“For whatever thingswere written before were written for our learning” (Rom. 15:4). So said Paul in reference to Scripture (what we call the Old Testament). What are we supposed to learn—academic facts (names, places, dates, etc.)? No, we are to learn lessons for life from history. We are to appreciate that God had (and still has) an eternal plan. We are to apply what we learn and “through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures...have hope.”

Hope is what Moses brought the children of Israel despite their short-sighted rejection of many of his efforts. He was a man God called to lead His people out of bondage into freedom. Yet, the story of Moses is not just fascinating history; it is typological foretelling from which we learn to “have hope.”

My old dictionary’s first definition of type is “a person or thing (as in the Old Testament) believed to foreshadow another (as in the New Testament).” The next definition reads, “one having qualities of a higher category: model” (Webster’s 7th Collegiate). Thus a prototype is a first or early model of something that will be greater. A type is a symbol or figure representing something more complex or complete. Therefore, types in Scripture serve to illustrate or signify greater meanings yet to come and help our greater understanding and appreciation.

To ignore types is to minimize understanding and likely fail to make proper applications. Additionally, types make connections and show relationships, implying planning and forethought. Thus, similarities between biblical events should not be assumed to be mere coincidences but indicators of a grand plan from an eternal Author. No one looks at an architect’s blueprint or model of a newly completed building and says, “What a coincidence, the model is similar to the actual building.” Neither should we fail to see the Architect’s designs.

So, when Moses told the children of Israel that “God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren” (Dt. 18:15), we see the basics of typology: 1) “like me” identifies Moses as the type, 2) “will raise up...a Prophet” indicates the future One (the antitype) whom Moses foreshadowed, and 3) the superiority of the One foreshadowed; “Him you shall hear.” God elaborates by saying, “I will put My words in His mouth...and it shall be that whoever will not hear My words, which He speaks...I will require it of him”(vv. 18,19).  The Prophet to come, while being like Moses and from the children of Israel in the flesh, would be superior to all.

The message of the New Testament is that Jesus is that Prophet…and more. Recall that when Jesus was transfigured in the presence of three of His apostles and conversed with Moses and Elijah, Peter impetuously proposed erecting three tabernacles (one for each of the holy men). Yet, it was upon this suggestion that Moses and Elijah vanished and a voice from heaven said,  “This is My beloved Son,...hear Him” (Mt. 17:17; Mk. 9:7; Lk. 9:35). The fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets had arrived in the person of Jesus (cf. Lk. 24:44), and we are wise to pay heed to Him. “For this One has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses” (Heb. 3:3). Certainly, Moses was a faithful servant in God’s house “for a testimony (i.e. witness) of those things which would be spoken afterward, but Christ as a Son over His own house, whose house we are if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end” (vv5,6). Let go of Moses. Hold fast to Jesus!

andydiestelkamp@gmail.com