ISRAEL IN BIBLE PROPHECY | home
Demons in the Church | Publisher's Note | Dedication | Contents | Proverbs 24:11-12 | Introduction | The Battleground | First Encounter | Old Testament Typology | Battle Doctrine | Who Says It's Legalistic? | Hazardous Theology | Spirits In My House | Lying Spirits | Magic Show | Witchcraft | Mediums & Psychics | Deceiving Spirits | Satanic Visions | Facing Reality | Epilogue
Demons in the Church
Old Testament Typology
CHAPTER THREE
Old Testament Typology
The Old Testament is full of symbols and foreshadowings of
the life of Christ. Prophetic pictures, if you like. These
symbols appear as historic incidents, religious practices, or
physical objects. Each in some way portrayed an aspect of the
soon-coming Savior of mankind. These pictorial prophecies are
called types of Christ. Here are three different categories of
types:
1) An Historic Incident: Abraham offering his only son Isaac,
Gen 22:1-13 is a prophetic type of God the Father's sacrifice
of His only Son, Jesus, for the sins of the World.
2) A Religious Practice: The Passover Lamb, EXO 12:3-13 is
a prophetic type of Jesus as God's lamb without spot or blemish,
the sinless Savior of fallen man.
3) A Physical Object: The brazen serpent, NUM 21:9, JOH
3:14 is a prophetic type of the Cross of Calvary itself.
30 Demons in the Church
Old Testament types displayed either the office of the Lord
Jesus as the Son of God, His sacrifice on Earth, or His authority
over the church. Much of the New Testament is impossible
to understand without a grasp of the spiritual significance of
these types. The book of Hebrews explains many of them to us.
Let's look at the above examples in detail:
An Historic Incident: This beautiful and moving account of
Abraham offering up his only son, Isaac, is a type of God the
Father sacrificing His only Son for us. This blessed type is in
the form of an incident which took place during the lives of the
patriarchs:
GEN 22:1-13 (excerpts) Now... God tested Abraham... and He said,
"Take now your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac... and offer
him as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of Moriah..." And
Isaac said, "Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for
the burnt offering?" And Abraham said, "God will provide for
Himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son." Then they came
to the place of which God had told him; and Abraham built the altar
there, and arranged the wood, and bound his son Isaac, and laid him
on the altar on top of the wood. And Abraham stretched out his
hand, and took the knife to slay his son.
But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven, and said,
"Abraham, Abraham!" And he said, "Here I am." And he said, "Do
not stretch out your hand against the lad, and do nothing to him; for
now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son,
your only son, from Me." (NASB)
There is nothing else like this in all of recorded history. This
dear elder saint was willing to offer his only son, at the Lord's
command. What a beautiful symbol of God the Father's
willingness to offer His only begotten Son for the sins of the
world. And notice Isaac as a type of Jesus. That strong young
man did not fight his father's will. Isaac so trusted his father
that he was willing even to be slain by him; just as Jesus
"...humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the
death of the cross," PHI 2:8 (KJV)
A Religious Practice: The sacrifice of the Passover lamb,
about which John the Baptist said when he saw Jesus, "Behold
the Lamb of God which takes away the sin of the World," JOH
1:29. This type defined how the Israelites were to commemo-
rate the crucifixion, even while it was still far in the future.
Old Testament Typology 31
Though ignorant of its true meaning, for three and a half
millennia the Jews have been observing Passover. They still
revere this type of Christ, even though they don't understand
its significance. Here is the account of the events which took
place on the night Israel fled Egypt. The night of the first
Passover:
EXO 12:21-30 (excerpts) Then Moses called for all the elders of
Israel, and said to them. "Go and take for yourselves lambs according
to your families, and slay the Passover lamb. And you shall take a
bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood which is in the basin, and
apply some of the blood that is in the basin to the lintel and the two
doorposts; and none of you shall go outside the door of his house
until morning. For the Lord will pass through to smite the Egyptians;
and when He sees the blood on the lintel and on the two door-
posts, the Lord will pass over the door and will not allow the
destroyer to come in to your houses to smite you."
Now it came about at midnight that the Lord struck all the first-
born in the land of Egypt, from the first-born of Pharaoh who sat on
his throne to the first-born of the captive who was in the dungeon...
And Pharaoh arose in the night, he and all his servants and all the
Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was no home
where there was not someone dead. (NASB)
Look at how perfect a type of the crucifixion the Passover
lamb was: A lamb without blemish blood on the lintel and
door-posts (in a sign of the cross) hyssop (upon which the
Lord was offered sour wine)... and if you were not under the
blood, you died. The same is true today; if we are not under
the blood of Jesus, we die eternally. Now meditate on this for
a while: Passover was not just for show, or tradition; it did
something in the material world:
The Israelites obeyed a typological ordinance...
and it resulted in physical life!
A Physical Object: Passover is not the only time that observ-
ing a typological command resulted in life in the material
world. Later during their wilderness wanderings, the Israel-
ites were again grumbling against God and Moses, and the
Lord permitted them to be bitten by poisonous snakes.
Considering where they were, those serpents were probably the
venomous desert asp: a reptile so poisonous that death was
inevitable:
32 Demons in the Church
NUM 21:5-9 And the people spoke against God and Moses, "Why
have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For
there is no food and no water, and we loathe this miserable food."
And the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people and they bit the
people, so that many people of Israel died. So the people came to
Moses and said, "We have sinned, because we have spoken against
the Lord and you; intercede with the Lord, that He may remove the
serpents from us." And Moses interceded for the people.
Then the Lord said to Moses. "Make a fiery serpent, and set it on
a standard; and it shall come about, that everyone who is bitten, when
he looks at it, he shall live." And Moses made a bronze serpent and
set it on the standard; and it came about, that if a serpent bit any
man, when he looked to the bronze serpent, he lived. (NASB)
What a wonderful type. Satan was the serpent, and the
venom of sin is spiritually fatal. Bronze represents purification
or judgment. Satan and sin were totally defeated at the cross,
REV 5:12-13. When in faith, we look at the cross of Jesus, all
the sins that Satan has tempted us to commit are placed under
Jesus' blood, and eternal life follows.
JOH 3:14-15 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness.
even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; that whoever believes
may in Him have eternal life. (NASB)
In John 3:14-15, "Jesus refers to that brazen serpent, and
instructs Nicodemus, a teacher in Israel, about the true
meaning of that Old Testament type. Jesus shows Nicodemus
that the brazen serpent was a type of the cross. Again the
point can be made: This type was not just for show, or tradition;
it had an effect on the lives of real people in the material
world:
The Israelites looked at a typological symbol of the
cross... and it resulted in physical life!
Now for another kind of type. Shortly after the Exodus, but
early in their wilderness wanderings, the Children of Israel
were at Meribah. While there, God commanded Moses to
strike a rock to bring forth water for His thirsting people:
EXO 17:5 Then the Lord said to Moses, "Pass before the people and
take with you some of the elders of Israel; and take in your hand
your staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. Behold, I will
stand before you there on the rock at Horeb; and you shall strike the
Old Testament Typology 33
rock, and water will come out of it, that the people may drink." And
Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. (NASB)
That rock was a type of Jesus, the rock of our salvation,
struck for us once, at Calvary. The Lord through Paul shows
us this type, and also reveals to us that the Israelites in the
wilderness were saved through Jesus; that God the Father sees
the death of His Son as timeless:
1CO 10:1-4 For I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that our
fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; and
all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea; and all ate
the same spiritual food; and all drank the same spiritual drink, for
they were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them;
and the rock was Christ. (NASB)
Forth from that rock came the water of life, to which Jesus
Himself referred when He said, "If any man thirst, let him
come to me and drink," JOH 7:37. So again:
The Israelites drank from a typological symbol of the
Lord Jesus... and it resulted in physical life!
A Broken Type
But what happens if a typological ordinance is disobeyed?
For the answer to that question, we go back to the Israelites in
the wilderness. Years later, the Children of Israel were again
at Meribah and thirsted. Again there was no water:
NUM 20:3-9 The people thus contended with Moses and spoke,
saying, "If only we had perished when our brothers perished before
the Lord! And why have you made us come up from Egypt, to bring
us in to this wretched place? It is not a place of grain or figs or vines
or pomegranates, nor is there water to drink."
Then Moses and Aaron came in from the presence of the assembly
to the doorway of the tent of meeting, and fell on their faces. Then
the glory of the Lord appeared to them; and the Lord spoke to Moses,
saying, "Take the rod; and you and your brother Aaron assemble the
congregation and speak to the rock before their eyes, that it may
yield its water."
So Moses took the rod from before the Lord, just as He had
commanded him; and Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly before
the rock. And he said to them, "Listen now, you rebels; shall we
bring forth water for you out of this rock?" Then Moses lifted up
34 Demons in the Church
his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod; and water came
forth abundantly, and the congregation and their beasts drank.
But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, "Because you have not
believed Me, to treat Me as holy in the sight of the sons of Israel,
therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have
given them." (NASB)
This time the Lord commanded Moses to just speak to the
rock. Interesting... why strike the rock the first time, but only
speak to it the second? Because Jesus only went to the cross
once. It is a sin to try to crucify Him to ourselves a second
time, HEB 6:6. His one perfect sacrifice on the cross was
sufficient for all sin for all time. We now speak to Jesus
through prayer, and He answers us. He need be struck no
more, ever, ever, ever... through all eternity. Isn't that wonderful?
What a beautiful picture of the infinite nature of
Jesus' death.
But an angry Moses, that beloved, uncompromising man of
God, chided to his very soul by the continued rebellion of the
Children of Israel, then committed the only sin recorded
against him in forty years. He struck the rock twice, and
broke a type of Christ. This typologically implied that the one
sacrifice of the Lord Jesus was not a perfect satisfaction to God
the Father for the sins of the world...that Jesus needed to die
more than once...
DEU 32:48 And the Lord spoke to Moses...saying, "Go up to this
mountain of the Abarim, Mount Nebo...and look at the land of
Canaan, which I am giving to the sons of Israel for a possession.
Then die on the mountain where you ascend, and be gathered to your
people, as Aaron your brother died on Mount Hor and was gathered
to his people, because you broke faith with Me in the midst of the
sons of Israel at the waters of Meribah-kadesh, in the wilderness of
Zin, because you did not treat Me as holy in the midst of the sons of
Israel." (NASB)
Heartbreaking! Moses, the meekest man on earth, the
lawgiver, who spoke to God face-to-face... how he must have
regretted that one angry act. In God's eyes this was extremely
serious, and the price Moses had to pay for breaking that one
type of Christ was staggering. The Lord did not permit him to
lead the Children of Israel into the promised land. Just one
broken type prevented Moses from achieving the goal of his
whole life's work! Meditate on that for a while.
Old Testament Typology 35
Other Types
There are further lessons to be learned from the wilderness
wanderings. Bible scholars who specialize in typology tell us
that the Tabernacle, Moses, and the high priest were them-
selves, to varying degrees, types of things in heaven, God the
Father, and Jesus Christ.
Other aspects of these truths are that Moses and the high
priest, as the governmental and spiritual rulers of the Children
of Israel, were earthly representatives of God's authority. As
types, Moses symbolized God the Father, the high priest
portrayed Jesus, and the people depicted the church. The
authority of Moses and the high priest over the people was a
symbol of God's authority over the church. When these
authorities were dishonored in any way, judgment was severe
and usually terminal. Here are some scriptural examples:
Nadab and Abihu, Aaron's sons and authorized priests them-
selves, offered "strange fire" and incense before the Lord,
contrary to command. Incense, as used in the Tabernacle, is
usually understood to be a type of the Holy Spirit, or of prayer
offered through the Holy Spirit. Were Nadab and Abihu
worshipping a false god? Not at all. They were worshipping
our own true God, but they were doing so in a false spirit.
Nadab and Abihu disobeyed HOW, not who! Fire came forth
from God's presence and consumed them, LEV 10:1-3.
Later, Korab and two hundred and fifty of the elders of
Israel demanded that some of the authority, delegated by God
to Moses and Aaron, be shared with them. In this request they
sinned against God's own authority, because it was God who
had appointed Moses and Aaron. The ground opened up and
swallowed them, NUM 16:1-35.
Notice that the sin in these three incidents was rebellion
against so-called "minor" revealed truths. The ten command-
ments were not involved. There was no idolatry, no murder,
no adultery; but in each case judgment was severe and ir-
revocable, even for Moses.
1) Moses broke a type.
2) Nadab and Abihu worshipped in a false spirit.
3) Korab and associates wanted more authority.
Having set the historic stage, are there New Testament
parallels for the church? Is there a governmental line of
36 Demons in the Church
authority spelled out for the New Testament church?14 Are
there also typological ordinances which must be observed; and
if so, is there a price to be paid for ignoring them? It might be
said that all the religious ordinances for the Children of Israel
were types of Christ and the church:
So also, all the New Testament ordinances are types of
Christ and the church!15
If there were serious consequences for Israelites who dis-
regarded Old Testament typological ordinances; rest assured,
there are equally serious consequences for Christians who
ignore New Testament typological ordinances. "God is the
same yesterday, today, and forever."
Baptism and communion are recognized and obeyed by all.
Both have scripturally defined results. However, the ordinance
related to the Bridegroom and Bride has been generally
forgotten in just the last forty years. It can be scripturally and
historically shown that ignoring this one ordinance can lead to
a demonic invasion of the church. To prove it, we need to
study some basic theology. Avoiding demonic influence depends
upon avoiding the errors that permit it.
_________________________
14 1CO 11:8, EPH 1:20-28, 8:8-11, HEB 8:1, 5:1-9, 8:1-6.
15 By definition, church ordinances are physical fulfillments of types
of Christ in the individual believer or in the assembly. Being a fulfill-
ment of a type of Christ is what makes it an ordinance. It was true
for the Israelites... it is true for us. Some conservative denominations
hold that ordinances are primarily outward acts or symbols chosen of
God to represent a spiritual relationship to Him. They believe that
water baptism symbolizes a prior baptism in the Holy Spirit, and that
the Lord's Supper symbolizes the communion of those who have
already been born again into the body of Christ. The author broadly
agrees, but believes that these observances are more than just
symbolic.
____________________