Hebrews 10:1 states that the law is only a shadow of the good things to come, but not the realities themselves, while Colossians 2:17 says that the observance of certain traditions in the Old Covenant was a shadow of the things that were to come, but the reality is found in Christ.
There are many events in the Old Testament that were foreshadowing things in the New. This type of foreshadowing actually has a name: type-antitype constructions. This occurs when the Old Testament "type" foreshadows the New Testament "antitype". Note that a distinction must be made between a prophecy and a foreshadowing:
Prophecy: "The virgin will give birth to a son and he will be called Immanuel" - Jesus born from Holy Conception.
Foreshadowing: Moses lifting up the snake in the desert (Numbers 21:4-9) was the type/symbol and Jesus on the cross was the anti-type/reality (as Jesus explains in John 3:14-15).
In the Bible there are some OT events that are explicitly noted to be types foreshadowing NT antitypes. There are also some that can be considered to be implicit, and the early church fathers and lots of scholars have identified some as such. Today, I will examine briefly the three explicitly stated examples: (1) the Flood, (2) the Exodus and (3) the Day of Atonement washings.
1) In his first letter, the Apostle Peter writes the following:
"For it is better to suffer for doing good than for doing evil, (if the will of God wills it). Because Christ also suffered once for all on behalf of our sins, the righteous on behalf of the unrighteous, that he might bring you to God; having indeed been slain in the flesh, but was given-life in the Spirit; in which, he also traveled and preached to the spirits in prison, when they previously were disobedient, when the patience of God was waiting in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water; which also our counterpart– immersion saves us now, not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the demand of a good conscience toward God, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ; who is at the right hand of God, having traveled into heaven; with messengers and authorities and powers having been made subject to him." - 1 Peter 3:17-22, MLV
As you can see, it says "immersion saves us now", or as translated in the NIV (see verse link above), "baptism now saves us". Let's look at the type-antitype being used here; amazingly the Greek word for this construction is actually used where the water of the flood is the type, and the waters of baptism/immersion are the antitype. See the Greek word "antitypon" used in this verse here. This Greek word is actually the source of the name type-antitype.
The Flood (Genesis 6 - 8): the Earth was full of sin and wicked people. God
submerged the earth under water to purge it and cleanse it, and then life was
able to begin anew.
Baptism: We as descendants of Adam, are made of earth/dust. When we sin, our bodies become wicked and corrupt and need to be cleansed. We too have
to have them submerged under water, and when the waters subside we start a new
life.
2) The second example we will look at is the Exodus. Look at what Paul writes in his first letter to the Corinthians:
"Now brethren, I do not wish you to be ignorant that our fathers were all under the cloud and all went through the sea; and were all immersed into Moses in the cloud and in the sea;" - 1 Corinthians 10:1-2, MLV.
The Exodus (Exodus 12 - 15): For salvation, the Israelites had to walk through the waters, with the sea on each side and the cloud above them. In this way they had water on all sides. Life in Egypt which represented slavery and sin had to be left behind. Pharoah and the pursuing Egyptians wanted to destroy the Israelites. They were destroyed by the waters. This passage through the waters also put the Israelites into a relationship with Moses as their leader.
Baptism: We too, like the Israelites, go through the waters; we are immersed in the waters of baptism into a relationship with Christ just like the Israelites were immersed into the cloud and sea into a relationship with Moses. Just as their enemies were left behind and drowned in the water, the enemies of Christ, our old self with its sins is left behind in the waters of baptism. It is a very beautiful picture, and a fulfillment of the prophecy that Jesus would be a prophet like Moses.
Verses six and eleven of chapter 10 of 1 Corinthians actually use the term "example", as Paul was letting his readers know that these things that occurred in the Old Covenant were examples/foreshadowings/types for the listeners of his day (and by extension to us and all Christians today).
3) The final example comes from a long section of Hebrews (chapters 9 and 10) where the writer is comparing the Old Covenant to the New and showing ways in which the New is Superior to the Old. The writer makes a point to show how several sacrifices and cleansing/washing ceremonies had to be repeated again and again in the Old, while in the New there was ONE sacrifice (the cross), and we are cleansed and washed ONCE (our baptism). This culminates towards the end of chapter 10:
"Therefore brethren, having boldness for the entrance into the holy-places by the blood of Jesus, a way which he inaugurated for us, a fresh and living way, through the curtain, that is, his flesh; and having a great priest over the house of God; let us come near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and having our body bathed in purest water. We should hold-onto the confession of our hope– unwavering; for he who promised is faithful." - Hebrews 10:19-23, MLV
Day of Atonement ritual (Leviticus 16): the sprinkling of blood and the washing with water refer to the day of Atonement ritual in which the priest had to wash both before and after making a sacrifice in which he sprinkled blood. This was all part of a yearly sacrifice to push back ("remove") the sins of the Israelites. For a full appreciation of all that occurred and some foreshadowing of Jesus' sacrifice, I strongly encourage you to read Leviticus 16. In fact, I encourage you to read the passages about the Flood (Genesis 6 - 8) and the Exodus (Exodus 12 - 15) in conjunction with the examples given above as well. It will greatly help your understanding.
Baptism: We draw near to God in faith, we get our hearts sprinkled (with the blood of Jesus) and our bodies washed in water (immersion). This verse in Hebrews is describing the inner and outer process that takes place and comparing/contrasting it to the Old Covenant similar system that didn't actually take away sins (levitical washings, sacrifices of bulls and goats), but yet Jesus' sacrifice coupled with our faith in him and his blood, allows us to have our sins released and forgiven when we have our bodies washed/bathed.
One thing that should stand out to the reader is that all of these OT analogies/types for baptism involve WATER. Often times there are persons who try to say that immersion in water is no longer necessary or valid (claiming that only a baptism of the Spirit is what occurs now). Why would three separate writers (Peter, Paul and the Hebrew writer) ALL use water in their metaphors and analogies of baptism, if it involved only the Spirit. It is our position, as you can imagine from the blog title, that it is a birth of WATER and SPIRIT, our one baptism now (Ephesians 4:5). Let it suffice to say that from these OT examples we can conclude that "water is in the plan." For our next entry we'll look at some of the implicit type/foreshadowings of baptism in the OT.
For further reading on types-antitypes and OT foreshadowings, see John Oakes' book From Shadow to Reality.
For further reading on types-antitypes and OT foreshadowings, see John Oakes' book From Shadow to Reality.
Be strong in the grace,
Fenton
P.S. I use the Modern Literal Version for in-text citations, but provide links to the NIV version.
P.S. I use the Modern Literal Version for in-text citations, but provide links to the NIV version.
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