Session Notes

What We Will Learn Today
  1. Typological Interpretation in the OT
  2. The Connection Between Adam, Noah, Abraham
  3. The Messianic Priest, Melchizedek
  4. Joshua as the OT Jesus
  5. David as the foreshadowing of the Messiah
_____________________________________________________________
  • Telos = The end
    • Teleological = looking forward to the end
    Jesus and the disciples used typological interpretation; the Jewish Rabbis called it
    M’aseh avot siman lebanim, that is, the deeds of the fathers are a sign for the sons.
  • As an example, Abraham laid out a blueprint of what would happen to Israel
First Example of Typology: Noah
  • If you look closely, Noah is a second Adam
  • From Adam God started and in Noah God started again
  • If you look in the genealogies in Genesis chapter 5 you will find that Noah is the first recorded child born after the death of Adam.
    • Ten generations from Adam to Noah and ten generations from Noah to Abraham
  • Noah’s father thought he was the Christ
  • The same language is used with Noah as with Adam
“Out of the ground [HA-ADAMAH] that the Lord has cursed [root: ARUR], this one shall bring us relief from our work and from the painful toil [root: ATSAV] of our hands. Gen. 5:29
Mirrors what said of Adam Gen. 3:17
And to Adam he said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed [root: ARUR] is the ground [HA-ADAMAH] because of you; in toil [root: ATSAV] you shall eat of it all the days of your life.”
 
“In which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through the water. And corresponding to that, baptism now saves you.” 1 Peter 3:20-21
Second Example: Abraham
  • Noah and Abraham: Abraham going to Egypt, getting in trouble with Pharo and returning to the promised land is a foreshadowing of what will happen to the people of Israel under Moses later on
    • Famine in the land of Israel
    • Abraham and Sarah go down to Egypt to sojourn there
    • They get into trouble with Pharaoh
    • God plagues the house of Pharaoh because of Sarah
    • Pharaoh sends Abraham and Sarah away with great riches
    • Abraham and Sarah return from exile to the Promised Land
    The Exodus of Abraham and Sara and then of the Israelites becomes the paradigm of the Exodus of salvation
Third Example: Melchizedek and the Messianic Priest and King
  • Gentile priest and king of Salem in Gen. 14
  • Priestly order of the Messiah in Ps. 110
  • Mysterious type of Christ in Hebrews 7
Fourth Example: Joshua and Jesus
  • Joshua is Hebrew of Jesus
  • Joshua leads Israel across the jordan and Christ is baptized in the same river
  • Joshua led his people into the promised land, Jesus is the promised savior
  • Joshua was the OT Jesus who prepares us for the NT Jesus
Fifth Example: David as the foreshadowing of the Messiah
  • David was the OT image of who the Christ was to be
  • In Ezekiel, Jesus is actually called David
    • Ezekiel 34:23-24
    • Ezekiel 37:24-25
To read the OT narratives from a Christological perspective, is not to read into them what is not there, but to read out of them what the Spirit put there. Just as light is necessary for us to see the colorful images of a kaleidoscope, so the light of Christ shines on these narratives to fully show the colorful ways they portrayed the Messiah