There are quite a few proprietary words that we use in Bible-believing Baptist churches.
By “proprietary” I mean that they are words that are basically the property of those churches.
They are words that are used in very few places other than Bible-believing churches.
And even though it has been nearly 40 years, I remember how I had to struggle to figure out what my first pastor was saying when he used some of those words.
I’ve put a couple of proprietary words in the title to this message this evening: “type” and “antitype.”
Peter began his Pentecostal sermon quoting Joel 2.
You might call that his text for the morning message,
But actually it was more like an eye-catching illustration to get everyone’s attention.
It helped to explain what the audience had experienced in the witness of the disciples.
The real text for the sermon was Psalm 16.
The message wasn’t about the disciples, it was about the Lord Jesus.
And even though the quote from Joel led towards Christ, Peter’s primary thought was about how Jesus fulfilled the Old Testament scriptures.
Turn to Psalm 16.
When we begin to read, it will be hard to hear the voice of the Lord Jesus.
This sounds like King David, whom we have learned to love and appreciate.
But whereas you might argue with your pastor if he told you that this was Christ Jesus, when under the leadership and inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Peter says that it is Christ, then it is Christ.
Notice that this is called a “Michtam” of David.
The scholars argue about what that word means:
Others say that it is the song or tune to which the words were sung.
Yet others say that the word means “writing.”
Let’s read through this Psalm without commenting on it.
Now let’s briefly think about types, antitypes and eternal truth.
It says that a type is:
The general character or structure held in common by a number of people or things considered as a group or class.
A person or thing having the features of a group or class”.
There is our definition.
“Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:
Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam’s transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come.”
It is translated a number of different ways: “ensample, print, figure, example, pattern, fashion, manner” and “form.”
And the definition of “tupos” is:
Or a figure formed by a blow or impression ”
“For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:
Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.
The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.”
The word “figure” here is the Greek word “antitupos” ( an-teet’-oo-pos).
And the definition in this case is:
A thing resembling another, its counterpart.”
And an antitype is the New Testament reality which was pictured in the Old Testament.
Christ Jesus was the antitype of David.
And, as I Peter shows us, there are many other types and antitypes in the Bible.
David was called the “Lord’s anointed” many times, even long before he was made king.
David was a type of Christ in the many things that he suffered while on earth.
He was a type of Christ as we see him revealed in the Psalms.
He was a type of Christ in that he was king over, not only the people of God, but the heathen as well.
David was a type of Christ because in several ways he brought into one person the three offices of prophet, priest and king.
There are a lot of details in each of these things which could take months to study.
There are a lot of ignorant pastors and preachers, who rarely, if ever, preach from the Old Testament.
This is not only a shame but a terrible sin, as far as I am concerned.
Let’s remember that when the Apostles preached, their text usually came from the Old Testament even though they were preaching the same Christ that we preach.
And the fact of the matter is that we can learn things about our Saviour,
That we just don’t see in the same way in the New Testament.
We could make a very long list of Old Testament types of Christ.
Adam was a type of Christ in that he was the father of a large race of people:
Abraham was a type of Christ but perhaps more clearly a type of God the Father.
Isaac was a type of Christ when his father was prepared to sacrifice him.
Moses the redeemer of Israel was a type of Christ, as was Joshua who lead Israel into the Promised Land.
All of the priests, but most particularly the high priests were types of the Lord.
Solomon was a type of Christ.
In the same way, the temple was a type of Christ.
Each and every one of the sacrifices and offerings were pictures or types of the Lord Jesus.
The clothing that was worn by the high priest depicted Christ in several different ways.
We cannot really know our Saviour, the Antitype, as we should,
If we neglect to study the many types that God has given to us in the Old Testament.
And there is something else:
“For David speaketh concerning him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved:
Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad; moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope:
Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.
Thou hast made known to me the ways of life; thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance.”
When David said, I foresaw the Lord always before my face,
He was saying that he and his antitype purposed to keep God, the Father, in view throughout their lives.
But the Lord Jesus never for a moment failed to see the Father in everything.
The lesson is that we are supposed to do the same.
When he was hiding from Saul by living in the caves of Engedi, he knew that the Lord was there.
When he was sitting on his throne in Hebron, he knew that the Lord was with him, and that it would only be a matter of time before he was made king over all Israel, because that was God’s promise.
And even when David was crossing the Brook Kidron when fleeing before Absalom, he knew that the Lord was with him.
But if we could learn to live in that reality even in the good times, when the bad times call for that knolwedge, we’d be so much stronger for it
Very often that strength can only come through our relationship to the Lord.
“I shall not be, I shall not be moved.”
And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.”
“Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad; moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope:
He offered strength to us to endure any affliction which the world might thrust upon us.
Those were blessings that strengthened even the Saviour in the midst of His trials.
“Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad; moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope: thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance.”