version translates
Paul’s words in this way:
“Now all these things happened to [Old
Testament Israel] as examples, and they
were written for our admonition, on whom the ends of the ages have come.”
Just as Jesus taught by parables (a natural story with a spiritual meaning), so
God has woven all that happened to Israel in the Old Testament into a large parable
to teach us spiritual truths. The New Testament interprets and fulfills all
that is spoken of in the Old Testament.
The Amplified Bible sheds further light on 1 Corinthians 10:11:
“Now these things befell them by way of a figure – as an example and warning
[to us]; they were written to admonish and fit us for right action by good
instruction...”
What happened to the people of the Old Testament happened “by way of a figure.
” Exactly what this means is the subject of this lesson, in particular, and this
module as a whole.
1
A Tapestry of Types
Types and Shadows
s
s
A Tapestry of Types
The Tabernacle of Moses
The Tabernacle of David
The Sacrificial System
The Restoration of the Temple
The Gates of Jerusalem
The Feasts of Israel
Two Mountains
The High Priest
The Torn Veil
Online Bible College ES107-01
Page 2
EVENING STUDY
Copyright © 1999, The Online Bible College.
Read Matthew 5:17-18
The New Testament is not the end of the Old Testament, in the sense of the
abolishing of it, but rather the fulfillment of the Old Testament. As we saw in
ES101-02:
Ü The New Testament is in the Old Testament concealed
Ü The Old Testament is in the New Testament revealed
In Romans 16:25-26, Paul speaks of “the revelation of the mystery hidden for
long ages past, but now revealed and made known through the prophetic writings
by the command of the eternal God.” Concealed within the pages of the Old Testament
was a mystery hidden even to the prophets who penned its words, for
they “searched intently and with the greatest care, trying to find out the time and
circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted
the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow” (1 Peter 1:10-11).
This concealing and revealing of the mystery of God’s plan of salvation is what
types and shadows are all about. God has used every possible means to illustrate
the truths of the Gospel. Like multifaceted diamonds, these concealed treasures,
once dug up, shine with “the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Christ” (2 Corinthians 4:6).
Read Romans 15:4
What is a Type? And What is a Shadow?
While it’s not our purpose to explore the more academic study of what is called
“typology,”* it’s important to our study of God’s Word to understand exactly
what is meant by some words commonly used by Bible scholars.
Defining “type”
The word “type” is taken directly from Paul’s original Greek wording in 1 Corinthians
10:11. The word translated “examples” by the New King James Version
and “ensamples” by the King James Version, is the Greek word tupos, which
literally means “type.” This is reflected in Young’s Literal Translation, which renders
Paul’s words as:
“And all these things as types did happen to those persons...”
The word “type” simply means “that which prefigures the coming reality.” We
see an example of this in Zechariah 3:8, where the prophet declares:
“Listen, O high priest Joshua and your associates seated before you, who are
men symbolic of things to come: I am going to bring my servant, the Branch.”
In Zechariah’s time, the high priest Joshua was a literal man. Yet he was also
“symbolic of things to come.” And Zechariah then interprets exactly what Joshua
* Typology is a method of interpreting some parts of Scripture by seeing a pattern represented in a person, event or
ceremony that allegorizes and foreshadows a later reality.
Online Bible College ES107-01
Page 3
EVENING STUDY
Copyright © 1999, The Online Bible College.
was symbolic of: “my servant, the Branch” – another name for the Messiah and
itself a rich allegory (see Isaiah 11:1; Jeremiah 23:5; 33:15; Zechariah 6:12).
The Believer’s Study Bible provides this definition of the word “type”:
“A biblical type is a person or incident which carries a prophetic significance
beyond itself.”1
The Bible Knowledge Commentary offers this description:
“A type may be defined as an exceptional Old Testament reality which was
specially ordained by God effectively to prefigure a single New Testament
redemptive truth.”2
Let’s list the three elements of this definition of what a “type” is:
Ü An exceptional Old Testament reality
Ü Specially ordained by God
Ü To prefigure a single New Testament redemptive truth
The Bible is rich in such types – New Testament redemptive truths that are prefigured
in Old Testament history.
“Types are pictures, object-lessons, by which God taught His people concerning
His grace and saving power. The Mosaic system* was a sort of kindergarten
in which God’s people were trained in divine things, by which also they were
led to look for better things to come.”3
Another writer builds on this picture of “the divine kindergarten”:
“God in the types of the last dispensation was teaching His children their letters.
In this dispensation He is teaching them to put the letters together, and
they find that the letters, arrange them as they will, spell Christ, and nothing
but Christ.”4
Defining “shadow”
But what of this word “shadow”? What does it mean and how does it relate to the
word “type”? Let’s take a look at one verse where Paul uses the word “shadow.”
Read Colossians 2:16-17
The Message words Paul’s admonition thus:
“So don’t put up with anyone pressuring you in details of diet, worship services,
or holy days. All those things are mere shadows cast before what was
to come; the substance is Christ.”
Again, the New Living Translation declares:
“So don’t let anyone condemn you for what you eat or drink, or for not celebrating
certain holy days or new-moon ceremonies or Sabbaths. For these
* The term “Mosaic system” means “the system of Moses,” which embraces the ritual and sacrificial system of the Law.
Online Bible College ES107-01
Page 4
EVENING STUDY
Copyright © 1999, The Online Bible College.
rules were only shadows of the real thing, Christ himself.”
Paul calls the Old Testament law “a shadow of the things that were to come”
(NIV), having “at most only a symbolic value” (NTME). According to Unger’s Bible
Dictionary, the term “shadow,” as Paul uses it here, means:
“An image cast by an object and representing the form of that object.”5
When backlit by the sun, an object will cast a long shadow. When you look at that
shadow you can see the basic form of the object, yet the shadow only points to the
object. It is not the object itself. In the same way, it can be said that the Christ of
the New Testament casts a long shadow across Old Testament history, revealing
himself in countless prophetic images (read John 5:39).
Read Hebrews 8:5
Read Hebrews 10:1
There is one more term that should be explained before we look more closely at
types in the Bible, and that is the word “antitype,” which simply means that which
fulfils the type. While this word may sound like a purely academic term, it is in
fact drawn from the original Greek used in Hebrews 9:23-24, which declares:
“It was necessary, then, for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified
with these sacrifices, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices
than these. For Christ did not enter a man-made sanctuary that was
only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in
God’s presence.”
The word translated “copy” is antitupos, literally “antitype.” Although modern
usage of the prefix “anti-” would make this word mean “the opposite of the type,”
it doesn’t actually mean this. The Greek sense of this word has the meaning of
“answering to the type,” or “fulfilling the type.”
Type and antitype go together in a hand-in-glove kind of relationship. You cannot
have one without the other. The type prefigures the antitype, and the antitype
fulfils the type.
Examples of Types
There are three main kinds of types that can be found in Scripture:
Personal types
The lives and experiences of many people in the Old Testament illustrate a redemptive
truth in the New Testament. Examples include:
Ü Adam – The apostle Paul speaks of Adam as “the figure of him who was
to come” (Romans 5:14-19). Adam is a type of Christ in that through his
one action the entire race of humanity was affected. Both Adam and
Christ were representative men, to the point that Paul calls Christ “the
Online Bible College ES107-01
Page 5
EVENING STUDY
Copyright © 1999, The Online Bible College.
last Adam” (1 Corinthians 15:45-49). Yet one is marked by disobedience
and the other by obedience. Whereas Adam is the root of sin and
death, Christ is the root of righteousness and life.
Ü Cain and Abel – These two brothers are types of the two enduring
streams of humanity, those who reject the provisions of God’s salvation
and those who accept them (Hebrews 11:4; 1 John 3:12-13; Jude 11).
Ü Melchizedek – The priestly ministry of this enigmatic figure is given as
a pre-picture of Christ’s priestly ministry (Genesis 14:18-20; Psalm
110:4; Hebrews 5-8).
Ü Isaac – His rescue from death is given as a type of Christ’s resurrection
(Hebrews 11:17-19).
Ü Joseph – In his sufferings, he was a type of Christ’s suffering. He was
hated without a cause (Genesis 37:4,8; John 15:25), ridiculed (Genesis
37:19; Luke 22:63), plotted against (Genesis 37:20; John 11:53),
sold for silver (Genesis 37:28; Matthew 26:14-16), but eventually
exalted to the highest position (Genesis 41:41-43; Philippians 2:9-11).
Ü Moses – His prophetic ministry is typical of Christ’s prophetic ministry
(Deuteronomy 18:15-18; Hebrews 3:5-6).
Ü David – As a king and the “anointed one,” he was a prefigure of Christ’s
kingly anointing (2 Samuel 7:1-17; Mark 11:10; Revelation 5:5;
22:16).
Ü Jonah – His experience inside the great fish prepictured Christ’s burial
and resurrection (Jonah 1:17; Matthew 12:40; 16:4; Luke 11:29).
As an example of how Paul drew on Old Testament types to illustrate New Testament
truths, take a look at this passage:
Read Galatians 4:22-26
In this one passage, Paul used multiple types: Hagar vs Sarah, Ishmael vs Isaac,
Sinai vs Zion, natural Jerusalem vs New Jerusalem.
Historical types
Many of the historical events in the Old Testament foreshadow the reality of life
in Christ. Some examples include:
Ü Creation – Just as God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light
(Genesis 1:3), so God now shines the light of revelation into our hearts
(2 Corinthians 4:6).
Ü The Flood – Noah’s obedience and his rescue from an ungodly world
through the waters of the Flood picture our own experience in water
baptism (1 Peter 3:20-21).
Online Bible College ES107-01
Page 6
EVENING STUDY
Copyright © 1999, The Online Bible College.
Ü The Passover – Israel’s deliverance from Egypt is rich in allegory upon
which the New Testament writers draw frequently (1 Corinthians 5:7;
John 1:29; 1 Peter 1:18-19).
Ü The Red Sea and the Pillar of Cloud – The experience of Israel
passing through the Red Sea is provided as another picture of water
baptism (1 Corinthians 10:1-2).
Ritual types
The Old Testament also contains many rituals, prescribed by the Law, that illustrate
the reality of our salvation in Christ. Examples include the sacrifices, the
priesthood, the tabernacle and its furniture, all of which we will examine in greater
detail later in this module.
Principles of Interpretation
As with all aspects of biblical study, it is important to apply principles of interpretation
to the study of types and shadows in Scripture. Without these principles as
guidelines, there can be a danger in carrying types and shadows to an extreme –
focusing on the metaphoric interpretation of Scripture while neglecting its literal
interpretation.
In Scripture, there can at times be multiple levels of meaning in an historical
story, but the anchor for any metaphoric interpretation must be the literal sense
of that verse. For example, one might study to see how Joseph is a type of Christ,
but this second level of meaning should not overshadow the actual experiences of
Joseph, the man – what he went through, his reactions to circumstances, and
what we can learn from his example.
Just how much of the Old Testament can be regarded as typical (i.e. made of
types and shadows)? This is not an easy question to answer, but two extremes
should be avoided:
Over-allegorization
Some read into every trivial event a spiritual meaning. Thus the fact that Jacob’s
flock was speckled (Genesis 30:32-43) holds a mystical significance or that the
number of fish caught after the resurrection – 153 (John 21:11) – actually represents
a hidden meaning. But this detracts from the simple historical value of
the narrative. The goats were speckled because that’s what Jacob chose and the
fish numbered 153 simply because that was the number they caught!
Under-allegorization
The opposite extreme is to underestimate the proliferation of types and shadows
that populate the Old Testament. In the words of Professor Moses Stuart:
“Just so much of the Old Testament is to be accounted typical as the New
Testament affirms to be so, and no more.”6
Online Bible College ES107-01
Page 7
EVENING STUDY
Copyright © 1999, The Online Bible College.
Yet by limiting the number of types solely to those mentioned by New Testament
writers, one severely curbs the richness of types and shadows found elsewhere in
the Old Testament. The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia explains:
“This opinion assumes that the New Testament writers have exhausted the
types of the Old Testament, while the fact is that those found in the later
Scripture are but samples taken from the storehouse where many more are
found. If they are not, then nothing is more arbitrary than the New Testament
use of types, for there is nothing to distinguish them from a multitude of
others of the same class.”7
There are, however, some simple rules that can act as guidelines in the study of
types and shadows in Scripture:
Rule #1: “Do not read meaning into Scripture, but draw meaning from Scripture.
” We should never force our meaning onto an Old Testament type but
rather allow it to shed light on the New Testament reality.
Rule #2: “Always use Scripture to interpret Scripture.” An example of this
is Revelation 12:3, which describes “an enormous red dragon with seven
heads and ten horns and seven crowns on his head.” Without using the principle
of Scripture interpreting Scripture, any fanciful interpretation could be
made (a person once suggested that the “red dragon” was Red China). Yet
Scripture itself interprets exactly what the dragon is (see Revelation 12:9).
Rule #3: “Give proper attention to the historical sense of the type.” You
should take particular notice of its symbolic and redemptive significance to
Old Testament believers. For example, even though the Passover was a type
fulfilled in Christ, it was also an event for the people of Israel that meant,
quite literally, the angel of death “passing over” their homes.
Rule #4: “Identify the main point or points of resemblance between the
type and its antitype.” Don’t try to press the interpretation of the type beyond
these points. For example, the life of Joseph has multiple points that
correspond with the life of Jesus, yet we don’t need to work out what the
camels represented and why they were “loaded with spices, balm and myrrh”
(Genesis 37:25).
Rule #5: “Always interpret a type in the light of New Testament truth. Never
try to establish a doctrine on a type.” For this reason, it is best to become
well-acquainted with the types and shadows already explained in New Testament
writings before you begin to explore the other types and shadows
that may be found in the Old Testament.
Deep Things
In Hebrews 5:11-12, the writer expresses a measure of exasperation with his
readers. After beginning to speak of Melchizedek as a type of Christ, he writes:
Online Bible College ES107-01
Page 8
EVENING STUDY
Copyright © 1999, The Online Bible College.
“We have much to say about this, but it is hard to explain because you are
slow to learn. In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need
someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again.
You need milk, not solid food!”
What we will be studying in this module may seem to be like “solid food,” yet the
so-called deep things of God are simply a deepening of our understanding of the
simplicity of the truth of the Gospel. This is the sole purpose of types and shadows
in Scripture. There is no new truth outside the parameters of the Gospel.
There is only a further revelation in the wonder of what God has already done for
us. The Gospel is simple, but has incredible depths yet to be plumbed.
In this module, we will be plumbing more of the depths of the Gospel, using many
of main types and shadows of the Old Testament as our plumbline. Our goal is not
intellectual knowledge, but a deeper understanding of Christ. After all, each type
and shadow ultimately points to him.
The Online Bible College can be accessed at www.online-bible-college.com
Unless otherwise indicated, all quotations from the Bible are from the New International Version, copyright © 1973,
1978, 1984 International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Bible Publishers.
1 Believer’s Study Bible, excerpted from QuickVerse 5.1, Deluxe Edition.
2 Bible Knowledge Commentary, excerpted from QuickVerse 5.1, Deluxe Edition.
3 International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, excerpted from QuickVerse 5.1, Deluxe Edition.
4 International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, excerpted from QuickVerse 5.1, Deluxe Edition.
5 Unger’s Bible Dictionary (Chicago: Moody Press, 1977), p.1001.
6 International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, excerpted from QuickVerse 5.1, Deluxe Edition.
7 International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, excerpted from QuickVerse 5.1, Deluxe Edition.