Quite often when God wants to tell us about what will happen in the future, He uses people, places or things which have happened in the past as examples of what will happen in the future. The examples are symbolic of what will happen in the future. The examples are sometimes called “types” in Scripture. We might in modern English call them “prototypes.”

Jesus is our passover lamb.

“ … For indeed Christ, our Passover, has been sacrificed in our place.”
1Cor 5:7 WEB.

Of course the first passover lambs were sacrificed in Egypt around 1440 BC. They put the blood of the passover lamb on the door posts of their dwelling, and when angel of death came, he would passover their houses, and not strike them. But the yearly passover lambs were merely symbolic. Jesus is the ultimate fulfillment.

“The next day, he saw Jesus coming to him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”
Jn 1:29 WEB.

So the symbolic was early and yearly. The ultimate fulfillment was nearly 1500 years into the future.

God will raise up a prophet like Moses.

That is what God said.

“I will raise them up a prophet from among their brothers, like you; and I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I shall command him.”
Deut 18:18 WEB

A prophet “like you,” that is to say, like Moses. What would that mean? Well he would be a leader of God’s people. He would be a lawgiver and would bring a new law. He would lead God’s people into the promised land (heaven). And we could go on and on. Peter quotes this passage as applying to Jesus Christ in Acts 3:22. There is a great deal more to say about the ways that Moses is symbolic of Jesus Christ.

Notice that the “type” (Moses) was already present when the prophecy was given. Howerver, the fulfillment (Jesus) was about 1500 years into the future.

The promised land.

As was discussed in “The Author of Hebrews Identifies a Type:The Final Rest,” evidently the land of Canaan, the promised land, is symbolic of our final rest in heaven.

Canaan was taken over in the 15 century BC. The Final rest in heaven, is still yet to come.

The types often occur soon in history.

The original “abomination of desolation” (Dan 11:31) was evidently an idol set up in the temple in Jerusalem in the early 2 century BC in the times of the Greek King Antiochus Epiphanes. The ultimate fulfillment is sometime in the future. So Jesus says,

“15 When, therefore, you see the abomination of desolation, which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), 16 then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.”
Mtt 24:15 WEB

The fulfillments are often in the distant future

Often times there is more than one type of an important person, place, or thing in the future. Moses, Solomon, the passover lamb, and more, are all types of Jesus the Christ.

WEB is the World English Bible, a copyright free revision
of the original ASV American Standard Version 1901