Types and Shadows

Part 2 of 2

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Today I would like to share some really neat things I have learned in understanding the language structure of the Bible (specifically the King James Version) through the types and shadows given to us in the pages of God’s Word.  In no way do I consider myself a teacher of these things but am simply passing along what I have learned over the years in the hope it will be helpful to you as you read and study your Bible.

Now where part one lays the foundation of the pure Words of God being “Food for Life“, part two is about the Bible being “Food for Thought“.  To think on something is to meditate on it and this is not to be mistaken for the meditation of emptying the mind in order to “hear” from God as is the dangerous practice of cults and mystery religions.  Biblical meditation is defined in several passages.  Here are just two verses because “In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established.” (2 Corinthians 13:1b)

Joshua 1:8
This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.

Psalm 143:5
I remember the days of old; I meditate on all thy works; I muse on the work of thy hands.

I have never heard Bible Typology taught and explained as simply and clearly as Pastor Mike Hoggard teaches and I encourage you to listen to this audio on the subject.  Although it only scratches the surface of our understanding God’s Word, it is a great introduction to this study and I guarantee your Bible reading will never again be dull or boring.

Every parent will agree that children love picture books and since God knows this, He has written and compiled the Greatest Picture Book of all in order to help His children understand what He is saying, and to reveal things to us.  While on earth, Jesus spoke in parables so that those who did not receive Him would not understand what He was saying.  He has ordered His Word in the same fashion, but what was meant to be kept secret from those who are wise in their own eyes was never intended to be hidden from us.

Luke 8:10
And he said, Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God: but to others in parables; that seeing they might not see, and hearing they might not understand. (Jesus’ words)

Luke 10:21
In that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit, and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes: even so, Father; for so it seemed good in thy sight.

I am the kind of person who wants to know things and I have spent many years poring over volumes of insights of others in order to learn about and understand these last days we are living in.  Yet somehow I was not satisfied; I wanted to personally hear from God.  A passage in Jeremiah has become very dear to me and I can attest that God does indeed answer those who diligently search His Word with a sincere heart.  Further, when God reveals something to us personally through the pages of His Word, no one will ever be able to steal it away from us.

Jeremiah 33:3
Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.

Do I know everything?  Absolutely not.  A person could spend every waking hour of their entire life in reading and studying the Bible and would have only scratched the surface of the depth and riches that are found therein, but that is not going to deter me from digging for this hidden treasure.  It is a lifelong process that follows this order; first knowledge, then comes understanding which is followed by wisdom.  We must first read the Bible to get knowledge of what is written and in time we gain understanding as we recognize how passages confirm and tie in together throughout the whole Bible.  Only then is wisdom given as the Holy Spirit teaches us through our study of the Word.  Further, there are no shortcuts to this wisdom from above and it cannot be gained though any other source outside of Scripture.

It is important to note the following examples are by no means exhaustive and should you come across a verse where these typologies do not apply, you will clearly be able to see that from the context of the passage.  It is now up to you to study these things for yourself and as you do you will discover many more “types and shadows” as the Holy Spirit opens your eyes to these things in the Word of God.

Now on to typology and the language structure of the KJV Bible with the following rules and verses as our foundation for this study.

RULES:

1. God has revealed everything to the prophets of the Bible.  Amos 3:7 “Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.”
2. Many Old Testament prophecies have dual fulfillments; one in their day and another perfect “last days” fulfillment.  Also, God reveals things through similitudes; things that are similar.   Hosea 12:10 “I have also spoken by the prophets, and I have multiplied visions, and used similitudes, by the ministry of the prophets.”
3. God reveals everything that will happen in the end through the study of what happened in the beginning.  Isaiah 46:9-10  “9) Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, 10) 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:”
4. And in case we don’t “get it“, God reinforces point number 3 so we will understand we need not look anywhere else to gain wisdom and understanding in these last days.  Ecclesiastes 1:9 “The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.”

EXAMPLES:

1. Godly men in the Bible are types and shadows of Jesus, whereas wicked men show us characteristics, attributes and actions of the antichrist.

2. Godly women are pictures of either Israel or the Church and ungodly ones teach us about the harlot, Mystery Babylon the Great.

[Insert:  However, in stories with two Godly men or two Godly women, one often represents Israel and the other the church]

3.  The phrase “afar off” often refers to Spiritual and Heavenly things to come.

4. Names are declarations.

5. Stars are angels and the phrase “sons of God” in the Old Testament refers to angels.

6. The “Feasts of the Lord” in Leviticus 23 are dress rehearsals of Jesus’ first and second comings and to those of us who are “born again“, Jesus Himself is now our “Sabbath” rest.  Isn’t that beautiful?

7. The word “Comfort” is a Holy Ghost word.

8. The word “as” is very important in understanding comparisons.

9. Mountains are kingdoms or nations and trees or branches describe individuals.

10. Rocks and stones in the Bible represent Jesus.

11. Things that are repeated or happen in twos are a picture of things that happened at Jesus’ first coming and of what will happen at His second coming.

Here are two examples of #10 and #11 so you “get the picture“.  The Ten Commandments were written on stone because Jesus is the Word and the rock, and when Moses broke the first set it showed that Jesus would be “broken” at His first coming.  Now do you remember when Moses was instructed to strike the first rock so water would come out, but he was only to speak to the second rock?  Can you see the picture God has given us in these things?  Jesus, our rock, would be struck at His first coming and because of His death, resurrection and ascension He has poured out of Himself “Living Water”, the Holy Spirit; at His second coming He will not be struck down.  Because Moses’ actions were typology of Jesus at each of His comings, can you now see how serious his disobedience was when he struck the second rock instead of speaking to it?  It was because of this that God did not allow him to enter the earthly Promised Land!

12. Pay attention to passages containing the words “seven” or “seven times” or “seven days” or “one week” etc. as they give us insight into the final seven years.

13. Do you want to learn about the rapture?  Study all the details surrounding the “catching away” of Enoch and Elijah as they are the two witnesses the Bible gives of this future event.  Then take a key word from either of these examples and study other verses that contain the same word.  You will be amazed at what you learn.  Hint… You may do this with other versions but will not gain the same insights as when you use the King James Version.  For example, the word “whirlwind” appears 27 times in the King James but only 13 or 14 times in most other translations.  Also, the KJV has unique words to describe specific things and the usage of these same key words is consistently carried through from Genesis to Revelation.

14. Do you wonder about the beast that rises out of the sea in Revelation 13:1, then search the Bible for who was buried at sea and study him/them.  Hint… It is in Exodus.  Look up the word “beast” or “beasts” and see what you learn from those verses.

15. Study verses with the phrase “right hand”; they are describing Jesus and His work.

Scripture must be interpreted with Scripture as the following passages tell us and notice how Isaiah repeats the wording; once for Old Testament and once for New Testament because they agree and confirm each other as we are told in Amos 3:3 “Can two walk together, except they be agreed?”

Isaiah 28:10
For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little:

1 Corinthians 2:12-14
12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.
13 Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

When we ignore these guidelines in our interpretation and study of the Bible we end up with all sorts of errors.  Here are some examples.

Some say that the eagle in Revelation 12:14 represents the United States as an eagle is their emblem; “And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent.”  If this is so, then the USA must fit other references to eagles in the Bible including Leviticus 11:13 “And these are they which ye shall have in abomination among the fowls; they shall not be eaten, they are an abomination: the eagle, and the ossifrage, and the ospray,”

And as a Canadian I have often heard it said that Canada’s “destiny“ is to heal the nations as we are the only country with a leaf on our flag; Revelation 22:2 “In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.“  Do you see how silly this all is?  Canada cannot heal anyone; only Jesus heals!

Another area where many get off track is when they forget that the God of the Bible is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and they take passages that are specifically for the nation of Israel and apply them to the church like in Deuteronomy 28:13 “And the LORD shall make thee the head, and not the tail; and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath; if that thou hearken unto the commandments of the LORD thy God, which I command thee this day, to observe and to do them:”  Whereas Colossians 1:18 clearly tells us “And he (Jesus) is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.” (Bracket mine)  The nation of Israel is God’s first love and He is not finished with them.  There is no getting around this one and those who ignore this fact will misinterpret and wrongly apply large portions of Scripture; those who reject it are not on God’s side.

See how simple this all is when we follow the guidelines the Bible has laid out for us; but we have to study and search God’s Word for these things.  Jeremiah 29:13 “And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.”

Lastly, I highly recommend you use a Bible study software program if at all possible.  I use “PC Study Bible” and have found it to be an invaluable tool in my studies.  What used to take Bible scholars years to discover, we now have access to in seconds.  Plus, with a software program one is able to search for all the passages that contain multiple key words in order to gain deeper understanding on a topic.  Modern technology in this area is just another sign we are living in the last days as we are told in Daniel 12:4 “But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.”

It is my sincere hope that what I have shared will be helpful to you in your studies.  May we all make wise use of the time we have left and make every day count for Him.

Until That Day…

2 Timothy 2:15
Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

Part 1 – “No Additives No Preservatives” (Food for Life)

[All Scripture quotations are taken from the King James Bible]