Sabbath School, Third Quarter; Lessons of Faith from Joshua, Goldstein Editor, @2925 General Conference Seventh-day Adventists
Interpreters of the Bible cannot arbitrarily decide on what constitutes a biblical type or how that particular type is fulfilled in the New Testament and beyond. The Bible itself provides some controls and principles as to the application of biblical typology.
Similarly, the New Testament unfolds the antitypical fulfillment of a type in three distinct phases: (1) in the life of Christ (the Christological fulfillment), (2) in the experience of the church (the ecclesiological fulfillment), and (3) at the end of time (the eschatological fulfillment).
We can find these types and antitypes all through the Bible, and they are very helpful in showing readers how to understand the Bible and what truths the Word of God is teaching about Jesus, salvation, and the ultimate hope that we have.
Look at the following Old Testament types: Israel, the Exodus, and the sanctuary. How is each fulfilled in the three antitypical phases: the Christological, the ecclesiological, and the eschatological?
1. Israel
a. Christological phase (Matt. 2:15) b. Ecclesiological phase (Gal. 6:16)
c. Eschatological phase (Rev. 7:4–8, 14)
2. The Exodus
a. Christological phase (Matt. 2:19–21)
b. Ecclesiological phase (2 Cor. 6:17)
c. Eschatological phase (Rev. 18:4)
3. The Sanctuary
a. Christological phase (John 1:14, John 2:21, Matt. 26:61)
b. Ecclesiological phase (1 Cor. 3:16, 17; 2 Cor. 6:16)
c. Eschatological phase (Rev. 3:12, Rev. 11:19, Rev. 21:3, Rev. 21:22)
“Since Scripture has a single divine Author, the various parts of Scripture are consistent with each other. . . . All the doctrines of the Bible will cohere with each other; interpretations of individual passages will harmonize with the totality of what Scripture teaches on a given subject.”—Raoul Dederen, ed., Handbook of Seventh-day Adventist Theology (Hagerstown, MD: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 2000), p. 65.
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