Types help to understand some prophecies. In Psalm 16, King David seemed to be speaking about his own flesh not seeing decay (Psalm 16:9-10). But David’s body was entombed and did decompose. So, what did David mean? Peter gave the Bible’s own interpretation. He showed that David spoke on behalf of his descendant, Jesus, whose resurrection fulfilled Psalm 16 (Acts 2:23-32).
Peter revealed the principle that Israel’s great king, David, could stand for the greatest King, Jesus. Now, let’s apply that to another challenging passage. God predicted through Ezekiel, “I will set up over them [My future people] one shepherd, My servant David” (Ezekiel 34:23). Taken literally, we might think old King David would rise and lead Israel again. However, Jesus definitely is the “one shepherd” (John 10:14-16). What is the explanation? David represented (as a type) his promised descendant Jesus (the fulfillment, the antitype). For another example, compare Malachi 4:5 with Luke 1:17 and Matthew 11:12-14. The New Testament interpreted for us that fact that Elijah (the type) represented John the Baptizer (the antitype).
What about baby Jesus returning from Egypt? Matthew 2:15 says, “This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, ‘Out of Egypt I called My son’.” In Hosea 11:1, the “son” is Israel at the time of the exodus. So, how does Hosea 11 relate to Matthew 2? The Lord chose the wording and gave it to Hosea, and later to Matthew. In the Lord’s plan, Israel was a sort of son (Exodus 4:22) that prefigured the true Son, yet to come. Israel’s exodus, therefore, was a type that was fulfilled when Jesus left Egypt. The Bible is interpreting itself, showing that prophecies took different forms. In places, they were predictions like, “The virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call His name Immanuel” (Isaiah 7:14 cf. Matthew 2:20-23). In other passages, prophecy was an Old Testament event or person that served as a type to be fulfilled by an antitype in the New Testament. Some Old Testament prophecies described Christ’s kingdom in glorious word pictures. As a result, some modern readers look for a return of past things: Aaronic priests, animal sacrifices, the Sabbaths, the earthly temple and Canaan restored.
The New Testament, however, proves that the Old Covenant and its things are obsolete. To return to the Law with its priests and sacrifices is to abandon Christ, the true Priest, and the only effective sacrifice—a basic message of Hebrews. How, then, should we understand those old prophecies that seemed to predict earthly grandeur? Many things that looked physical represented higher glories. As types, the things themselves—priests, sacrifices, the temple, the land—were ideal for word pictures that prefigured the far greater spiritual truths of Christ.
Many Jews took the prophecies too literally. They expected rich fortunes, national pride, and political power. When the Messiah came, He gave them nothing like that. He refused to be their kind of king (John 6:15). Therefore, they rejected Him and had Him killed on a cross. Even today, many read the Bible with earthly health, wealth and power in mind (1 Timothy 6:5; Luke 16:14). They fail to see that Jesus truly did fulfill “everything” written about Him in the Old Testament (Luke 24:44). He did so in spiritual ways far more valuable than any earthly gain. Our Jerusalem is higher than any city on this planet. We can participate in that glorious reality even now. To do so, we must pay “closer attention” to the Son by whom God speaks to us now (Hebrews 1:2; 2:1-3).
But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant…. See that you do not refuse Him who is speaking. For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject Him who warns from heaven. (Hebrews 12:22-25)