So infinitely glorious is God, so wondrous are His works, so exalted is His majesty, and so marvelous is His love for humankind, that He has brought into play every device of human language to reveal Himself to us.
Statements of plain language, parables and allegories, symbols and shadows, emblems and types, are all used if, by any means, we may come to the knowledge and enjoyment of God and live for His glory, fulfilling the reason for our existence.
There are five important words used to describe different forms of speech in Scripture. These are “figure,” “example,” “shadow,” “parable” and “pattern” or “type.” A study of these will reap rich rewards, and will amply repay the diligent student.
We discover that there are persons who are types. In Romans 5:14, it is clearly stated that Adam is “the figure [type] of Him that was to come.” That is, in his humanity as the head of a kind of persons-humankind. The Lord Jesus is the head of a new race of people – Christkind, or Christians. As the race is identified with its head, Adam, in death, so it is identified with Christ in His resurrection: “As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive” (1 Cor. 15:22). There are other personal types clearly finding their antitype in the Lord Jesus. Moses is a type of Christ in His prophetic ministry (Deut. 18:15; Acts 7:37-38). Melchizedec is a type of Christ in His priestly office (Heb. 6:20). David is a type of Christ as the Shepherd Sovereign of His people (Isa. 55:3-4; Ezek. 34:23-24).
There are also objects that are types. In 1 Corinthians 10:1-6, the cloud, the sea, the manna, the water, and the rock in the wilderness, are spoken of as “examples” or types, as the word is. Not only so, but it is stated these types are for our instruction in holiness.
There are events which are types. The “happenings” to Israel in the wilderness are “ensamples.” The Passover is a type of Christ (1 Cor. 5:7). The tabernacle and its furniture, Aaron, his garments, and his ministry, all declare the glory of the Lord. These are God’s own illustrations of the great doctrines concerning Christ, His person, and His work, and they shed both a radiance and a redolence on the truths of the New Testament. Doctrines difficult to apprehend are thus illuminated.
There are three great dangers, however, which must be avoided:
1) Limiting the type, and therefore not using it. There is always infinitely more in the antitype than in the type, as there is more in the substance than the shadow.
2) Exaggerating the type, and therefore overusing it. There are aspects of the type which can never be applied to the anti type. All fanciful interpretations are to be shunned, and Scripture is to be closely adhered to.
3) Imagining the type, and therefore misusing it. Hymnology must not be the basis of our doctrines. Canaan’s land has been presented in hymnology as a picture of heaven. However, the “enemy was yet in the land” and there are no enemies in heaven.
We thank God that He remembers we are dust, mortal, and timebound for the present. He takes into consideration our limitations and has provided us with means of unlocking some of the treasures of His Word. By the illumination of His Spirit, He delights to lead His people into all truth.
O Book of wondrous depths and heights,
And glories ever new,
Which, in ten thousand various lights,
Brings Jesus into view.
Oh, who would leave the fountainhead,
To drink the muddy stream,
Where man has mixed what God hath said,
With every dreamer’s dream.