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"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." (Matthew 5:8)
CHRIST IN THE OLD TESTAMENT
Foreshadowing Christ through Typology
There are different ways to study how the Old Testament anticipates, reveals, promises, or foreshadows Christ.
Christ's presence in the Old Testament can be discerned by using typology. Typology was a very common way to interpret the Old Testament in the early history of the church. When carefully done, typology opens windows into the history of God's activity in the world that otherwise can be easily missed.
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By looking for parallels or similarities between biblical people, events, and things, we can see God setting up history for the coming of Christ, and doing it not simply by speaking a prophetic word, but by arranging the affairs of human beings. When we understand this great truth, we can hope to believe our own lives also point to Christ, and rejoice in the Lord of history who makes such wonderful stories of us.
Christ, the Key to Foreshadowing
Christ is the key to what God has been pointing to in all the history of God's people. One was to see this is to examine parallels between Old Testament people, events, and things, and the life of Jesus in the New Testament.
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We find some of these parallels in Romans 5. Apostle Paul wrote that sin entered into the world through one man, Adam, and sin led to death for all men, for all have sinned. He also explained that Adam was a figure of someone who was to come (Romans 5:12).
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Apostle Paul said that if the sin of one person, Adam, "sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Romans 5:21).
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The Bible is full of these parallels or "types," which when studied is called typology. In the example of typology above, Adam is the type and Christ is the antitype (opposite).
