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Types of Christ, Part 10, Man's will and God's plan

In studying prophetic types and shadows, it soon becomes clear that none of them played such a role deliberately by the power of their own will. Each one’s calling as a type was imposed upon them by the sovereign will of God. Each was driven by external forces which put a hedge around him and channeled his actions to conform to the will of God.

Joseph

For example, Joseph did not devise a plan whereby his brothers would sell him as a slave. His youthful arrogance made him share his prophetic dreams with his family, but he saw only the ultimate result of his revelation, which was to obtain authority over his own family. The path to authority was concealed from him. He did not know how God would train him through hardship so that he would be mature enough to exercise such authority in a godly manner.

Joseph’s rise to power came when Pharaoh elevated him to that high position. Joseph lacked the power to fulfill his own dreams. In that case, Pharaoh was a type of God, and Joseph was a type of Christ. So Pharaoh told Joseph in Genesis 41:40,

⁴⁰ “You shall be over my house, and according to your command all my people shall do homage; only in the throne I will be greater than you.”

Compare this with Paul’s statement in 1 Corinthians 15:27,

²⁷ For He has put all things in subjection under His feet. But when He says, “all things are put in subjection,” it is evident that He is excepted who put all things in subjection to Him.

Moses and Joshua

By comparing Moses to Joshua, we see that Moses was a type of Christ in His first coming, while Joshua was a type of Christ in His second coming. So Deuteronomy 18:18 says,

¹⁸ I will raise up a prophet from among their countrymen like you, and I will put My words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him.

This is applied to Christ in Acts 3:23. Hence, Moses was a type of Christ. Moses led Israel out of Egypt, “the house of bondage” (Joshua 24:17) on that first Passover; Christ, by paying the debt for Adam sin on a later Passover, redeemed those who were enslaved by sin. Moses’ calling was limited to the nation of Israel; Christ’s greater calling was universal, dating back to Adam.

Hence, Moses led Israel out of Egypt, but Joshua led them into the Kingdom. During most of Moses’ ministry, Joshua no doubt assumed that Moses would lead the people into Canaan. It was only later that God revealed to Moses that he would not be allowed to enter and that he was to commission Joshua with this calling. In Deuteronomy 3:23, 26 Moses says,

²³ I also pleaded with the Lord at that time…. ²⁶ But the Lord was angry with me on your account and would not listen to me; and the Lord said to me, “Enough! Speak to Me no more of this matter.”

The plan of God was for Christ to come twice, not just once. So Moses’ ministry was limited to the outworking of Christ’s first coming, while Joshua’s ministry had to await the death of Moses. Neither of them decided this for themselves. These callings were in accordance with the plan of God for two comings of Christ, each with a different purpose.

David and Absalom

Samuel sought out David and anointed him 22 years before he actually became king over Judah. In the 18^th year of his reign, Absalom usurped his throne. Absalom’s act, though it was unlawful, was crucial in setting the stage for Jesus’ crucifixion a thousand years later. When David left Jerusalem, he made a sacrifice on the Mount of Olives where an altar had been set up “outside the camp” and where the purifying ashes of the red heifer were stored.

As with all of the sacrifices, the red heifer was a type of Christ. Hence, Jesus was crucified at that location outside the city. The timing of His crucifixion was established by the feast of Passover. The Passover lamb was male (Exodus 12:4); the red heifer was female.

David remained in exile for an unknown period of time. Scripture does not specify how long, because it would have revealed the timing of Christ’s second coming. When David returned, he gave orders to spare Absalom’s life and “deal gently for my sake with the young man Absalom” (2 Samuel 18:5). This was David’s will. However, Joab, David’s general, disobeyed him and killed him instead (2 Samuel 18:14). Joab violated the will of David, but in doing so, he set the stage for the plan of God.

God’s will (Greek: thelema) is to obey His law (Romans 2:18), which, because all have sinned, is something that man regularly violates; but God’s plan (Greek: boulema) is irresistible, for in regard to Pharaoh, God hardened his heart so that he would resist God’s will. So we read in Romans 9:19,

¹⁹ You will say to me then, “Why does He still find fault? For who resists His boulema?

Pharaoh resisted God’s will but He was unable to resist God’s plan. In a similar manner, Joab resisted David’s will but fulfilled the plan of God, for God had made Absalom a type of antichrist (or anti-David). This was done in the counsel of His own will, apart from David’s control.

When the law is applied to mankind, it tells us how we ought to conform ourselves to the divine nature. But the law is also prophetic of the divine plan, because the law reveals how God will fulfill it as an expression of His nature. Hence, the law applies to both God and man. It reveals God’s plan (boulema) of salvation and reconciliation of all things, and the same law instructs men so they know how to do His will (thelema).

Jonah

When God told the prophet Jonah to issue a call to repentance in the Assyrian city of Nineveh, the prophet resisted God’s will by running in the opposite direction. He boarded a ship that was sailing to Tarshish (Spain). Jonah’s disobedience set him up to be a type of Christ in His first coming. Matthew 12:40 says,

⁴⁰ for just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

When Jonah boarded that ship, he knew that he was violating the will of God, but he did not know that he was fulfilling the plan of God by setting the stage for Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection. He then was called a second time (Jonah 3:1), and by responding to it, he became a type of Christ in His second coming—to preach the word with boldness and bring repentance to the nations, so that all might be subjected to the rule of Christ.

In each case, God’s sovereignty overruled man’s will in order to accomplish His own plan. The Old Testament types thus prophesied of various elements of Christ’s calling.

Types in the Book of Acts

Prophetic types are not limited to the Old Testament. Men and women have been types of Christ throughout history. In the book of Acts we often see two men juxtaposed as types of Christ, either portraying Christ’s first mission or His second.

First we see Stephen, who was killed (Acts 7:60), followed by Philip, who preached the word to foreigners—the Samaritans in Acts 8:5-25 and the Ethiopian eunuch in Acts 8:26-40. Stephen followed the pattern of Christ’s first mission, while Philip prophesied of Christ’s second mission.

In Acts 12 we see how James and Peter also became types of Christ. James was killed (Acts 12:2), while Peter was released from prison by an angel (Acts 12:7). Both of them were types of Christ but in different ways. Some question why God did not deliver Stephen or James. The answer is that God did not spare His own Son either. Romans 8:32 says,

³² He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?

Why was Philip caught away (harpazo)? Because he was a type of Christ (that is, the body of Christ) in His second coming. Why did the angel release Peter from prison? It was to fulfill the law of the second bird in Leviticus 14:7, representing Christ in His second coming. Even as the bird dipped in blood and was released into the open field, so also Christ must be released into the world once again. “The field is the world” (Matthew 13:38), and Revelation 19:13 says His robe is “dipped in blood.”

It is not likely that any of these disciples understood their prophetic role at the time. Callings are determined by the sovereign will of God and not by the will of man. Yet these things were written for our learning, so that we might better understand the purpose of the two comings of Christ.