Christ in the Psalms:Typology

What is Typology?

“…Typology is the interpretation of Old Testament events, persons, and ceremonies as signs which prefigured Christ's fulfillment and new covenant with the apostolic church.”

In other words, Christ and his church fulfill the historical realties of the Old Testament that were shadows or precursors of the greater reality to come.

What is Typology?

• The New Testament uses this method frequently (Especially the book of Hebrews).

• From the time of the apostles, through the Reformation and post-Reformation period, this was one of the most common ways of looking at the N.T.

• In the modern era, this been lost for some, with a modernist obsession with “contextualization” that removes Christ from the O.T. i.e…”we’re smart and everyone before us was dumb.”

What is Typology?

• Types can be persons, events, or ceremonies. • The fulfillment of the type is called the “anti-

type.” • Not all types are fulfilled directly in Christ’s

person, although He as God is of course the ultimate cause.

• When looking at the Psalms, knowing the types that are realized by Christ the anti-type, helps us see how Christ is everywhere.

Type #1: Adam “For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made

alive…

So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. The first man was of the dust of the earth; the second man is of heaven. As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the heavenly man, so also are those who are of heaven. And just as we have borne the image of the earthly man, so shall we bear the image of the heavenly man.”

- I Cor. 15:22, 45-49

Adam and EveLucas Cranach

Type #2: NoahGenesis 5:29, “and called his name Noah,

saying, “Out of the ground that the LORD has cursed, this one shall bring us relief from our work and from the painful toil of our hands.”

Noah sounds like the Hebrew word for “rest.”

Notice that Noah’s father is referring to the effects of sin and looking for a savior.

Type #2: Noah Matthew 11:28, “Come to me, all who labor

and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”

Noah is God’s chosen vessel (along with the ark which is a type of the church) to save people from destruction, and for the human race to be reborn.

Christ of course does this very thing at a much higher and cosmically significant level.

Noah’s SacrificeDaniel Maclise

Type #3: Melchizedek Psalm 110:4 The LORD has sworn; and will

not change his mind: “You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.”

Melchizedek means “King of righteousness,” and was the priest-King of Salem (Jerusalem).

The father of the Israelite nation and the Aaronic priesthood (Abraham) pays this person a tithe!

Meeting of Melchizedek and AbrahamDieric Bouts the Elder

Type #4: Joseph Genesis 37-50

Joseph dies and “comes back to life” from the perspective of his father.

He becomes the savior of both Israel, but also Egypt and others because of his advice and preparation for a famine.

Both Joseph and Jesus are betrayed, become servants, and ultimately vindicated etc…

Joseph’s Coat Brought to JacobDe Ferrari

Type #5: MosesJohn 5:45-47, “Do not think that I will accuse

you before the Father; the one who accuses you is Moses, in whom you have set your hope. "For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me, for he wrote about Me. "But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?“

Christ often clarifies/modifies the Mosaic law, “but I say to you…”

Moses and the Ten CommandmentsRembrandt

Type #6: JudgesThe O.T. office of Judge was a sort of hybrid

prophetic/political office. This included such figures as Ehud, Samson, Deborah, Gideon, etc…

God sends these judges when Israel goes astray.

Christ is now the Prophet, Priest, and King of spiritual Israel, and as such fulfills this type.

Type #7: BoazFound in the book of Ruth. Ruth is a Moabitess who becomes a sort of

convert. Boaz becomes the “kinsman-reedeemer”

saving His bride from certain poverty and perhaps death.

Ruth and Boaz then become an ancestor to Christ’s humanity, with the type becoming an ancestor to the anti-type!

Ruth in the Field of BoazJulius Schnorr

Type #8: DavidDavid’s reign was considered the ultimate

Golden Age of Israel. He was “a man after God’s own heart.” Yet his

descendent would actually have God’s heart in the full!

David was unjustly persecuted by those he was supposed to serve and rule.

David would occasionally prophesy and do things that might be considered “priestly.”

Yet as a sinful fallen human being, the anti-type greatly exceeds the original…infinitely so.

David Playing the HarpJan van der Bray

Type #9: SolomonKnown for his great wisdom, and the peak of

the power of ancient Israel.

Matthew 12:42, “The Queen of the South will rise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for she came from the ends of the earth to listen to Solomon’s wisdom, and now something greater than Solomon is here.”

Rather than being given a gift of wisdom, Christ is wisdom in the flesh!

Judgment of SolomonGustav Dore

Solomon and the Queen of ShebaGiovanni Demin

Type #10: Jonah Matthew 12:39-41, He answered, “A wicked

and adulterous generation asks for a sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 40 For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. 41 The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now something greater than Jonah is here.

Jonah and the WhaleVerdun Altar, 12th century

The Brazen Serpent, Anthony Van Dyck

The ScapegoatWilliam Holman Hunt

Christ In the Psalms:Psalm 2

Psalm 2Utrecht Psalter800’s A.D.

Psalm 2

Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?

2 The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and against his Anointed, saying,

Psalm 2

3 “Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.”

4 He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision.

Psalm 2

5 Then he will speak to them in his wrath, and terrify them in his fury, saying,

6 “As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill.”

Psalm 2

5 Then he will speak to them in his wrath, and terrify them in his fury, saying,

6 “As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill.”

Psalm 2

7 I will tell of the decree:The LORD said to me, “You are my Son; today I have begotten you.8 Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession.9 You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.”

Psalm 2

10 Now therefore, O kings, be wise; be warned, O rulers of the earth.11 Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling.12 Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled.Blessed are all who take refuge in him.

Psalm 2

10 Now therefore, O kings, be wise; be warned, O rulers of the earth.11 Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling.12 Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled.Blessed are all who take refuge in him.

David Defeats the PhilistinesMorgan Bible1200’s