Types

A type, in the language of the New Testament, is a person, institution, or object set up under the old covenant whose pattern is filled out in Christ or in the realities he brings. The writer of Hebrews calls the law "a shadow of the good [things] to come, not the very image of the things" (Heb 10:1), and Paul says of the festivals, foods, and sabbaths "which are a shadow of the things to come; but the body is Christ's" (Col 2:17). The shadow has a shape, and the shape is the Saviour.

Shadow and Pattern

Moses himself is told that the tabernacle he builds is a copy. "See, he says, that you make all things according to the pattern that was shown to you in the mount" (Heb 8:5). What stands on earth has its original above: "a minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, not man" (Heb 8:2). The whole sacrificial economy operates within the same logic; its sacrifices "year by year" cannot perfect the worshipers (Heb 10:1), and the gifts and offerings of the present order are "a figure for the time present" that cannot, "as concerning the conscience, make the worshiper perfect" (Heb 9:9). The point is not that the older things were empty but that they were preparatory.

The First Adam and the Last

Adam is named explicitly as type. "Death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned after the likeness of Adam's transgression, who is a figure of him who was to come" (Rom 5:14). The contrast is set out by Paul in 1 Corinthians: "For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ will all be made alive" (1 Cor 15:22). Adam was first formed from the ground (Gen 2:19, 2:23, 3:17, Sir 17:1, Sir 33:10), clothed by his Maker with strength and dominion (Gen 1:26, Sir 17:3), and then died (Gen 5:5, Sir 17:1). The second man recapitulates and reverses him.

Abel and the Better Blood

Abel, the keeper of sheep, "offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he had witness borne to him that he was righteous" (Heb 11:4, Gen 4:2). His blood, shed by his brother (Gen 4:8), became the first cry from the ground for vindication. The New Testament hears that cry answered in another voice: believers come "to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better than [that of] Abel" (Heb 12:24).

Noah, the Ark, and the Saving Through Water

Noah, named because he would "comfort us in our work and in the toil of our hands" (Gen 5:29), found favor with Yahweh (Gen 6:8), walked with God (Gen 6:9), and built the ark exactly as he was told (Gen 6:14, 6:22). "Eight souls, were saved through water" (1 Pet 3:20), and the apostle takes the next step: "which also after a true likeness does now save you, [even] baptism, not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the interrogation of a good conscience toward God, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ" (1 Pet 3:21). Hebrews adds that Noah, "moved with godly fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; through which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith" (Heb 11:7). The bow set in the cloud (Gen 9:13, 9:15) inaugurates the covenant memory that Sirach calls "an eternal covenant" (Sir 44:18). Lamech's word over the infant Noah, that he would bring comfort, is taken up in another key: "as the sufferings of Christ abound to us, even so our comfort also abounds through Christ" (2 Cor 1:5).

Melchizedek, Priest-King of Salem

Out of the patriarchal narrative steps a single figure who collapses two offices into one. Melchizedek "king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was priest of God Most High" (Gen 14:18). The Psalter sees in him a priestly order outside the Levitical line: "You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek" (Ps 110:4). Hebrews builds its case on this Psalm: "as he says also in another [place], You are a priest forever After the order of Melchizedek" (Heb 5:6); Christ has "become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek" (Heb 6:20); and "for this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of God Most High, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him" (Heb 7:1) is, "by interpretation, King of righteousness, and then also King of Salem, which is, King of peace" (Heb 7:2), "without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like the Son of God), stays a priest continually" (Heb 7:3).

Moses the Servant and the Prophet to Come

Moses stands before Israel as mediator: "You speak with us, and we will hear; but don't let [the Speech of] God speak with us, or else we will die" (Ex 20:19); "I stood between Yahweh and you at that time" (Deut 5:5). His own word looks past himself to another: "Yahweh your God will raise up to you a prophet from the midst of you, of your brothers, like me; to him you will listen" (Deut 18:15). Hebrews places him beside the Son and reads the type: "Moses indeed was faithful in all his house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were afterward to be spoken; but Christ as a son, over his house" (Heb 3:5-6).

David the Anointed King

David and his throne carry the royal half of the type. The exaltation that Israel sang in the Psalms ("Therefore God also highly exalted him, and gave to him the name which is above every name," Phil 2:9) crowns the Davidic line in the person of the Son. Eliakim, son of Hilkiah, set "over the household" (Isa 22:20, 2 Kgs 18:18, Isa 36:3), is given a prophetic word that the Apocalypse hands to Christ: "the key of the house of David I will lay on his shoulder; and he will open, and none will shut" (Isa 22:22), so that the risen Lord speaks as "he who has the key of David, he who opens and none will shut, and who shuts and none opens" (Rev 3:7).

Jonah in the Deep

The prophet who was three days "in the insides of the fish" (Jonah 1:17, 2:1, 2:2) becomes, by Christ's own word, the only sign given to "an evil generation" (Luke 11:29). The descent of Jonah into the deep stands as sign of the descent of the Son of Man.

The Bronze Serpent Lifted Up

Moses "made a serpent of bronze, and set it on the standard: and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he looked to the serpent of bronze, he lived" (Num 21:9). The thing later became an idol and was broken in pieces by Hezekiah (2 Kgs 18:4). Jesus pulls the type forward at the heart of the Nicodemus discourse: "as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up" (John 3:14).

The Tree of Life

The first garden has at its center a tree (Gen 2:9), barred to the man after the fall (Gen 3:22). Wisdom is called such a tree to those who take her (Prov 3:18, 11:30). Ezekiel sees its leaves on the banks of the sanctuary's river (Ezek 47:7, 47:12). The vision of the city closes the arc: "to him I will give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the Paradise of God" (Rev 2:7); "on this side of the river and on that was a tree of life that bears fruit twelve [times per year], every month yielding its fruit: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations" (Rev 22:2).

Manna and the Bread Out of Heaven

Israel ate "the bread which Yahweh has given you to eat" (Ex 16:15, see also Ex 16:4, 16:33; Num 11:6; Josh 5:12; Neh 9:20). The Fourth Gospel takes the wilderness diet as the figure of the bread now given: "Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, He gave them bread out of heaven to eat" (John 6:31). Paul makes the food a foretype of "spiritual food" (1 Cor 10:3); the Apocalypse sets aside "hidden manna" for the one who overcomes (Rev 2:17).

The Cities of Refuge

Six cities of the Levites were set apart "for the manslayer to flee to" (Num 35:6). Hebrews reads the image into the gospel: "we may have a strong encouragement, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us" (Heb 6:18).

The Tabernacle and Its Furniture

Moses' sanctuary, made by command "that I may stay among them" (Ex 25:8), is built of curtains and skillful work (Ex 26:1), and when it is finished "the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of Yahweh filled the tabernacle" (Ex 39:32, 40:34). It is the place where atonement is made for "the uncleannesses of the sons of Israel" (Lev 16:16). Christ enters its true counterpart: "Christ having come [as] high priest of the good things that have come, through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation" (Heb 9:11), "nor yet through the blood of goats and calves, but through his own blood, entered in once for all into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption" (Heb 9:12). Wisdom too is said to have "ministered before him" in the holy tabernacle (Sir 24:10).

The Veil

The veil "of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen: with cherubim the work of the skillful workman" (Ex 26:31, 36:35; 2 Chr 3:14) was the boundary of the Most Holy Place. Hebrews makes its theological weight plain: hope is "an anchor of the soul; both sure and steadfast; and entering into that which is inside the veil" (Heb 6:19), and the new and living way Christ has dedicated is "through the veil, that is to say, his flesh" (Heb 10:20). Moses' own face-veil (Ex 34:33) Paul re-reads as the temporary covering of "the end of that which was passing away" (2 Cor 3:13).

The Mercy-Seat

The cover of the ark is "of pure gold" (Ex 25:17). From above it Yahweh spoke (Ex 25:22, Num 7:89), and on it the high priest sprinkled blood once a year (Lev 16:2; cf. Lev 16:15). Hebrews pictures the same place in Christ as the throne to which believers now come: "Let us therefore draw near with boldness to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy, and may find grace to help [us] in time of need" (Heb 4:16).

The Altar and the Laver

Israel had a bronze altar at the door of the tent and a laver for washing. Hebrews answers: "We have an altar, of which they have no right to eat who serve the tabernacle" (Heb 13:10). The laver, where priests washed before service, is read into the cleansing of the church: Christ loved her "that he might sanctify it, having cleansed it by the washing of water with the word, that he might present the church to himself a glorious [church], not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish" (Eph 5:26-27).

High Priest, Mediator, Branch

Moses stood between Yahweh and the people (Ex 20:19, Deut 5:5, 5:27, 9:18); Aaron, between the dead and the living (Num 16:48). The work of the high priest at Yom Kippur — "he will kill the goat of the sin-offering, that is for the people, and bring his blood inside the veil... and sprinkle it on the mercy-seat" (Lev 16:15) — is the visible type of Christ's work. Zechariah sees both offices joined in one figure: "Look, the man whose name is the Branch: and he will grow up out of his place; and he will build the temple of Yahweh" (Zech 6:12). Hebrews fills out the type without flinching:

• "He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things

pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people" (Heb 2:17).

• "Consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, [even]

Jesus" (Heb 3:1).

• "We have a great high priest, who has passed through the heavens,

Jesus the Son of God" (Heb 4:14-15).

• "So Christ also did not glorify himself to be made a high priest"

(Heb 5:5).

• "Such was indeed fitting for us [as] a high priest, holy, blameless,

undefiled, separated from sinners" (Heb 7:26).

• "We have such a high priest, who sat down at the right hand of the

throne of the Majesty in the heavens" (Heb 8:1).

The priestly people answers the priestly Christ. Israel was called "a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation" (Ex 19:6), and the church is "built up a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood" (1 Pet 2:5), "priests to his God and Father" (Rev 1:6, 5:10). Sirach holds the older half of the picture: Aaron was consecrated "an eternal covenant" of priestly service (Sir 45:15).

The Sacrifices and Their Fulfillment

The sacrificial system itself testifies that it is not sufficient. Hebrews calls it "a figure for the time present; according to which are offered both gifts and sacrifices that can't, as concerning the conscience, make the worshiper perfect" (Heb 9:9). The prophets and psalmists say the same:

• "To obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of

rams" (1 Sam 15:22).

• "Sacrifice and offering you have no delight in" (Ps 40:6); "you do

not delight in sacrifice... The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit" (Ps 51:16-17).

• "What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices?" (Isa 1:11).
• "I desire goodness, and not sacrifice" (Hos 6:6).

The lamb of the morning and evening offering and the lamb of the Passover are read by John the Baptist into one figure: "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!" (John 1:29, 1:36). Peter makes the cross-reference explicit: "with precious blood, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, [even the blood] of Christ" (1 Pet 1:19). The Apocalypse seals the type: "I saw... a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain" (Rev 5:6).

The Passover

Israel was commanded to eat the Passover with loins girded (Ex 12:11) and to keep it in the month of Abib (Deut 16:1; cf. Num 33:3, 2 Chr 30:15, 35:11, Ezra 6:20, Mark 14:12). Paul lifts the rite straight onto Christ: "Purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, even as you are unleavened. For our Passover also has been sacrificed, [even] Christ" (1 Cor 5:7).

The Red Heifer

The red heifer, "without spot, in which is no blemish" (Num 19:2), provided ashes for the water of purification. Hebrews takes the ritual as the lower step of an a fortiori argument: "if the blood of goats and bulls, and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled, sanctify to the cleanness of the flesh: how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, cleanse our conscience from dead works to serve the living God?" (Heb 9:13-14).

Leaven, Defilement, Cleansing

Leaven is the standing scriptural figure of corruption that spreads. The Passover law puts every trace of it out of the houses of Israel for seven days (Ex 12:15, 12:19; Deut 16:4); no meal-offering may carry it (Lev 2:11). Jesus uses it both ways — of the kingdom's hidden growth (Luke 13:21) and, in Paul's hands, of moral corruption: "A little leaven leavens the whole lump" (Gal 5:9), set against the new lump that has already been swept clean by the slain Passover (1 Cor 5:7).

Defilement is the type of sin; ceremonial washing the type of cleansing. The carnal ordinances were "imposed until a time of reformation" (Heb 9:10), and then the blood of Christ does the inward work: it will "cleanse our conscience from dead works to serve the living God" (Heb 9:14). Paul writes that the Corinthians "were washed... were sanctified... were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Cor 6:11), and exhorts the church, "let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God" (2 Cor 7:1). Salvation is "through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit" (Titus 3:5). John writes simply, "the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin" (1 John 1:7), and the Apocalypse names the whitened robes of the multitude: "they washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb" (Rev 7:14).

The Bride

The bridal language of the Apocalypse closes the typological circle. The new Jerusalem comes down "made ready as a bride adorned for her husband" (Rev 21:2). The angel says, "Come here, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb" (Rev 21:9). And the very last invitation of Scripture is bridal: "the Spirit and the bride say, Come... let him take the water of life freely" (Rev 22:17). The Bride answers the Lamb; the type completes itself.