Category Archives: Type and Anti-type

Yes, There a Great Tribulation.

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In fact there are multiple times of severe persecution and stress during the Christian Age.

“This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.”
2Tim 3:1 KJV.

The word “tribulation” means to be suffering, or under severe pressure. The Greek word is “thlip´-sis,” and it is a word used for being under pressure, much as we speak today. Some translations use the words “affliction” or “oppression.” Paul even says of all Christians,

“…that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.”
Acts 14:22 KJV

So some stress is involved in being a true Christian. Further Jesus says,

“For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.” Mtt 24:21 KJV

Jesus associates this period of stress with the end of this present universe. 

“Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:”
Mtt 24:29 KJV.

Jesus says “then” He will come.

“30 And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. 31 And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his electfrom the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.”
Mtt 24:30-31 KJV

Yes there are two grand subjects in Matthew chapter 24: the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD, and the Second Coming of Christ. The “problem” (I speak as a man) is how to separate the two subjects. But notice that Mtt 24:30-31 is clearly about a time when “ all the tribes of the earth mourn, and … see” Jesus. And it is the time when Jesus shall gather his “elect” (the saved) “from one end of heaven to the other.” This also is something which clearly has not happened.

Also Rev 7:14 speaks of the “great tribulation.” The Greek here is very emphatic. If you translated it word for word it would be, “the great, the tribulation.”

Some want to maintain that the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD was the “great tribulation” of Mtt 24:21 which was worse than anything that will ever happen. But that of course makes nonsense of the Second Coming of Christ as clearly described in Mtt 24:30-31 which talks about “Immediately after the tribulation of those days.” As bad as 70 AD was, multiple events in history were worse than the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD. Prophecy Principles discusses this in more detail.

At best, the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD is a “type,” symbolic, a prototype, of the end of the world. The end of the world will in some respects “like” the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD. A “great” tribulation will precede the Second Coming of Christ.

This Great Tribulation is not some invention of men. This is Scripture.

KJV is the King James Version of 1611

When the Facts Do Not Fit the Prophecy, Psalm 16:10

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When Jesus disciples were dismayed at how He had been abused and put to death, He explained that it was necessary that these things happen, Lk 24:26. Indeed it is a “necessity” that we see in many places in scripture.

That the Christ must die and be raised

In David’s Psalm 16 we see David speaking in of a special “Holy One.”

“For you will not leave my soul in Sheol, 
Neither will you allow your holy one to see corruption.” 
Psalm 16:10 WEB.

David speaks in the first person in this psalm, and of “my soul” but calls the subject God’s “Holy One”. This is not a name that a bloody man of war such as David could claim. Indeed, for these reasons God had rejected David desire to build God a temple, for God told David,

“ … You have shed blood abundantly, and have made great wars: you shall not build a house to my name, because you have shed much blood on the earth in my sight.” 
1Chron 22:8 WEB.

But David goes on to say of this first person “Holy One” that God will not allow Him to undergo decay!! An incredible claim. And as the apostle Peter notes in Acts 2, this is not a description that fits the author David. For as Peter told his audience that David was dead and buried.

““Brothers, I may tell you freely of the patriarch David, that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day.” 
Acts 2:29 WEB.

Later on we see that this is the same point Paul made.

“35 Therefore he says also in another psalm, ‘You will not allow your Holy One to see decay.’ 36 For David, after he had in his own generation served the counsel of God, fell asleep, and was laid with his fathers, and saw decay. 37 But he whom God raised up saw no decay.” 
Act 13:35-37 WEB.

As Peter goes on to explain that David, being a prophet,

“30 … and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his body, according to the flesh, he would raise up the Christ to sit on his throne, 31 he foreseeing this spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that neither was his soul left in Hades, nor did his flesh see decay. 32 This Jesus God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses.” 
Act 2:30-31 WEB.

So the lack of fulfillment in the first person of David does not leave our prophecy hanging, for not a even the dotting of an “i” or the crossing of a “t” may fail of anything the prophets said, Mtt 5:17-18. What is lacking in David’s first person prophecy is fulfilled in Jesus death, burial and resurrection.

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

Identifying Types in Scripture

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We should be able recognize types in the history given in Scripture, or in the dialogue or poetry of the prophets. It is true that sometimes we see paradoxes in Scripture. Despite that, our guide posts, and our limits, should be the clear statements of Scripture, and never should symbolism be used to contradict plain statements of the Bible. So what are some of the clues

  1. When we are given verbal links or clues.

Notice that Isaiah calls someone a Branch.

“In that day, Yahweh’s branch will be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land will be the beauty and glory of the survivors of Israel.” 
Isa 4:2 WEB

Later someone is called a tender shoot, a root.

“For he grew up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: …” 
Isa 53:2 WEB

Then Jeremiah speaks of a Branch of David.

“Behold, the days come, says Yahweh, that I will raise to David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.” 
Jer 23:5 WEB

And the prophet Zechariah says for the Lord, “for, behold, I will bring forth my servant, the Branch.” in  Zech 3:8 WEB. All of which indeed applies to One Special Servant of God, Jesus the Christ.

So similar words and word links, verbal links, related adjectives or names, often cause us to realize that certain prophecies should be interpreted together. A times though, it is,

2. By plain statements such as Jesus makes concerning Jonah.“For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” Mtt 12:40 WEB.

3. At other times it is when the words seem to have no parallel in the prophet’s life, or the wording seems exaggerated, or not to fit in the history following the prophet’s times. What may seem like cracks and flaws in a narrative, these little pieces of seeming “contradiction” or “exaggeration,” or seeming “to not fit what happened,”… (we speak as a man), causes us to ask with the Ethiopian eunuch, “Who is the prophet talking about? About himself, or about someone else?” Act 8:34 WEB.

These are some of clues that cause us to recognize events and texts as types of a more distant fulfillment. There are many more details on types in Scripture, especially in Prophecy Principles.

We should not be as Jesus said of His disciples, “Foolish men, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken!”
Lk 24:24 WEB. 

We should remember that “improbable” or “incredible” or “I haven’t seen that before” (as for instance when the Jews or Gentiles thought about the resurrection) is not necessarily equal to “impossible” or “false.” We need to read and study with hearts and minds that are open to learning the wonderful things that God has done, and will do.

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

A Special “Mark” Never Happened, Revelation 13

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“It was given to him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them. Authority over every tribe, people, language, and nation was given to him. ” 
Rev 13:7 WEB.

Many apply this to the Roman Empire, but Rome never ruled the entire world. Rome did not even rule all of the ancient world. Yes Rome was big. Yes it covered more nations and territories than any near eastern or western empire had to date. However, at it’s height the Roman Empire was becoming unwieldy, and the Romans debated whether they should take over anymore territory. They clearly knew, for instance, of Persia and India, which Alexander the Great had conquered, and which Rome never did. So did Rome have “Authority over EVERY tribe, people, language, and nation”? NO! So taken literally, of Rome, this part does not fit.

Later in fact, the unwieldiness of that ancient Empire caused it to be split into Eastern and Western parts, for more efficient administration.

However, bits and pieces of Revelation chapters 13 through 19 did seem to fit Rome. There were terrible battles to force everyone to worship the Roman Emperors. This was to create a sort of international unity based on the worship of the Roman Emperors as “gods.” Many looked for the other parts of Revelation 13 to 19 to be fulfilled in Rome at any time. For instance the requirement of a certain “mark.” 

“6 He causes all, the small and the great, the rich and the poor, and the free and the slave, to be given marks on their right hands, or on their foreheads; 17 and that no one would be able to buy or to sell,unless he has that mark, the name of the beast or the number of his name. ” Rev 13:16-17 WEB

But it never happened!

For the average citizen, worshipping Caesar meant showing up before the magistrates, grabbing a pinch of incense (which the magistrates would supply), throwing it on the altar fire, and declaring, “Caesar is Lord.”

Then the magistrates would issue to the worshipper a certificate such as you see to the right, which declared that the holder had worshipped Caesar as a “god.” And the certificate was NOT needed for buying and selling! A special “mark” that “ALL” HAD to have for buying and selling NEVER HAPPENED!

And instead of Rome overcoming the saints (as in Rev 13:7 above), “the saints” (the church) overcame the Roman Empire, very much as prophesied in Daniel 2. The ancient Empire even came to be Christian to some extent, and even the Emperors denied their divinity and publicly worshipped Jesus Christ!

SO! Either Revelation is a false prophecy, that failed in the first few centuries after Christ (as many liberals believe), OR it is yet to happen. Rome and the Caesars are at best types or symbols of these final world empires and their rulers.

There is a great deal of just plain NONSENSE sold to us about the book of Revelation, and we often fail to think it through.

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

Two Sons of David, Part II

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Yes it is true, that there are two passages (1Kings 8:20 and 2Chr. 6:10) which say that Solomon was the fulfillment of the prophecy in 2 Samuel 7 of the kingdom of a “seed,” a son, of David. But we have noted that at least part of that prophecy does not fit Solomon.

But then there is another son of David who does have a throne which will last forever. That is Jesus of Nazareth.

“but of the Son he says, “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever; The scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom.” Heb 1:8 WEB

Also this Jesus Son of David is building a spiritual house of God. As the Hebrew author says,

“but Christ is faithful as a Son over his house; whose house we are, if we hold fast our confidence and the glorying of our hope firm to the end.” Heb 3:6 WEB

and again,

“Don’t you know that you are a temple of God, and that God’s Spirit lives in you?” 1Cor 3:16 WEB

So Christ is building a house, a temple, to God, made up of people; and His throne lasts forever. Then lastly the author of Hebrews quotes 2Sam 7:14 and says it applies to Jesus Christ.

“For to which of the angels did he say at any time, …
“I will be to him a Father, And he will be to me a Son?” Heb. 1:5 WEB

Notice that part of 2 Samuel 7 applies only to Solomon (such as being chastened by the rods of men), and part only to Jesus (such as an eternal throne, and never losing the loving kindness of God).

Also we can see that parts of 2 Samuel 7 apply to BOTH Solomon and Jesus, but in different ways. For instance, 1.) Solomon built a literal temple, but Jesus is building an eternal spiritual temple. 2.) God was like a father to Solomon, but God was Jesus father.

So this means you can have more than one subject in a prophecy! You can have a dual subjects in a prophecy, or a double meaning! In this case we have two sons of David in one prophecy, and for instance both a literal and spiritual temple in this prophecy!

The passage in 2 Samuel 7 is discussed in more detail in “Prophecy Principles” in the section on “Type and Anti-Type, Symbol and Fulfillment,” and it charts how the passage goes back and forth between the two subjects.

Many time we like to have a single line of division between our subjects, but that is often not the way it is in Bible prophecy. So in this prophecy there is no single line of division between the two subjects. The text goes back and forth between the two subjects with no single line of division, much as in a human conversation.

Some are dogmatic that a prophecy can only have to do with one subject, and only one subject. As you can see, that is just not true. In fact double meanings are a common device in Bible prophecy, with one subject often said to be a “type,” that is to say it is symbolic of, the second subject. Thus it is easy to speak of the Solomon as a “type” of Jesus. That is to say, he is symbolic of Jesus. And strangely to us, in Greek the fulfillment is often called the “anti-type” (anti-tupos). “Anti” in Greek has the main idea of replacement. The fulfillment “replaces” the symbol.

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

Two Sons of David, Part I

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King David of Israel had decided to build a temple to the Lord God in 2 Samuel 7. Then came the word of the Lord through the prophet Nathan. God was not going to allow David to build Him a temple. However God did make certain promises to David.

“When your days are fulfilled, and you shall sleep with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, who shall proceed out of your bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.” 2Sam. 7:12-13 WEB

He also says some other things in the verses following. To this “seed,” this son, God says He will be a father to this son of David. God says that if He does things that are wrong, “I will chasten him with the rod of men.” Still God says that His love for this son of David will not go away, and that “your throne shall be established forever.”

An immediate son of David was King Solomon. He built a literal temple, a “house” to the Lord, in the tenth century BC. And Scripture claims, “Yahweh has established his word that he spoke; for I am risen up in the room of David my father, and sit on the throne of Israel, as Yahweh promised, and have built the house for the name of Yahweh, the God of Israel.” 1Kings 8:20 WEB. A similar claim is made in 2Chr. 6:10. This much fits the prophecy in 2 Samuel 7 very well.

But there are things in the story of Solomon which are unsettling. First of all, Scripture says God’s love for Solomon could be lost, for it was told to Solomon about seeking God,

“… If you seek Him, He will let you find Him; but if you forsake Him, He will reject you forever.” 1Chron 28:9 WEB.

That is quite a bit different from “but my loving kindness shall not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away before you.” 2Sam 7:15 WEB

So first of all Solomon could be rejected, and indeed was rejected at least to some extend because of idolatry in his old age. Secondly, Solomon’s kingdom did not last forever, as prophesied. In fact it was brought to an abrupt end with the destruction of Jerusalem by Babylon in 586 BC. These facts are far beyond “if he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men,” 2Sam 7:14 WEB. These are a couple of big misses!

So where do these facts leave us? Is this a Bible prophecy which has failed? Or is this simply a false prophecy by a false prophet by the name of Nathan?

Or then on the other hand, we might ask, is there another “seed” of David, another son of David, who will come later, and who will fulfill these prophecies?

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

Type and Anti-Type

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There are other words that also used for symbolism in Scripture. There are parables such as Jesus used. Some of the literal commands of the Old Testament which were intended to be symbolic of spiritual truths are sometimes called “shadows.”

“For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect.” Heb 10:1 KJV

Words for a pattern/ example/ copy are also used .

“who serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things, …” Heb 8:5 WEB

It was clearly known that sometimes prophetic authors spoke in the first person of someone else! An easy to see example of this is David in writing Psalm 22. The entire psalm is written in the first person, but it describes things which never happened to David. David speaks in the first person of being murdered by “strong bulls,” by “dogs.” He speaks of having his hands and his feet pierced, and says they divided his clothes among them. None of which happened to David. David died in bed, of natural causes, at an old age. However, these same things did happen to Jesus of Nazareth. So here we have the prophet David writing in the first person, of things would happen to Jesus a thousand years later.

Psalm 22 makes an excellent example of how Bible prophecy works, and it is further discussed in “Prophecy Principles” in the section “Time and Image in Prophecy,” and in “Revealing the Christian Age” in the section “Balking at the Symbolism.”

Also the word type (the Greek word is “tupos”) was also used. In Rom 5:14 Paul says that Adam was a type of the Christ. That is the way the New American Standard 1995 ed., and the English Standard Version translates it, and the KJV translates it as a “figure,” and the WEB translates it as a “foreshadowing.” The King James Version often translates the Greek word “tupos” as an “example” or “pattern.”

Also Peter speaks of the waters of baptism as an “anti-type” (the Greek is “antitupos,” that is to say, the fulfillment) corresponding to the waters that floated Noah’s ark to safety, and calls it “the like figure.”

“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:” 1Peter 3:21 KJV

A logical next question is whether anyone realized these things in Bible times? The answer is yes. For instance the Ethiopian eunuch when discussing Isaiah 53 with Phillip asked,

“The eunuch answered Philip, “Who is the prophet talking about? About himself, or about someone else?” ” Acts 8:34 WEB

Or take the situation of John the Baptism when he was in prison.

“Now when John had heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples, And said unto him, Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another?” Mtt 11:2-3 KJV

In other words, he is asking Jesus whether he is the Messiah which is to come, or is he just another type, another who is symbolic of the one who is come?

KJV is the King James Version, 1611.

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