Typology

God filled the Old Testament with pictures of His Son: real people, events, and institutions He designed to point forward to Jesus Christ, who fulfills and surpasses them all.

The first creation, the garden, the tree of life, the coats of skins, and the exile from Eden all point forward to Christ, whose work brings us back to God and into a new creation.

Scripture calls Adam a figure of Christ: one man's disobedience brought sin and death on the whole human race, and one Man's obedience brings righteousness and life to all who believe.

Where the first Adam fell in a garden, the last Adam stood firm in a wilderness, covered our shame, and took up the dominion Adam lost.

God's judgment fell on the whole world, and the only place of safety was inside the ark He provided: a picture of salvation in Christ.

On Mount Moriah a father offered his beloved son, and God provided a ram in his place: a picture of the Father who gave His only Son.

The king of righteousness and king of peace, a priest of the most high God, was a real king-priest whom Scripture presents as made like unto the Son of God, our eternal King and Priest.

Loved by his father, rejected and sold by his brothers, and raised from the pit and the prison to save many lives, Joseph gives us one of the fullest pictures of Christ in the Old Testament.

Prophet, deliverer, and mediator, Moses pointed beyond himself to the Prophet like him whom God would raise up, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is counted worthy of more glory than Moses.

God's deliverance of Israel from bondage in Egypt is the great Old Testament pattern of redemption: God heard, came down, redeemed by blood and by power, and brought His people out to Himself.

The spotless lamb, its shed blood, and the judgment that passed over every house under the blood point to Christ our passover, sacrificed for us.

The rock Moses struck gave water to a thirsty people, and Paul says that Rock was Christ; on the hill above the battle with Amalek, Moses' raised hands picture our Intercessor.

God dwelling among His people in the tabernacle points to the Word made flesh who dwelt among us, and to the way He opened into God's presence.

The ark, its contents, and the mercy seat sprinkled with blood picture Christ, in whom God's presence dwells, God's law is kept, and God's mercy is given.

Once a year Israel's high priest carried blood behind the veil and sent the scapegoat away. Christ, our High Priest, offered Himself once for all and entered heaven itself for us.

Joshua, whose Hebrew name is the name Jesus, led God's people across the Jordan and into rest in the land: a picture of the Captain of our salvation, who leads His people into a greater rest.

Bread from heaven that Israel came to despise, and a serpent of brass lifted up for the dying: two wilderness provisions Jesus applied to Himself, the true Bread from heaven lifted up on the cross.

The shepherd from Bethlehem, anointed by God, rejected by his own, and crowned king, points to Christ, the Son of David, who will sit on David's throne and reign over the earth.