The Old Testament Witness to Christ and His Kingdom, Mentor's Guide, MG09

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T H E O L D T E S T A M E N T W I T N E S S T O C H R I S T A N D H I S K I N G D O M

himself who is our peace, with God and with one another; the sin offering is a type of Jesus Christ who became sin for us by bearing our offense and penalty on the Cross; the trespass offering is a type of how Jesus is propitiation for our sins as well as cleansing and provision for us to live a new life. • Jesus is the antitype of the types included in Israel’s feasts, festivals, and convocations: in the Feast of the Passover , Jesus is our Paschal Lamb whose blood cleanses and redeems us; in the Feast of Unleavened Bread , Jesus is the one who inspires our walk in holiness before him, and not in malice or evil living; in the Feast of First Fruits , Jesus is the first fruits of the coming harvest of new humanity to be redeemed for God; in the Feast of Pentecost , Jesus is the one who with the Father pours out his Holy Spirit upon the Church in this present age; in the Feast of Trumpets , Jesus is the one who will return and regather his people for redemption and blessing; in the Day of Atonement , Jesus is both the High Priest and the sacrifice offered to God in the heavenly Tabernacle for our sin; in the Feast of Tabernacles , Jesus is the one who will regather his people at his Second Coming for glorification and rest. The OT tabernacle is full of meaning because it is a symbol of the Messiah and his salvation. The book of Hebrews gives much instruction concerning the tabernacle. . . . The earthly tabernacle was a copy or a shadow of the true dwelling place of God in heaven (Heb. 8.5; 9.24). It showed what God was like and what was needed to deal with sin. In this way it symbolized what the Messiah was to do for our salvation. We may say that it “foreshadowed” the Messiah and his work. It was like a shadow of the Messiah cast backward in time into the OT period. The shadow was always inferior to the reality. The earthly tabernacle was made of earthly things, and could never equal the splendor or holiness of God in heaven. The earthly sacrifices of bulls and goats could never equal the blood of Christ, who cleansed us from sin forever. The shadow was not itself the reality, but a pointer to Christ who was the reality. Yet the shadow is also like the reality. And the shadow even brought the reality to bear on people in the Old Testament. As they looked ahead through the shadows, longing for something better, they took hold of the promises of God that he would send the Messiah. The Tabernacle Is a Symbol of the Messiah

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~ Vern Poythress. The Shadow of Christ in the Law of Moses . Phillipsburg, NJ: P & R Publishing, 1991. pp. 10-11.