A Biblical Vision, Part I: Mastering the Old Testament Witness to Christ

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A B i b l i ca l Vi s i on, Par t I : Mas ter i ng the Ol d Tes tament Wi tnes s to Chr i s t

A. Principles in our study of the Old Testament

1 Cor. 15.45-49 Thus it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. [46] But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual. [47] The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. [48] As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. [49] Just as we have borne the image

1. The study of types in the Old Testament in reference to Jesus Christ is a fruitful and important source of study , with great significance for our hermeneutics (i.e., process of interpreting) the Old Testament.

2. Perhaps the most important type of Jesus in the Old Testament is his connection to Moses, the servant of God , whose life and work point to Jesus’ role as God’s final representative and voice.

3. Jesus of Nazareth also represents the antitype of the priestly class in the Old Testament sacrificial system , i.e., Jesus is the true High Priest of God after the order of Melchizedek, king of Salem.

of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.

4. In the same way, Jesus is the fulfillment of the promises of Yahweh to David regarding an heir of David to reign forever as King in justice and righteousness over a new heaven and earth.

B. Critical implications

1. The study of types provides abundant insight into the person and work of Jesus as the promised Messiah.

2. We must adopt a new hermeneutic (way of interpreting the Bible) that allows for reading the Scriptures in a way that takes us beyond the obvious for the sake of exploring deeper levels of insight that allow us to see the person and work of Christ in the context of the stories of the people of Israel.