In Sunday Bible class Obed has been going through the book Exodus and in this study he has looked deeper into the significance of it’s chronology. We have looked into detail about the plagues that God inflicted onto Pharaoh and Egypt due to Pharaoh’s intransigence in letting Israel go. Pharaoh’s hard heart and his attempts to resist the God of the universe. God, step by step demonstrated his superiority to the supposed gods of Egypt, by looking at the significance of each plague and how each one showed the inferiority of each of the objects that Egypt worshiped. It truly shows how God is in complete control and that these were not arbitrary acts but acts calculated to demonstrate that Jehovah God was superior and should be obeyed. On Wednesday night we have just finished studying Hebrews. Orean Brown has done an excellent job of helping us to better understand this powerful book. God’s message throughout the book of Hebrews is that in Christ everything is better, a better sacrifice, High Priest, and better promises. In Christ we have full atonement for our sins which wasn’t achievable under the pattern of animal sacrifices in the old law. In the Bible, God used the literary technique of foreshadowing in the Old Testament of what was to come in the New. Used in 1 Peter 3:20 “Which sometime were disobedient, when once the long suffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water. 21 The like figure where unto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ:”, Peter shows us that Noah and his family being saved in the Ark was a shadow of the complete salvation that an obedient believer has when he or she “puts on Christ” Galatians 3:27 when they are immersed into Christ for the remission of their sins. A shadow is a dim partial representation of the object. A shadow implies dimness and a transitory nature; but it also implies a measure of resemblance between the one and the other. The Hebrew writer was stating this in, Hebrews 8:5 “Who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount.” Moses was to exactly follow God’s directions in building the tabernacle, however the tabernacle and the items associated with it were the shadow of “heavenly things”. Things which we have in the church. Those were the shadow but we have the genuine article in Christ. These objects in the Old Testament were in reality pointing to the fullness of the New Testament. Again in Hebrews 10:1 “For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect”, we find the incompleteness of forgiveness for sins in the old as contrasted with the complete forgiveness in the new. Christ’s sacrifice once and for all times gives the obedient complete removal of their sins. There are no additional or on-going sacrifices needed as was the case in the old covenant. This literary device of foreshadowing is commonly used in literature. For example in Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” Romeo says he prefers to die sooner than live without Juliet’s love: “Life were better ended by their hate, Than death prorogued, wanting of thy love”. Long before Shakespeare ever wrote a line God was showing his people that there was more to come. Foreshadowing can be broken down into two parts, the anti-type (The foreshadowing item) and the type (the real item). There are two Greek words used to represent the two concepts used in the New Testament, that of tupos and antitupon. Thayer defines these two Greek works as follows:
τύπος tupos a die (as struck), i.e. (by implication) a stamp or scar; by analogy, a shape, i.e. a statue, (figuratively) style or resemblance; specially, a sampler (“type”), i.e. a model (for imitation) or instance (for warning):–en-(ex-)ample, fashion, figure, form, manner, pattern, print. ἀντίτυπον antitupon corresponding (“anti-type”), i.e. a representative, counterpart:–(like) figure (where unto). In Hebrews 9: 24 “For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us:”, we find the Greek word tupos used in reference to heaven and the “holy places made with hands”. A clear reference to the tabernacle in Exodus and Leviticus. As we start a study of the book of Leviticus from this verse we can expect that we will find a number of items that would be anti-types ( antitupon ) in this book. From items such as the animal offerings, The holy place, the high priest, the Sabbath, and The Jubilee year, each will serve and an anti-type for a corresponding type in the new covenant. By learning the relationship between items in the Old Testament and the New Testament, we can better understand the New. There have been a number of famous painters that have “hidden” images within a painting. The image is masterfully hidden within a beautiful painting and at first is difficult to see, but once identified it becomes obvious. Likewise when we dig and study the scriptures, we find that God carefully choose many items in the Old Testament worship to foreshadow what was to come in the New Testament. For example the bondage and slavery of the nation of Israel in Egypt is a type, that of sin and the escape through the Red Sea (which is a type for baptism), similar to Noah and his family being saved by the ark. God was foreshadowing the freedom from sin that comes following one being immersed in obedience to his commands Mark 16:16 “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved.“ The reason for the use of such parabolic language was occasioned by Paul in his letter to the Corinthians. 1 Corinthians 2:7 “But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory: 8 Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.” If God had spelled out his plan in detail, Satan working through the world’s leaders wouldn’t have crucified the Christ. We wouldn’t have had the atonement for sin. Christ told us that the specifics of the plan were kept hidden Matthew 13:17 “For verily I say unto you, that many prophets and righteous men desired to see the things which ye see, and saw them not; and to hear the things which ye hear, and heard them not.” We need to dig deeply into God’s word to see and discover the gems, gems that will help us each day through a more profound understanding of God’s plan.