What are shadows and types? If you look for christ hidden in the scriptures you will have fun reading the word because old and new…………..it all points to christ. I hope you enjoy this read…………..pretty cool….
A “Type” then is some “person,” or “event,” or “ceremony” that is recorded to “foreshadow” some future “person,” or “event,” or “ceremony.” For illustration-
TYPICAL PERSONS, like Adam, Cain, Abel, Melchizedek, Abraham, Isaac, Joseph, Moses, Joshua, David, Jonah.
TYPICAL EVENTS, like the “Flood,” the “Plagues of Egypt,” the “Passover,” the “Brazen Serpent,” “Crossing the Jordan,” “Cities of Refuge.”
TYPICAL CEREMONIES, like the “Offerings,” “Ceremonial Cleansing,” “Feasts,” “Year of Jubilee,” “Day of Atonement.”
To which might be added-“Typical Structures,” like the “Ark,” the “Tabernacle,” the “Temple.” “Typical Furniture,” like the “Brazen Altar,” the “Laver,” the “Seven Branched Candlestick,” the “Table of Shewbread,” the “Altar of Incense,” and the “Ark of the Covenant” with its “Mercy Seat.” “Typical Colors,” like “Blue,” “Red,” “White,” “Purple,” “Scarlet,” “Green.” “Typical Numbers,” like “one,” “three,” “four,” “seven,” “twelve,” “forty.”
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.” 1 Cor. 15:22.
“AS the days of Noah were, SO shall also the corning of the Son of Man be.” Matt. 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 Whale’s belly; SO shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” Matt. 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.
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.” John 3:14-15. 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. In verse 11 he says-
“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.