How you read the Old Testament impacts how you read all of God’s word. It frames the questions that shape our understanding of God and His purposes. What was the purpose of the garden? Why did God choose, separate, and protect the nation of Israel? What is the church? Who is Jesus Christ and the nature of his atonement? It frames all of these and a hundred other questions as well, none of which are trivial or unimportant.
In this episode, we want to look at how broadly and deeply the Old Testament shadows run. And while we start with God’s word in Hebrews that “the law, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things” which is talking about the ceremonial, priestly laws of Israel, by the end of the episode, we want to go broader still to where Paul looks at the crossing of the Red Sea as a baptism, and Christ declares the manna in the wilderness to be bread from heaven which points forward to Him as the bread of life.
We also want to emphasize that Scripture teaches us that these pictures are for us. We should not say, it is only Christ and Paul who can understand them. Jesus promised that after He left, He would send the Holy Spirit, who Paul reminds us in Corinthians understands the deep things of God. God’s word declares that “all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.” When the church refuses to look deeply at the Old Testament, we misunderstand the New Testament as well, as God does not spend a great deal of time repeating himself. The shadows are important because by them we can better understand the substance, which is Christ. Please join us as we discuss this important topic.
Listen to the audio version here: https://theconqueringtruth.com/2025/02/interpreting-types-and-shadows-old-testament-hermeneutics-ep-207-audio/
Timecodes
00:00:00 Interpreting the OT
00:08:19 Purpose of the OT
00:10:46 Food Laws
00:25:15 Speaking in Parables
00:42:13 Can We Interpret Like the Apostles?
00:50:38 Narrative Pictures
01:06:14 Divisions of the Law
Production of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NC
Permanent Hosts - Dan Horn, Charles Churchill and Joshua Horn
Technical Director - Timothy Kaiser
Theme Music - Gabriel Hudelson