Something that we often take for granted in our time and place of history is that dear book we call the Bible. Yet, how often have you paused to consider that the early Church didn’t have the Bible as we know it? All they had was the Old Testament. Consider the many times the Gospel writers would include, ‘As it was written’ or in the case of Paul, ‘According to the Scriptures’, or the writer of Hebrews. All of them referred back to the Old Testament to support their teaching. Yet sadly, today the ‘Church’ has become spoilt. We spend too little time in the Old Testament. It was for then, not now, but I would like to posit the idea that the Old Testament with its types and shadows is just as relevant today as it was back then. I present two arguments: 1. Christ rose according to the Scriptures. 2. There is a coming judgement and the righteous will be spared from it.
In 1 Corinthian 15:3-4, Paul is speaking of what he delivered to the Church: that Christ died for our sins and was buried and rose again the third day – according to the Scriptures. Paul made it clear to the church at Corinth that he wasn’t just telling them about things that happened, but that all these things were found in the Scriptures. Now, remembering that Paul’s Scriptures were the Old Testament, no New Testament, where in the Old Testament does it say that Christ would die for our sins, be buried, and rise the third day?
To the best of my knowledge, such a verse in the Old Testament does not exist – unless you consider the types and shadows of the Old Testament. When you begin to study the types and shadows in the Old Testament, you will begin to see Christ in all of the Scriptures, as it has always been. You will see Abraham taking Isaac on a three day journey that cumulates in a ram dying on a mountain (the same area that Jesus would be crucified many years later) and Isaac ‘resurrecting’. You find Elisha dying, then a dead man coming alive and walking out of his tomb. You find the High Priest offering a lamb for the sins of the nation, as well as the scapegoat that is released. The images abound.
They are important for without them, the New Testament has no strength of its own. Consider this, Paul preached a gospel that was firmly based on the Old Testament – if we are preaching the same gospel, we should be able to go back to the Old Testament to find all that he preached. If we cannot, then there is a strong possibility that what we have is another gospel – and in the words of Paul, such a gospel and its bearers is accursed.
The types and shadows of the Old Testament are critical to providing a foundation for all that the early Church taught. When we fail to study and understand the Old Testament types and shadows, we leave ourselves vulnerable to distortion in our doctrine. Today we have charlatans writing books to ‘explain’ why Jesus had no sin, why He died on the cross, why He rose from the dead. I say charlatans, for the explanations should be simply quoting from the Word of God – the Old Testament in particular. Instead, they go off on their own tangents, often doing great harm to the glorious gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus himself would expound to his disciples regarding all that was written concerning him in Moses and the prophets – indeed, all the Scriptures (Luke 24:27). To belabor the point once more: where in Moses is Christ spoken of? Practically everywhere when you consider the types and shadows. That is one of the reasons why, even today, types and shadows are important for the Church to understand.
Now while our first point was retrospective, and concerns the foundations of our faith, the second point is looking to the future: the types and shadows of the Old Testament speak of a coming judgement. Jesus raises both Noah and Lot in this regard, as types of the believers in the days of the coming of the Son of Man. Note, Jesus is not speaking of the first advent which had already happened, but rather, of a future event. Both Noah and Lot are held up as types/shadows of what is coming.
How is the Believer to walk today? What should the Believer expect in the last days? All these answers and more can be found when you begin to study the relevant types and shadows! How prepared do you want to be for Jesus’ return? Study the types and shadows given!
It’s worthwhile to note that studying the types and shadows associated with Jesus’ first Advent, death, burial, and resurrection has added importance in that we can see how the types and shadows worked, and then project that forward to what is to come. How do we understand the types of the Church in the last days when Christ returns? By understanding the types of Christ’s first advent. It helps guide us in our understanding.
Don’t let anyone convince you that the Old Testament was for the old days only. It is written, ask for the old paths. If that’s the case, it’s important for us today, more than ever, to be able to go back as far back as we can, to make sure that the paths we are walking are the same paths that the saints of old trod.
Take the time in your Bible study to dig into the Old Testament types and shadows. It will bless your soul and strengthen your faith by reinforcing that all the Scriptures speak of and point to Christ, and you can look forward with confidence knowing that whatever is coming in the future, God has it all under control, for it has been settled in the types and shadows of His Word over two thousand years before.
1Co 15:3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;
1Co 15:4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:
Talking Bible 
Leave a comment