Types and Shadows are Important

Brian Kuehmichel
May 17, 2016




"The secret things belong unto the Lord our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law." (Deut 29:29)

"Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he reveals his secret unto his servants the prophets." (Amos 3:7)

"My heart is inditing a good matter: I speak of the things which I have made touching the king: my tongue is the pen of a ready writer." (Psalm 45:1)

"Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls. Of which salvation the prophets have enquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you: Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow. Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Spirit sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into." (1 Pet 1:9-12)

"Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted. ... Now all these things happened unto them for examples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come." (1 Cor 10:6, 11)

Why are Types and Shadows as previews of God's intended plans important?

Why should we examine them at all?

Types and shadows have these kinds of features.

1) Exclusivity: The Holy Bible is the only religious book in the world that truly contains them. There is no other religious book that uses these concepts in the construction of their writings.

2) Extensive: The Holy Bible contains much more than 150 Types and Shadows groupings. The generous use of them helps us to be certain that we are recognizing, interpreting, understanding and applying them correctly.

3) Ingenuity: The expansive and pervasive use of Old Testament people, events, ceremonies, and objects to make Types and Shadows displays the incredible capacity and resourcefulness of the Creator.

4) Authenticity: The extensive use of Types and Shadows as previews of God's intended plans built into the Holy Scriptures make an emphatic statement about the authenticity of God's word. These provide a vastly superior validation of the inspiration of the holy scriptures of the Bible in contrast to any other religious book.

5) Validates: When we correctly interpret God's word these Types and Shadows emerge and validate that we have properly understood the message and God's revealed plans in the Holy Bible.

6) Reveals: These give us an inside look into the thoughts of God. It validates that one part of His revealed Word correlates with another part, just like in His creation where the various parts of our world correlate to other parts in various ways. These give us glimmers of the expansive plans and purposes of our great God.

7) Manifests: The Types and Shadows show the intimate guidance of God in the lives of His people. The people in the Old Testament were guided without their knowledge to accomplish these varied presentations of Types and Shadows. People who struggled, endured grief, sorrow, pain and suffering in their daily lives were brought into the text of the Holy Bible and their lives were given meaning far beyond their accomplishments.

8) Encourages: This display of taking ordinary people to preview God's plans and purposes and using them to accomplish His will builds confidence that He will make use of our lives, too.

9) Trust: The extensive use of Types and Shadows helps us to trust God to accomplish all of His promises for mankind and us. These build confidence that His pledge to bring us safely into His kingdom and give us eternal life is sure and certain. We serve a God of truth who keeps His word and upon whom we can lean in every time of need.

What do the Types and Shadows mean?

Most of the numerous types and shadows form a very focused, restricted, objective preview of the Savior that God intended for mankind. The Biblical specificity of so many Types and Shadows and of the numerous written prophecies pointing to the Messiah validate that Jesus Christ is the only possible fulfilment. No other person can claim and be shown to fit the completion of these restrictive previews and prophecies. These types and shadows and written prophecies give us a way to invalidate and rebut the claims of false messiahs and false christs. And they bring certainty to the Holy Bible's claim that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God! [See: Messianic Prophecies and Evidence for the Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ]


"Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me." (John 5:39)