THE THIRD PART: 24 CRUCIAL LINES IN THE BIBLE
The All-inclusive Christ
Message Five—Christ Typified in the Old Testament (2)
Scriptures Reading: Lev. 1-7; Exo. 19:4, 6; Exo. 28; Lev. 11-14; 16:15-19; 24:2-9; Num. 35:14; 21:4-9, 22, 23; Exo. 14:27-28; Ruth 2:1, 4:9-10; Rev. 1:16
I. The offerings typify the incarnated Christ who joined Himself to man to be man’s substitute offering to solve all of man’s problems, including sin, before God; as the offerings, He also becomes food to God and to those who belong to and serve God so that both God and man may be satisfied—Lev. 1:3-13; 2; 3:5; 6:12; 4:3; 5:6; 7:29-31, 32-33; Exo. 29:40-41; Lev. 7:12; 7:16. (Truth Lessons, Level 3, Vol. 2, lsn. 21)
II. The priesthood of Aaron and his sons typifies Christ and His believers as the New Testament priesthood—Heb. 5:1-2; Exo. 19:4, 6; Rev. 1:5b-6; 5:9-10; Heb. 10:9; Rom. 15:16; 12:1; Col. 1:28-29. (Truth Lessons, Level 3, Vol. 2, lsn. 22)
III. The ephod and robe worn by Aaron, the high priest, typify Christ in His expression of God’s glory and beauty in all that He did and in His care for the redeemed saints that constitutes His glorious church—Exo. 28:4-6, 9-10, 15, 31-34. (Truth Lessons, Level 3, Vol. 2, lsn. 23)
IV. The animals that are clean for eating signify the persons whom God’s people may contact; the animals that are unclean and not for eating signify those whom God’s people should not contact—Acts 10:11-16; Lev. 11:2-3, 9, 13-19, 21-22. (Truth Lessons, Level 3, Vol. 2, lsn. 24)
V. The Bible uses human birth, leprosy, and discharges to speak concerning man’s uncleanness in various aspects and man’s filthiness in different conditions; we need to experience Christ as the sin offering and the burnt offering to deal with our sinful nature and to be our life so that we may live a life that is absolute for God—Lev. 12; Heb. 10:5-7; Num. 12:1-10; Lev. 13:45-46; 15:13-15. (Truth Lessons, Level 3, Vol. 2, lsn. 25)
VI. The cleansing of the leper typifies that a person invaded by sin is cleansed entirely through the redemption accomplished through Christ’s death and the salvation carried out by His resurrection; the cleansing of the leper also typifies a person’s thorough dealing with what he does and what he is according to the redemption through Christ’s death and the salvation by His resurrection—Lev. 14:2, 3a, 4-32; 13:47-59; 14:49-53. (Truth Lessons, Level 3, Vol. 2, lsn. 26)
VII. The type of expiation show how Christ accomplished for the sinners the taking away of sins in the New Testament age—John 1:29; Heb. 9:12; Rom. 3:25; Lev. 16:15-19. (Truth Lessons, Level 3, Vol. 2, lsn. 27)
VIII. Priests, Nazarites, kings, prophets, and shepherds are five kinds of people with special statuses in the Old Testament, typifying Christ and the New Testament believers in these five aspects of their status—Lev. 24:2-9; Exo. 30:6-8; 1 Pet. 2:5, 9; 1 Sam. 1:11-28; Heb. 1:1, footnote 2; Jer. 23:3-4; Ezek. 34:11-31: (Truth Lessons, Level 3, Vol. 2, lsn. 30)
A. The ministry of the priests is engaged especially in the service of God; this typifies Christ as our High Priest who brings us to God and prays for us so that we may be saved and brought fully into God’s eternal purpose—1 Pet. 2:5, 9; Col. 1:28; Rom. 15:16. (Truth Lessons, Level 3, Vol. 2, lsn. 30)
B. Nazarites are those who have voluntarily consecrated themselves, who are separated from worldliness, and who have submitted themselves to God; this typifies Christ as One who voluntarily consecrated Himself to God, who sanctified Himself to God, and who submitted Himself to God for the accomplishment of the eternal purpose of God to whom He is in subordination—1 Sam. 1:11-28; Acts 3:14; Phil. 2:8. (Truth Lessons, Level 3, Vol. 2, lsn. 30)
C. The kingship is mainly to reign for God, to represent God, and to bring God to man. It is equal in importance to the priesthood and is brought in by God’s anointing; this typifies that Christ was anointed by God to be the Ruler among God’s people and to be the King ruling over the nations—Acts 13:36; Rev. 20:4, 6; 2:26-27. (Truth Lessons, Level 3, Vol. 2, lsn. 30)
D. Prophets are those who speak for God by God’s revelation. Their ministry is to speak for God, to speak forth God, to prophesy (predict) for God, and to assist the kings in establishing God’s kingdom; this typifies Christ speaking for God, ministering God to people in God’s word, and prophesying for the purpose of building up the Body of Christ—Heb. 1:1, footnote 2; 2 Pet. 1:21; 1 Sam. 3:19-21; John 1:1; Rev. 19:13; John 16:12-13; Matt. 16:18. (Truth Lessons, Level 3, Vol. 2, lsn. 30)
E. The shepherding ministry is to feed, take care of, teach, and lead the people of God; this typifies Christ as our Chief Shepherd, feeding, looking after, and leading the believers and, as our soul’s Shepherd in the resurrection life, guiding us within and supplying us with life that we may follow in His steps—Jer. 23:3-4; Ezek. 34:11-31; 1 Pet. 5:4; Psa. 23:1-6; John 10:15, 17-18. (Truth Lessons, Level 3, Vol. 2, lsn. 30)
IX. The picture of the cities of refuge typifies that Christ, as the embodiment of the Triune God, is our refuge. Now that Christ has died and resurrected, sinners can flee into Him to be redeemed and to be in the good land enjoying the blessed portion given to us by God—Num. 35:14, Num. 35:11b, Num. 35:25b-29. (Truth Lessons, Level 3, Vol. 2, lsn. 31)
X. In the typology of the Old Testament, five items—the bronze serpent, the one hanging on a tree, the hind of the dawn, and the bridegroom and the bride—are seemingly different from one another. However, in the spiritual significance of the New Testament they are connected—Christ died and resurrected as the Bridegroom to obtain the church as His bride—Num. 21:4-9, 22, 23; Heb. 7:27; Rom. 5:12; Psa. 22:1-21; S.S. 1:13-16. (Truth Lessons, Level 3, Vol. 2, lsn. 32)
XI. The Jordan River typifies the death and resurrection of Christ, and the crossing of the Jordan River typifies the believers in baptism burying their old man and being ushered into resurrection to bring forth the new man—John 3:3, 6; Exo. 14:27-28. (Truth Lessons, Level 3, Vol. 2, lsn. 33)
XII. Ruth and Boaz are a complete prefigure of the Gentile sinners’ being brought with Israel, God’s elect, into the divine inheritance through the redemption of Christ in their union with Him—Gen. 19:31-38; Ruth 2:1; 4:9-10. (Truth Lessons, Level 3, Vol. 2, lsn. 34)
XIII. The Ark being separated from the tabernacle typifies that Christ has left the formal church and is separated from the church—Gal. 1:6-7; Rev. 2:13, 20; 2 Sam. 7:1-2; Psa. 132:28; 1 Kings 8:6. (Truth Lessons, Level 3, Vol. 2, lsn. 35)
XIV. The holy temple typifies the incarnated Christ as God’s dwelling place on the earth, and it also typifies the church, including all the believers, the members of Christ, to be the enlargement of Christ as God’s dwelling place on the earth—1 Chron. 21:22-25; 1 Sam. 24:20-24; 1 Chron. 28:3-4; Eph. 2:15-22; John 2:19-20; 1:14; Matt. 12:6. (Truth Lessons, Level 3, Vol. 2, lsn. 36)
XV. The shoot of Jehovah, the shoot of David, a sprout coming forth from the stump of Jesse, a tender plant growing up before Jehovah and a root out of dry ground, the fruit and a green fir tree; The Shoot of Jehovah typifies Christ’s divinity and the sprouting of Christ’s divinity through the incarnation of God. It also typifies the divinity that sprouted in Christ to develop from His incarnation to His entering into glory in His resurrection and then to pass through His ascension to attain to His beauty and glory in the kingdom age—Isa. 4:2; Rom. 8:29; Ruth 4:22; Isa. 53:2; Ruth 1:42; Hosea. 14:8. (Truth Lessons, Level 3, Vol. 2, lsn. 37)
XVI. With stones as symbols, the Bible likens Christ to the living stone, the rock, the foundation stone, the cornerstone, the topstone, the rock of stumbling, and the smiting stone—1 Pet. 2:4; 1 Cor. 10:4; Isa. 28:16; 1 Cor. 3:11; Isa. 28:6; 8:14-15; Dan. 2:34-35. (Truth Lessons, Level 3, Vol. 2, lsn. 39)
A. The living stone signifies that Christ possesses life and is living for generating the believers that they may become living stones for God’s building and expression, the consummation of which is the New Jerusalem—1 Pet. 2:4-5; 1 Cor. 3:9-12. (Truth Lessons, Level 3, Vol. 2, lsn. 39)
B. The rock portrays Christ as One who is steady, sure, and stable, who has been tested, who is trustworthy, massive, and spiritual, who follows His believers, and who has been cleft for ministering His riches to His believers—Isa. 53:2-3; Matt. 16:1-12; 19:3-12. (Truth Lessons, Level 3, Vol. 2, lsn. 39)
C. Such a Christ is also the foundation stone as the foundation of God’s building, who is firm, secure, and unshakable, having sufficient strength to uphold the entire building of God in the universe, which is His universal church—Isa. 28:16; 1 Cor. 3:11. (Truth Lessons, Level 3, Vol. 2, lsn. 39)
D. Christ is the cornerstone for joining the different sides, the different sections, of God’s building, making it one Body as God’s fullness—Isa. 28:6; Eph. 2:20b; Acts 4:12; 1 Pet. 2:7. (Truth Lessons, Level 3, Vol. 2, lsn. 39)
E. Christ as the topstone is for covering God’s entire building to resist the forces from outside and to protect the contents of God’s building—Jer. 4:7. (Truth Lessons, Level 3, Vol. 2, lsn. 39)
F. The rock of stumbling typifies the effect of Christ on the unbelievers—Isa. 8:14-15; Matt. 21:44a. (Truth Lessons, Level 3, Vol. 2, lsn. 39)
G. When He comes back, He will be a stone cut out without hands to smash and completely destroy the nations which fight against the kingdom of God, and He will become a great mountain to fill the whole earth—Dan. 2:34-35, 44-45; Matt. 21:44b. (Truth Lessons, Level 3, Vol. 2, lsn. 39)
XVII. The heavenly luminaries, the three lights—the sun, the moon, and the stars—signify Christ, the overcomers as His followers; and the totality of God’s redeemed—Gen. 1:14-18; 37:9-10; Rev. 12:1; Luke 1:78; Num. 24:17; Rev. 1:16, 20; 2:1; 3:1. (Truth Lessons, Level 3, Vol. 2, lsn. 40)