We have been looking at Healing in the Atonement giving us the understanding of exemption in our redemption purchased on Calvary's Cross with the payment being his precious blood. Now I want to look at the types and shadows in the Old Testament which unveil this reality in the New Testament. A lot of believers revel in reading about Jesus in the synoptic Gospels without realizing that he is unveiled throughout the Old Testament through types and shadows. The whole Bible is about Jesus and his works
Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith unto him, We have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.
John 1:45
And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself...44 And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me. Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures,
Luke 24:27. 44, 45
Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me...For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me.
John 5:39. 46
Healing in the Atonement gives us the understanding of exemption in our redemption purchased on Calvary's Cross with the payment being his precious blood.
The two ways that Jesus is revealed to us in the Old Testament are through Messianic prophecies and types and shadows. Scholars tell us that Jesus fulfilled at least 300 prophecies in His earthly ministry. Alfred Edersheim found 456 Old Testament verses referring to the Messiah or His times. Most people do not realize that the Old Testament contains prophecies of Jesus' first coming and also his second coming.
So what exactly are types and shadows? While we can get all technical and theological about types and shadows, it would serve us better here to keep it simple. Biblical types and shadows are symbolic and prophetic pictures used in the Old Testament prophetically pointing us to the substance in Christ. As we are looking at Old Testament types of Healing in the Atonement let us start with the book of beginning,
The Genesis - Edenic type.
And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
Genesis 2:16-17
The Hebrew literally says, 'In dying you will surely die.' Therefore we know that death was ultimate if man was to disobey this direct command from God. The Lord did not say that he would die nine hundred years later, but in the day that he ate of the fruit. Did death occur when Adam ate of the fruit?
And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons
Genesis 3:6, 7
Put yourself in Adam;s shoes. You are thinking, 'The moment I eat of this fruit, I am history. I will be graveyard dead!'
Adam ate of it and was expecting to be zapped but something strange happened. He was not dead! Well, did God lie? Absolutely not! God cannot lie and death did occur that day.
Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins, and clothed them.
Genesis 3:21
Adam merited death that day but death occurred in the form of a substitute. God did not accept their covering of fig leaves but made them coats of skins. An innocent animal had to die and blood was shed to cover man's transgression. Three things are very important to note:
- The was death in the form of a substitute
- Blood was shed to cover man's transgression and escaping death
- The flesh of the animal (skin) was used to cover and protect man's body
The two ways that Jesus is revealed to us in the Old Testament are through Messianic prophecies and types and shadows.
Through the great prophet Isaiah this revelation was expressed, 'Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure.' (Isaiah 46:9-10) Blood was shed for man to escape death and flesh was engaged for the protection of the blood. All through the Scriptures, you will see this phenomenon of blood and flesh as means of escaping death and providing healing. Bear in mind that Melchizedek who is a type of the Lord Jesus, whose priesthood's order Jesus is of also, brought wine and bread to Abraham symbolizing the blood and flesh of Christ.
This is an excerpt of Glenn's upcoming book, 'How to live and not die'