Search
Scripture Reading: 1 Pet. 1:10-12, 18-20; Rev. 13:8; Rom. 1:2; 1 Cor. 15:3-4; Luke 24:44-46; Heb. 8:5; 10:1; Col. 2:17
God’s eternal purpose is to work His life into man so that man may have the sonship and be conformed to the image of the Son of God, making His Son the Firstborn among many brothers (Eph. 1:5; Rom. 8:29). Both God’s eternal plan and His creation in time are for the purpose of gaining man and working His life into man to conform man to the image of His Son to become His many brothers.
After man was created, however, Satan seduced man to sin, and before God could work His life into man, he fell. Satan injected his defiling, sinful, and evil life into man. Hence, the clean and pure man whom God had created for His plan was defiled and mixed with sin and death. This posed a problem for the fulfillment of God’s plan. Once man had sinned and was defiled by sin and death, the requirements of God’s righteousness, holiness, and glory could not permit man to contact God’s life (Gen. 3:24). In order to accomplish His eternal purpose of creating man so that man would receive His life, God’s requirements of righteousness, holiness, and glory had to be satisfied by taking away man’s sin and dealing with the element of death.
God created man so that man would have His life and be the many brothers of His Son, but He also wanted man to deal with His enemy, Satan. Consequently, Satan deceived man in order to “steal” him from God. Before the fall of man, Satan and his angels were in rebellion against God. With the fall, man joined Satan in his rebellion against God. Even though man fell and was rebellious, God did not destroy him, because He wants to fulfill His eternal purpose with man. In order for God to fulfill His eternal purpose with man, He needs to deliver man from Satan’s hand and destroy Satan. Negatively, He has to deal with the problems caused by Satan by putting away sin, dealing with death, and destroying Satan. Positively, He desires that man would have His life and be conformed to the image of His Son in order to be His many brothers.
In His eternal plan God not only created all things and man in order to accomplish His eternal purpose, but according to His foreknowledge that man would fall, He also planned for man’s redemption after the fall. Redemption in God’s plan was not something in His consideration only after the fall. God’s plan was predetermined by Him in eternity past, and God prepared Christ, the Accomplisher of His redemption “before the foundation of the world” (1 Pet. 1:20). In His eternal plan God determined that Christ would accomplish redemption after man’s fall; thus, Christ was slain “from the foundation of the world” (Rev. 13:8).
Just as God’s creation is according to His plan, God’s redemption is according to His plan. In God’s plan there are both creation and redemption. Creation alone cannot accomplish His plan; there is a need for redemption in order to accomplish God’s plan. In God’s plan creation is for redemption. God created all things and planned for redemption. Creation is only the beginning of God’s procedure to accomplish His plan; redemption is the completion of this procedure.
Redemption was preplanned, predetermined, by God. Even before redemption was accomplished, God clearly spoke of various aspects of redemption through many prophecies in the Old Testament.
In Genesis 3, after man sinned, fell, and was “stolen away” by Satan, God came in to curse Satan and to speak of His promise of the seed of the woman, saying, “I will put enmity / Between you and the woman / And between your seed and her seed; / He will bruise you on the head, / But you will bruise him on the heel” (v. 15). The Lord promised that the seed of the woman would bruise Satan on the head; that is, a seed would come and deal with the seducing, incriminating, and corrupting serpent. Whereas Satan would bruise the seed of the woman on the heel, the seed of the woman would put the seducing, incriminating, and corrupting Satan to death. Although Satan would afflict the seed of the woman, Satan’s bruising could not destroy him, because the bruising would merely be to his heel. The seed of the woman, however, would bruise Satan fatally on the head.
When Eve gave birth to Cain, she thought Cain was the seed that God had promised (4:1). Although Cain was born of Eve, a woman, he was not the seed of a woman but the seed of a man, Adam. The genealogies in the Bible always present offspring as being the seed of a man, not of a woman. Thus, everyone who is born of a father in the flesh cannot be considered to be the seed of a woman.
The New Testament fulfillment of this seed is the Lord Jesus (Matt. 1:23). Among all mankind, only He was born of a woman (Gal. 4:4). He came to the earth to destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3:8). Through death He destroyed him who had the might of death, that is, the devil (Heb. 2:14). Hence, when Satan “stole” man away, God’s promise of a seed was a promise that Christ would come to be born of a woman so that He might destroy Satan.
Approximately three thousand years after man fell, God promised through Isaiah the prophet, saying, “Behold, the virgin will conceive and will bear a son, and she will call his name Immanuel” (Isa. 7:14). At this point God’s promise of redemption, as revealed in Genesis 3, was made even clearer. It revealed that the coming Christ would not be born of a married woman but of a virgin. Furthermore, this Christ, who was to be born of a virgin to become man’s Savior, is God with us, Immanuel. Christ’s coming among men was God’s coming among men; Christ’s becoming man’s Savior was God’s becoming man’s Savior. In other words, God Himself was born of a virgin to be man’s Savior.
Although our Savior Christ is spoken of as being a child, He is called Mighty God, and although He is the Son, He is called Eternal Father (Isa. 9:6). This promise of God clearly tells us that the coming Christ is man yet God, the Son yet the Father. Christ is the union of God and man, the Father manifested in the Son. His coming joined God and man and brought God to man. His coming manifested the Father in the Son and revealed the Father to man. Although He came to be a man, He was God. Although He came to be the Son, He was the Father. Although He came to be a child on the earth, He was the Mighty God in heaven. Although He came into time to be manifested as the Son, He was the self-existing and ever-existing Father (Rev. 1:8; Exo. 3:14-15).
Micah 5:2 says, “His goings forth are from ancient times, / From the days of eternity.” Christ was born in Bethlehem (Matt. 2:1, 6), but His source was in eternity. He came forth from eternity into time. He was God in eternity, but He came to be a man in time. Although He was a man in time, He belonged to eternity. Although He belonged to eternity, He came to live in time. He is both God and man.
The various details of the living of this God-promised Redeemer as a man on the earth are presented clearly by Isaiah the prophet. According to Isaiah 53:2, the Lord Jesus grew up like a tender plant, and He was born into a humble home, like a root out of dry ground, without an abundant supply or a comfortable living. Furthermore, according to the same verse, He had no attracting form nor majesty that people should desire Him. According to 52:14, His visage was marred more than that of any man, and His form more than that of the sons of men. He did not have a beautiful appearance.
He was despised and forsaken of men and was like one from whom men hid their faces, and God’s people did not esteem Him. He was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief (53:3), because He bore our sicknesses and carried our sorrows (v. 4). He did no violence, nor was there any deceit in His mouth (v. 9). He was without sin and never sinned (Heb. 4:15). However, men oppressed Him and afflicted Him, and He was cut off. He was oppressed, and He was afflicted, but He did not open His mouth. He was like a lamb that is led to the slaughter and like a sheep that is dumb before its shearers. He did not speak for Himself and did not defend Himself (Isa. 53:7-8). He was numbered with the transgressors at His death, yet He interceded for the transgressors (v. 12). Man’s evil intention was to assign Him a grave with the wicked, yet God arranged for Him to be with the rich in His death (v. 9).
The Lord Jesus was afflicted and cut off to bear our sin; Jehovah caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him (v. 6). Although He had done no violence, nor was there any deceit in His mouth (v. 9), Jehovah was pleased to crush Him, to afflict Him with grief. He made Himself an offering for sin (v. 10). He was stricken and cut off because He bore our sin (vv. 8, 12). He was wounded because of our transgressions, and He was crushed because of our iniquities so that by His chastening we may have peace, and by His stripes we may be healed (v. 5).
In Psalm 22 God prophesied quite vividly through David concerning the scene and the pain of Christ’s death (vv. 1, 7-8, 12-18). In this psalm the Spirit of Christ, speaking as Christ Himself, describes His dreadful surroundings and His inward and outward pain when He was being put to death. Violent and wicked men surrounded Him, encompassing Him like mighty bulls (v. 12). They opened their mouth at Him, like a ravening and roaring lion (v. 13). A company of evildoers enclosed Him like dogs, and they pierced His hands and feet (v. 16). They divided His garments to themselves and cast lots for His clothing (v. 18). They looked, they stared at Him (v. 17). All who saw Him derided Him; they sneered at Him and shook their heads, saying, “He committed himself to Jehovah; let Him rescue him; / Let Him deliver him since He takes pleasure in him” (v. 8).
He delivered up His life on the cross, like water poured out, and He hung on the cross for six hours with His bones being out of joint (v. 14). He counted all His bones (v. 17). His heart was like wax, and it was melted within Him because He was judged by God, burned by God’s wrath on our behalf (v. 14). His strength was dried up like a shard, and His pain was so severe that His tongue was stuck to His jaws (v. 15). At the end of His crucifixion God forsook Him because He bore our sins, and He cried out, saying, “My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?” (v. 1). Finally, God put Him in the dust of death (v. 15).
In chapter 53 Isaiah prophesied concerning the efficacy of Christ’s death: “He will see the fruit of the travail of His soul, / And He will be satisfied; / By the knowledge of Him, the righteous One, My Servant, will make the many righteous” (v. 11). When we believed in Christ’s death on our behalf, we turned to Him and were justified. Christ gained us through His death, and we gained righteousness. Hence, Christ saw the fruit of the travail of His soul and was satisfied.
Both Isaiah’s and David’s prophecies speak of Christ’s resurrection. Isaiah 53:10 says, “He will see a seed, He will extend His days, / And the pleasure of Jehovah will prosper in His hand.” This means that Christ would be resurrected and live forever to give man His life and make man His seed so that through man He might fulfill God’s pleasure. Christ’s resurrection extended His days and enabled Him to live in those who are of His seed for the accomplishing of God’s good pleasure.
In Psalm 22:22 David took on the voice of Christ, saying, “I will declare Your name to my brothers; / In the midst of the assembly I will praise You.” This indicates that Christ in resurrection caused men to have His life and become His brothers so that He might declare God’s name to them and praise God in their midst. Christ’s resurrection gained men as His brothers, His church. Then He could reveal God and praise God in their midst.
These aspects concerning God’s redemption were presented in the Old Testament. He was born a man, lived on the earth as a man, bore man’s sins, endured death on the cross, and resurrected from the dead so that man could have His life and be His brothers. All these aspects were promised to us in prophecies.
In addition to the plain prophetic words in the Old Testament, God also used many persons, matters, and things in the Old Testament as types to declare, describe, reveal, and speak forth the mysterious and glorious redemption that He had planned and ordained. These types, in contrast to plain words, are pictures that reveal and make known His mysterious redemption. God uses both “text” and “illustrations” to reveal His mysterious redemption.
The coats of skin that were used as a covering for Adam and Eve are the first indication in type of God’s promised redemption. When man fell, God not only spoke of the promise of the seed of the woman (Gen. 3:15), but He also clothed Adam and Eve with coats of skin (v. 21). Initially, Adam and Eve were sinless and not ashamed of their nakedness (2:25). However, after they sinned and fell, they were ashamed of their nakedness. Although they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves (3:7), this could not cover their shame and sinfulness. Therefore, God made coats of skin to clothe and cover them.
The coats of skin must have involved the shedding of the blood of a slain sacrifice. Adam and Eve had both eaten the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and according to God’s commandment, they should have died that day (2:17). However, a sacrifice was killed, and its blood was shed in their place for the forgiveness of sins (Heb. 9:22). Thus, the skin of this sacrifice became a covering for their sin so that they could live before God.
God’s making coats of skin typifies His making the Lord Jesus our righteousness so that in Him we could be justified before God (1 Cor. 1:30; Rom. 3:24; Phil. 3:9). In the fulfillment of this type the Lord Jesus was slain, and His blood was shed for us. Then He became our righteousness so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (2 Cor. 5:21).
God also used the offerings of the forefathers to indicate that He would make it possible for fallen sinners to draw near to Him and be accepted by Him through His foreordained redemption. Abel (Gen. 4:4), Noah (8:20-22), Abraham (12:7-8; 22:13), Isaac (26:25), and Jacob (35:6-7) all communed with God and were acceptable to God through their offerings. They were sinful and alienated from God, but they were able to draw near to God because their sacrifices, involving the shedding of blood, covered their sins. These offerings typify Christ drawing those who believe in Him near to God through His redemption so that they may serve God and be acceptable to God. The forefathers had a foretaste of Christ and His redemption through their offerings.
At the time of the exodus of the children of Israel from Egypt, God charged them to keep the Passover as a feast (Exo. 12:1-14). The Passover is an even more perfect type of the redemption that He planned in eternity. The children of Israel, like the Egyptians, had fallen into the world, were sinful and in opposition to God, and should have been slain with the Egyptians. But God provided salvation for the children of Israel through the slaying of a lamb. According to those familiar with Israel’s ancient history, when the children of Israel slew the passover lamb, they crossed two pieces of wood and tied the lamb’s two forelegs to the two ends of the horizontal piece, and the lamb’s two hind legs to the bottom of the vertical piece; it was just like a crucifixion. This is truly a perfect picture of the redemption that Christ accomplished on the cross (1 Cor. 5:7). God foreordained that Christ would be the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29). Just as a lamb was a substitute for the children of Israel, Christ is our Substitute. Just as the lamb’s blood was shed to redeem the children of Israel, Christ’s blood was shed so that we might be redeemed (1 Pet. 1:18-19). Just as eating the flesh of the lamb inwardly strengthened the children of Israel, the life of Christ inwardly strengthens us. Just as the redemption of the lamb brought the children of Israel to God, the redemption of Christ brings us to God. And just as the children of Israel were joined to the lamb by being in a house with blood-stricken doorposts and lintel and by eating the flesh of the lamb, we are joined with Christ by being in Him through His redemption and by receiving Christ into us.
The types mentioned above emphasize Christ’s bearing our sins so that we may be delivered from God’s wrath and be made acceptable to God. However, in His redemption God planned that Christ would not only bear our sins according to His righteousness but also be our life, our bread of life, which would become a part of us so that we may live because of Him (John 6:57). God illustrated this point, using manna as a type (Exo. 16:31-32; John 6:31-35). Although the flesh of the passover lamb was food to the children of Israel, indicating Christ’s being the inner strength and satisfaction of His redeemed, the Passover, as a type, does not give great stress to the matter of food. Instead, God emphasizes through the type of manna that Christ would come to be the bread of life to His redeemed so that they might be fed inwardly. Just as manna came down out of heaven, Christ came down out of heaven, and just as manna sustained the children of Israel in their journey through the wilderness, Christ sustains us in our journey through this world.
God ordained that Christ would be not only our bread of life but also our water of life. Hence, manna typifies Christ coming down out of heaven to be our bread of life (Exo. 16:15-18; John 6:31), and the rock typifies Christ being stricken on the cross to flow out as water of life to us (Exo. 17:6; 1 Cor. 10:4). Moses represents the law, and his striking of the rock with his rod indicates that Christ was struck by the power of the law. Just as the rock was cleft to flow out water to quench the thirst of the children of Israel, Christ was cleft to flow out the water of life to quench our thirst so that we may be satisfied inwardly (John 7:37-38).
The most perfect type of Christ’s mysterious and glorious redemption is the tabernacle and its furniture (Exo. 25—27; 30:1-10, 17-21), which are fine, beautiful pictures portraying the wonderful redemption that our wise God planned according to His good will. Everything within the tabernacle, great or small, portrays and typifies Christ and His eternal redemption (Heb. 9:1-14, 23-26; 10:1-14, 19-20).
The tabernacle was covered with coarse porpoise skins on the outside (Exo. 26:14), yet it had beautiful gold on the inside (25:10-40; 26:29). This typifies Christ as the Word becoming flesh to tabernacle among us (John 1:14). Although He was a lowly man who had no outwardly attracting form nor majesty (Isa. 53:2), the God of glory was in Him, and He was full of honor and glory. Just as God was manifested among and to the children of Israel through the tabernacle, Christ is manifested among us and to us. Just as God communed with the children of Israel through the tabernacle, we commune with Him through Christ. And just as the tabernacle was a place in which God met man and man met God, Christ is the place where God can fellowship with man and man can fellowship with God.
The bronze altar and the bronze laver were in the outer court of the tabernacle (Exo. 40:6-7). The bronze altar is where the offerings were offered; all the offerings of the children of Israel had to be offered to God on this altar. The altar typifies the cross (Heb. 13:10); Christ offered Himself on the cross to God (9:14). The bronze covering of the altar was beaten from the bronze censers of Korah’s company, which had rebelled against God and had been judged by God (Num. 16:37-39); hence, bronze represents judgment. On the bronze altar the offering became a substitute for the offerer, who should have been judged by God’s righteous judgment. Through the offering the offerer was forgiven and accepted by God. Similarly, Christ was judged by God’s righteous judgment on the cross as a Substitute for all who would believe into Him so that they might be forgiven and accepted by God. All who entered into the tabernacle to draw near to God and serve God had to pass through the bronze altar and present an offering. Likewise, all those who would draw near to God and serve God must first pass through the cross of Christ and receive the crucified Christ as their Savior, their Substitute.
Those who passed through the bronze altar then had to pass through the bronze laver in order to be washed before they could go into the Tent of Meeting to serve God (Exo. 40:30-31). The bronze laver was made from the mirrors of the serving women who served at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting, and it reflected man’s condition (38:8). The bronze laver typifies the Holy Spirit exposing the defilement of those who are drawing near to God and serving God, according to and through the judgment that Christ received on the cross, so that they might be washed (John 16:7-8; Titus 3:5). Once a person passed through the bronze altar and the laver, he could enter into the tabernacle to partake of everything in the tabernacle. This shows that after we have passed through the redemption of Christ on the cross and the washing and renewing of the Holy Spirit, we can partake of everything in Christ.
The tabernacle itself was divided into two parts—the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies. In the Holy Place there were three pieces of furniture—the table of the bread of the Presence, the golden lampstand, and the golden incense altar. These typify Christ’s function in the believers. The table of the bread of the Presence was made of pure gold and acacia wood (Exo. 25:23-24). Pure gold typifies the glorious divinity of Christ, and acacia wood typifies His strong humanity. The table of the bread of the Presence typifies Christ who is both God and man becoming life in the believers so that they might live in God’s presence (Col. 3:4). The golden lampstand lit the Holy Place, and it typifies Christ being the light of life in the believers so that we might have fellowship with God and serve God according to this light (John 1:4; 8:12). The priests burned incense to God on the golden incense altar. It also was made of pure gold and acacia wood, typifying how Christ, who is both God and man, would be our acceptable incense before God so that our prayers might be accepted by God (Rev. 8:3-4).
There was a separating veil in the tabernacle between the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies. It was within the veil, that is, in the Holy of Holies, that God appeared to man and spoke with man (Heb. 10:19-20). Before Christ died on the cross in the flesh, the way to enter into the Holy of Holies was not open for man. When Christ was cleft on the cross through His death, however, the veil covering the Holy of Holies was split as well (Matt. 27:50-51). Thus, the death of Christ removed the veil between us and God and opened the way for us to draw near to God.
The innermost part of the tabernacle was the Holy of Holies, which was the location of the Ark. The Ark is also called the Ark of the Testimony, and it was made of pure gold and acacia wood (Exo. 25:10-11, 22; 26:33-34). Inside the Ark there were the golden pot containing manna, the rod of Aaron that budded, and the tablets of the covenant (Heb. 9:4). The blood of the sin offering was sprinkled on the expiation cover above the Ark (Exo. 25:17, 21; Lev. 16:15), and God appeared to man and met with man above this blood-sprinkled cover (Exo. 25:21-22). The Ark typifies Christ, who is both God and man, as God’s testimony, the One in whom is God’s life, God’s resurrection power (John 11:25), and God’s law (Psa. 40:8). In Christ and by His redeeming blood, God supplies man with grace and meets with man. Now man can draw near to God and commune with God. Christ’s redeeming blood enables man to be graced with the life of God (1 John 5:12), the power of resurrection (Phil. 3:10), and the law of life (Heb. 8:10). Under the blood and based on the blood, man is hidden with Christ in God (Col. 3:3). Through His redeeming blood Christ enables man to enjoy God’s life, the resurrection power of God’s life, and the law of God’s life, and man is joined with God. This is the testimony that God desires to express in and through Christ.
The five offerings recorded in Leviticus show in an even clearer way how Christ offered Himself up to God to redeem us (1:1—6:7). These five offerings speak of various aspects of Christ, and together they show that Christ is the one complete and perfect offering. The burnt offering typifies Christ who lived absolutely for God, who obeyed God even unto death (Phil. 2:8), and who offered Himself without blemish to God (Heb. 9:14). The meal offering typifies the fine, perfect, and holy human living of Christ, who through death offered Himself up to God, and whose living was offered up to God as a satisfying, fragrant offering. The peace offering typifies Christ’s offering Himself up to make peace, that is, to reconcile man to God and God to man in order to become the enjoyment and satisfaction of God and man (Col. 1:20; Lev. 7:28-34). The sin offering signifies Christ being made sin on our behalf on the cross in order to deal with the indwelling sin in our nature (2 Cor. 5:21; Rom. 8:3; 7:20). The trespass offering signifies Christ’s bearing all our transgressions before God in order to deal with our sinful deeds (1 Pet. 2:24; Heb. 9:28).
Our sins cause us not only to have a record of sins before God, but they also defile us. Once we sin, we are defiled like lepers and cannot draw near to God. Thus, in Leviticus 14 God speaks of the cleansing of a leper to typify how He cleanses sinners. In this record one bird was slaughtered, and its blood was sprinkled on a leper to indicate Christ’s dying for us to remove our sinful defilement. The second bird was let loose into an open field to indicate Christ’s resurrection, which releases us redeemed sinners from our weaknesses by the power of His resurrection life (vv. 1-7).
In Leviticus 16 the two male goats for the Day of Expiation further portray the redemption that Christ accomplished for us (vv. 5, 7-10, 15-22). According to verse 8, Aaron cast lots on the two goats: one lot for Jehovah and the other lot for Azazel. Aaron then presented the goat on which Jehovah’s lot fell as a sin offering (v. 9). He brought its blood inside the veil and sprinkled it upon the expiation cover and on the altar seven times (vv. 15, 19). The goat on which Azazel’s lot fell, however, was sent away for Azazel into the wilderness (v. 10).
The first goat typifies Christ being slain for our sins. His blood was brought into the heavens and sprinkled before God (signified by the blood sprinkled on the expiation cover) to satisfy God’s righteous requirements so that God could forgive us of our sins. His blood was sprinkled also on the cross (signified by the blood sprinkled on the altar) so that we may have peace in our heart, knowing that our sins have been forgiven. The second goat indicates Christ, through the efficacy of the cross, sending sin itself away from us back to Satan, signified by Azazel. Christ’s death and the blood He shed on the cross brought us forgiveness of sins before God (Heb. 9:22), purified us from the defilement of sin in our conscience (v. 14), and sent sin itself away from us to the author of sin, the source of sin, Satan (John 1:29; Heb. 9:26).
In Numbers 19 the eternal efficacy of Christ’s redemption can be seen in the type of the ashes of the red heifer. The red heifer that was slaughtered and burned typifies Christ’s being slain (vv. 2-3, 5). The ashes of the red heifer typify the efficacy of Christ’s redemption, and these ashes were added into the water for impurity, which was then sprinkled on the unclean so that they might be cleansed (v. 9); this typifies the efficacy of Christ’s redemption, which continuously cleanses defiled sinners by the living water of life in order to restore their fellowship with God (1 John 1:7).
Christ’s redemption not only takes away our sins so that we may draw near to God but also enlivens our sin-deadened spirit. This is typified in the account of the bronze serpent in Numbers 21:4-9. In chapter 21 the children of Israel had sinned, and they were bitten and poisoned by deadly serpents. This speaks of man sinning and of his being poisoned with deadly sins by the ancient serpent (1 Cor. 15:55-56; Rev. 12:9), the devil. The bronze serpent had the form of the serpents that bit the children of Israel but not their poison; it was set on a pole as a curse and judged on behalf of the children of Israel (Deut. 21:22-23). This typifies Christ, who was sent “in the likeness of the flesh of sin” (Rom. 8:3) but who “did not know sin” (2 Cor. 5:21). Furthermore, “on the tree” (1 Pet. 2:24), that is, on the cross, He was “made sin on our behalf” (2 Cor. 5:21) and became “a curse on our behalf” (Gal. 3:13).
In Numbers 21 Moses represents the law, and bronze signifies judgment. Moses’ setting the bronze serpent on a pole signifies the law’s judgment of Christ on the cross. All the children of Israel who were bitten by serpents lived when they looked at the bronze serpent. This signifies that everyone who has sinned and should die can have God’s eternal life and be regenerated when they look at Christ, who was lifted up on the cross, and believe (John 3:14-15). When the bronze serpent was judged on behalf of the children of Israel, it also resulted in judgment upon the poisonous biting serpents. Similarly, Christ’s judgment on the cross on our behalf also judged the seducing, corrupting, and incriminating Satan as well (12:31-32; 16:11). Christ’s death on the cross not only took away man’s sins and regenerated man; it also judged and destroyed the devil (Heb. 2:14).
We have briefly explained the types in the Old Testament related to God’s mysterious redemption, which serve as a blueprint of the mysterious and glorious redemption that our wise Designer planned in eternity. If we consider this blueprint along with the prophecies concerning Christ, we will be even clearer. Before His redemption was manifested, God presented His plan of redemption to man through prophecies and types. Then at the appropriate time He accomplished His redemption according to these prophecies and types.
