The Old Testament Witness to Christ and His Kingdom, Student Workbook, SW09

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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

God’s redemptive work in Christ, and they illumine the teaching of God on the matter they cover. The principles for using typology in biblical hermeneutics include our need to believe that God has placed correspondences in the Bible, to focus on Christ in drawing connections between the Old and New Testaments, to concentrate on the major links suggested in the types themselves and not on the details, and to appreciate the relevance of the type through the antitype . The experience of Israel, the descendants of Abraham and the people of God, represents an analogy which can help us understand the larger relationship of God with all of the redeemed through Jesus Christ. Three distinctive moments in their history which illustrate this principle is their deliverance at the Exodus, the conquest of Canaan and the entering into the Promised Land, and the restoration of Israel from the Babylonian Captivity. God’s deliverance of his people during the Exodus prefigures specific dimensions of God’s deliverance of his people through Jesus of Nazareth, our Passover, manna, spiritual water from the Rock. The story of Israel’s conquest of the nation of Canaan, their entry into the Promised Land, and the establishment of their kingdom reign pictures the conquest of God’s enemies through Christ whomGod will establish as King and Lord forever, and the blessing of God’s kingdom people, the Church, Christ’s co-regents. God’s restoration of his people after the captivity is a type of Christ’s future restoration of his people, and the promise of their future blessing at the Second Coming. The OT essentially is a witness to Christ and his kingdom reign. The experience of God’s redeemed in Christ is exhibited clearly in these three moments in Israel’s history: the Church’s new life in Christ is their New Exodus , a new deliverance from the powers which oppress us spiritually, the Church’s fight against the devil and the world is its New Conquest of Canaan , and the ministry of the Gospel of Christ represents our New Restoration of God , leading eventually to the new heavens and new earth under the sovereign authority of Jesus Christ.

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