Types in the Bible are a form of prophecy. Here is one that
is central to the fundamental message of God providing the redemption price in
the Bible.
Genesis 15:2 - And Abram
said, "My Lord, What can you give me seeing that I go childless, and the
steward of my house is the Damascene Eliezer?" Eliezer was more like a
business partner who would inherit Abraham’s estate if Abraham did not have his
own offspring.
Genesis 22:1-19
The offering of Isaac is a
recognized “type/prophecy” of God the Father (represented by Abraham) sending His
only begotten Son (represented by Isaac) to die for our sins. But there is far
more to this type acted out by Abraham of God’s plan of salvation which
demonstrates at the very beginning of Israel
The plan of salvation, acted
out by Abraham, was fulfilled in the death and resurrection of Jesus. After His
death Jesus appeared to many of His disciples and then ascended to heaven (Acts
2). Since His death the Church has been established by God the Holy Spirit
calling out those in the world, both Jew and Gentile, to be the Bride of Christ
(2 Corinthians 11 and John 14:16,17) “And I will pray
the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter (paraclete = helper,
comforter, advocate), that he may abide with you for ever; Even
the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not,
neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in
you.”
Genesis 22 (italics and
underlining mine)
And it
came to pass after these things that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him,
Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am.
2 And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac,
whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him
there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.
(This mountain [ridgeline] has three
peaks, Mt. Zion
on the south, the Temple Mount , and Golgotha to the north of the Temple Mount
3 And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his
ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the
wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God
had told him.
4 Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw
the place afar off.
5 And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the
ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you.
6 And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and
laid it upon Isaac his son; (typifies
Jesus carrying His cross to Calvary ) and
he took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and they went both of them together.
7 And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My
father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the
wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?
8 And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself (provide FOR Himself, or provide HIMSELF?)
a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together.
9 And they came to the place which God had told him of; and
Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his
son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood. (Abraham KNEW God had to resolve this command by either resurrecting
Isaac, or providing an alternative, because God had promised descendents
through Isaac.)
10 And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to
slay his son.
11 And the angel of the Lord (probably Jesus Himself) called unto him out of heaven,
and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I.
12 And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do
thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast
not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.
13 And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold
behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns (not by his wool for that would have made the ram unclean for sacrifice):
and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in
the stead of his son.
14 And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovahjireh: as
it is said to this day, In the mount of the Lord it shall be seen (2000 years later).
15 And the angel of the Lord called unto Abraham out of heaven
the second time,
16 And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the Lord, for because thou hast done this
thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son:
17 That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I
will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is
upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies;
18 And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be
blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.
19 So Abraham returned unto his young men (where is Isaac? Why is he omitted from the
story of Abraham coming down the mountain? Because Christ ascended to heaven
after His resurrection), and they rose up and went together to Beersheba ; and Abraham dwelt at Beersheba
Continuing
the “type/story” in Genesis 24 Abraham calls Eliezer and makes him promise to
go to Haran
In these
events in the life of Abraham we see the Trinity (Abraham = Father; Isaac =
Jesus; Eliezer = the Holy Spirit), the Church (i.e., Rebekah = the Bride of
Christ), the death, burial, resurrection and ascension of Jesus, and on the very
ground God set aside for it long before. These “types” are prophecy in story,
in history, and even in people’s names. This is the kind of internal unity that
convinces me the Bible is from a divine author. The Jews, who killed the
prophets and even Jesus, would not even know they were writing God’s plan of
salvation when they lived this, and wrote this.
But the
above is just a tiny sample of many such “hidden below the surface” types.
