Types and Anti-Types:
A type in its primary and literal meaning, simply mean a rough draught, or a less accurate model, from which a more perfect image is made. A type may be defined to be a SYMBOL of something future and distant. Or it may be an EXAMPLE prepared and designed by God to prefigure a future thing. What is prefigured is called the antitype.
The first characteristic of a type is, it casts a shadow, or is an imperfect representation of the thing it represents. The type may be a rough sketch of something quite different, in that it has something in common with the antitype. Example,
In the Jewish ceremonies, the animal sacrificed was called the victim, and by its death it represented Christ, who in the fullness of time was to die for mankind. The images of the cherubim placed in the inner sanctuary of the temple, represented the swiftness or speed of the angels of heaven, this image of wings, was an appropriate symbol of swiftness.
Melchizedek the priest of the Most High God; represented Jesus Christ our priest, and even though Melchizedek was not an eternal priest, yet the writers have attributed to him a slender and shadowy appearance of eternity, this by not mentioning the genealogy of the parents, and his birth, or death. This was done under God’s direction in concealing all these particulars.
A type is prepared and designed by God to represent its antitype. In saying this, there should be Scriptural evidence of God’s intention in the relationship between the type and the antitype. There should be no question, the evidence resting on some solid proof from the Scripture itself that it is true.
The distinction between a type and a simile: Many things in Scripture were not made to RESEMBLE for the purpose of REPRESENTING them.
The Bible states,
1 Peter 1:24, “All flesh is grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass.”
No one would consider the tenderness of grass as a type of human weakness, or the flower of grass as a type of human glory.
We can say the same of a metaphor, which is of the same species of simile. In that one thing is called by the name of another.
1. Herod was cunning, therefore he is called a fox, Luke 13:32, Jesus said, “go ye, and tell that fox,.”
2. Judah for his courage was called a lion’s whelp, Genesis 49:9.
Yet no one would imply that a fox is like Herod, and that a young lion is a type of Judah.
The institutions established in Moses time, had the nature of types, they being called, Colossians 2:17, “A shadow of things to come.” The things that happened to the Jewish fathers are said, 1 Cor.10:11, “happened unto them (Jewish fathers) for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.”
Also in the same sense, the Mosaic law was loaded with numerous types. They are declared as, Heb.10:1, “A shadow of good things to come.”
The events that happened which were commanded by God, that were formerly transacted in the tabernacle, prefiguring what was afterwards to be done in God’s heavenly sanctuary. Hebrews 11:11-12-23-34.
The term symbol is applicable to that which paints a picture of a thing, past, present, or future: On the other hand the object represented by a type is invariably future, in this all the rites which represented to the Jews any virtues they were to practice, ought to be called symbols rather than types. And those rites which were inspired of God, represent things both present and future, and may be regarded as both symbols and types. Symbols representing things present; and types present a picture of future things.
Also a type differs from a parable, the type being grounded on a matter of fact, not in a fictitious narrative, although it has a similar nature as in actions, things, or persons, as an allegory is in words, so also a parable in respect to types:
When several circumstances agree, it is easy to perceive the agreement existing between the type and the antitype.
The Ark of the Covenant was a type of baptism; The land of Canaan a type of heaven. The brazen serpent, and the prophet Jonah, represented a type of our Savior’s crucifixion, and resurrection.
There are legal types, or those contained in the Mosaic Law; prophetical types, and historical types. In this article, I will discuss Legal types only. The others in future article.
1. Legal types. These are when one compares the history and economy of Moses with the whole of the N.T. The ritual law was typical of the Messiah and the Gospel blessings. This point is clearly established by the apostle, in his Epistle to the Hebrews. Following are a few examples of the nature of Legal Types.
The entire character, system and offering of the Levitical priesthood typically prefigured Christ the great High priest, Hebrews 5-7-8, especially in the ceremonies observed on the day of atonement.
So the Passover and the paschal lamb typified the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. The feast of Pentecost commemorated the giving of the law on Mount Sinai. This prefigured the effusion of the Holy Spirit on the apostles, who were then able to proclaim the Gospel throughout the known world. Acts 2:1-11.
The feast of tabernacles possibly typified the final restoration of the Jews. The blessings and privileges given to the Jews by God were types of these enjoyed by all Christians. This prefigured a more honorable relationship, in which believers, the true Israel, stand to God. See,
Romans 9:4, “Who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises,” meaning for their relationship to God as his people, being signified by the name “Israelite.” Their adoption as the sons of God, and the privileges they were entitled to by that adoption, were types of believers being made partakers of the Divine nature, this by the renewing of the Holy Ghost, and of their inheritance of heaven.
The residing of the glory, first in the tabernacle, then in the temple, was a figure of the residing of God by His Holy Spirit in the Christian himself, and the true Christian church. His eternal residence in that church brought to perfection in Heaven.
The covenant with Abraham was the Gospel covenant, the blessings of which were represented by the temporary blessings promised to Abraham and to his natural seed. The covenant at Sinai, where the Israelites, as the worshippers of the true God, were separated from the idolatrous nations, was an emblem of the final separation of the righteous from the wicked.
In the giving of the law, and the formation of the Jews into a nation, prefigured the formation to the city of the living God, and the general assembly of the church of the first born. Also the heavenly country, the habitation of the righteous, was typified by Canaan, a country given to the Israelites by God’s promise.
This is an interesting subject. There is so much that can be learned if we take the time to study the various types and antitypes. I will do another article concerning the prophetical types, historical types, the application of the type to the antitype, and predictions of the prophets concerning Christ under the shadow of a type.
Prophetical Types:
Prophetical Types are those by which the O.T. prophets signified things either present or future, this by means of external symbols.
One of these would be the prophet Isaiah, going naked and barefoot (that is without his prophetic garment.)
Isaiah 20:2, The Lord said to Isaiah, “Go and loose (remove) the sackcloth from off thy loins, and put off the shoe (sandal) from thy foot. And he did so, walking naked and barefoot.” This was to prefigure the fatal destruction of the Egyptians and Ethiopians.
Compare the following verses Jeremiah 13:1-7, with, Jeremiah 16:2-5-8.
Jeremiah 13:1 thru 7, The Lord told Jeremiah to take a linen girdle, and put it on. The Jeremiah was told to take it off bring it to, and then hide the girdle in a rock on the banks of the Euphrates. This he did. After many days Jeremiah was told to retrieve it from the rocks. When he did it had become marred (ruined, or rotten.)
This prefigured the destruction which would quickly come upon the abandoned and ungrateful Jewish people. Compare the above with the following verses, as further evidence.
The abstaining from marriage,
Jeremiah 16:2, “Thou shalt not take thee a wife, neither shalt thou have sons or daughter in THIS PLACE.”
The mourning of the nation and the people;
Jeremiah 16:5, “For thus saith the LORD, enter not into the house of mourning, neither go to lament not bemoan them: for I have taken away my peace from this people, saith the LORD, even loving kindness and mercies.”
The feasting of the people; Jeremiah 16:8, “Thou shalt not also go into the house of feasting, to sit with them to eat and to drink.”
Also, similar calamities are prefigured against the Jewish people and the land by breaking the potter’s vessel read in, Jeremiah 18:2 thru 10. This again, to indicate the calamities pronounced by God that would come against His people for their sins.
The making of bonds and yokes, seen in, Jeremiah 22:1 thru 8. This prefigured the conquest and subjugation of the kings of Edom, Moab, the Ammonites, Tyre and Sidon by king Nebuchadnezzar.
In Acts 21:10-11, Agabus’s binding his own hands with Paul’s girdle was to declare the delivery of Paul into the hands of the Gentiles.
Also to this class of Prophetical Types we can refer to prophetical and typical visions of FUTURE EVENTS. Some of these have their interpretation connected, or annexed, as in, Jeremiah 1:11 thru 16, here Jeremiah’s vision of the almond tree and a seething pot, and Ezekiel’s vision of the resurrection of dry bones, Ezekiel 37.
Other such visions will be explained in the future only by their actual accomplishment, example Ezekiel’s vision of the temple and Holy city, Jerusalem, Chap. 40 to the end. The Revelation of John, which will be made clear and intelligible when the whole of John’s prophesy is fulfilled, this in the future.
We had the calling of the Gentiles in many parts of the O.T. This was a strange saying for the Jews to hear and understand, before its accomplishment, even to those who were well acquainted with the writing of the prophets. We see an instance of this in,
Acts 11:1-18. Verse 1, “the apostles and brethren — heard that the Gentiles had also received the word of God.” Peter tells of his dream of the, “great sheet, let down from heaven by four corners; and it came even to me.”
Verse 17, God gave them (the Gentiles) the like gift as He did unto us (the Jews,) who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ.”
Verse 18, “Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life.”
Historical Types:
Historical types are the characters, actions and fortunes of outstanding persons in the O.T. ordered by God to be an exact prefiguration of the character, actions and fortunes of future persons, who would appear in the time the N.T.
In some cases, those who were called, and who’s characters and actions prefigured future events, were declared by God Himself to be typical, long before the events which they were to prefigured came to pass. These are called innate or natural historical types.
In other cases many others were not known to be such, until after the things which they typified had actually happened. These are called inferred types, this by probabilities agreeable to the analogy of faith.
The most remarkable and outstanding of these characters are Adam, Abel, Noah, Melchizedec, Isaac, the ram sacrificed by Abraham, Joseph, the pillar of fire, the manna, the rock in the desert from where water flowed, the scape-goat, the brazen-serpent, Moses, Aaron, Joshua, Sampson, Samuel, David, Solomon, Jonah and Zerubbabel.
We could write a book in an attempt to show how clearly these people and things corresponded with their great antitype, that being, the Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, whatever persons or things recorded in the O.T. were expressly declared by Christ, or by His apostles having been designed as prefiguration relating to the N.T. are types of that person or thing with which they are compared in the New.
But if we state clearly that a person or thing was designed to prefigure another person or thing, where there is no such prefiguration, neither had it been declared by God’s authority, we cannot make that declaration. Why? Because we do not possess, nor will we possess any foundation for that assertion.
And ever when comparisons are started, or originated in the N.T. between antecedent (a preceding event, condition, or cause) and subsequent persons or things, we must be careful to distinguish the examples, where a comparison is instituted merely for the sake of illustration, from the examples where such a connection is declared, as exists in the relation of a type to its antitype.
Phillip LaSpino www.seekfirstwisdom.com