Psalm 45 Publications

I have lately gone through a period of sluggish affections, dullness of heart, and spiritual sight much dimmed by a morbid preoccupation with the affairs of this passing world, which have drawn my gaze away from the light-shedding Sun of Righteousness, whose first advent was the Dawn of the year of God’s favor, and whose hastening second coming will be the eternal noon of Glory. I cannot enumerate all the causes of this decay, although I am certain that they all spring from the depths of my desperately wicked and deceitful heart; but I do know that even in this, God’s sovereign mercy still leads unerringly through the night, working out eternal purposes of good which he has planned for me, and will not relent until he has accomplished them all. Continue Reading

We have finally come to the last and quintessential judge of them all, Samson; and in his life, we will find definite confirmation of both those related truths which we have been at some pains to demonstrate – first, that, as the incorrigible hard-heartedness of the people becomes ever clearer, and their distress becomes ever more hopeless, the judges display ever more poignant a gospel-picture of what the coming promised Messiah would do to save his people from all their enemies and free them from their evil ways; but second, that even in so doing, they prove by their many failures and faults that they themselves are insufficient for so great an accomplishment as they point ahead to by their lives and ministries. This Samson is undoubtedly the greatest judge of all, and in terms of the sheer power he has been granted from the anointing of the Holy Spirit, he is unrivaled. So, too, are the multitudinous types which adorn his ministry unparalleled. But at the same time, his faults are more glaring than those of all who went before him, so much so that, at the end of his life, they plunge him to his own ruin, which is a thing we have not yet seen in any judge before him. But now, let us turn to the history. Continue Reading

It is in keeping with the central burden of the book of the Judges that, immediately after one of the most gospel-instructive events of all, in Gideon’s surprising victory over the hosts of Midian, there should come one of the most devastating times imaginable, and there should rise to the throne one whose wickedness seems, in a figure, to look ahead to that Man of Sin of whom the apostle would later speak (2 Thes. 2:1-12). Consider the ways in which this Abimelech is cast, in the account, as the quintessential son of perdition, who in shameless trickery and hypocrisy should set his hand to the destruction of those whom he purports to save; thus does the downward spiral of the people plunge them into an era even more desperate than any they had known before, thereby demonstrating yet again how great was their need of a true Messiah and King, who could save them once and for all. Continue Reading

If the call of Gideon was an affair attended with many shadowy signs of the final exile of the people of Israel and the gospel era which should afterward ensue, as we discovered last time, then it may be reasonable to suppose that the actual victory which Gideon then wrought against Israel’s oppressors should also be full of instructive gospel types. This is a supposition which we will not at all be disappointed in, as we look into the following account; for there, we will find marvelous dreams, suggestive names, amazing events, strange coincidences – but chiefly, one of the most enigmatical victories in the whole history of Israel, which displays God’s unique power to save in an extraordinary and evocative way, and points clearly ahead to that greatest victory of all the ages, when God reached down from heaven with an outstretched arm and saved his people from all their oppressors, once and for all. Let us now recount a few respects in which these assertions are certainly true. Continue Reading

As we arrive at the history of that enigmatical judge, Gideon, we must be struck with amazement at the manifold ways in which the gospel is foreshadowed, and the marvelous valor and salvation which comes by God’s grace through a naturally weak and cowardly man, given to many foibles, and even susceptible to gross idolatry – and that at the end of his life, after he had already seen the display of such gospel power in his surprising victory over the Midianites. Let us walk through the many types and shadows and appearances of Christ the Savior that we may encounter in these passages, for here there is much fine gospel-gold to be had for just a little labor, which even the weakest of saints might be able to dig up without too much trouble. Continue Reading

Of the accounts of the judges we have examined so far, the sum is this: that while the judges themselves become progressively less worthy of emulation, and show themselves inadequate to be the King that God’s people so desperately need; and while the people themselves are therefore plunged into greater depravity and bondage; the circumstances and histories of the judges nevertheless become ever clearer in their import and typology, as they look ahead to the gospel era of Christ the Savior. In both these respects, we may see a clear proof in our present account of Deborah and Barak. For in this history, Barak the judge displays a timid and cowardly spirit, which proves more certainly than any judge before him that the judges would not be sufficient to save the people forever; but at the same time, the surprising nature of the gospel, that the weak and lowly would triumph over the strong and arrogant, receives a very unexpected testimony. But let us now consider these things a little more fully. Continue Reading

If the book of Judges, as we have seen, serves both to show the downward spiral of Israel into ever-increasing sin and apostasy, and thus display her desperate need for a savior; and also, to foreshadow the one great Savior who would finally save her from her sins in the raising up of judges, who grow consistently more brilliant as types of the Christ while showing themselves consistently more inadequate to be the Christ indeed by their own flaws and foibles; then the case of the next two judges, viz., Ehud and Shamgar, is very notable. For in them, we see a more desperately wicked Israel; a more flawed deliverer; and a much more suggestive typology, as we shall see in due course. Continue Reading

The period of history in which Joshua was still alive was a time of great victory and success for the children of Israel. Joshua, the savior of the people, was strong in the Lord to do what Moses had failed to do, that is, to bring the people into the promised land, give them victory over all their enemies, and confirm to them all the promises made to the patriarchs. In this, he was a very notable type of the Savior, showing in a figure how a greater One than Moses should one day arise to confirm to the people all the promises that Moses had announced, and of which we may read in great detail in the five books that he wrote. Continue Reading

As we come to the second half of the book of Joshua, we will soar high above it, as a bird on the wing, in order to gain a sense of the coherence and significance of the whole, rather than walking through it piece by piece, as we have largely done heretofore. For although there are many wonderful things to be discovered in each passage and every event, yet the sum of the whole is this: that Joshua, in his great victories and apportionings of the land at large, was acting, true to his name, as a type of the coming Savior; and so, although we might profitably discover rich lessons in each individual occurrence, which it would be very advantageous for us to do at another time, yet seeing the character of the whole sum of Joshua’s actions, and how he served as a foreshadow of the coming Christ in the entire scope of what he did, provides us with the necessary broad principles that will be of great assistance for seeking Christ in all the minutia of the text; and that is really the burden of this whole series of reflections – not, that is, to bring out every particular of the text in detail, which is an undertaking far too great for the narrow confines of this book, but rather to show in a general fashion how the whole of scriptures is centered in every way on the person and work of Christ, so that more detailed studies might thence become much more fruitful. Continue Reading

After the fierce anger of the Lord against that which was accursed among the people had been turned away by the utter destruction of Achan and his family, Joshua and the people of Israel enjoyed great success in their warfare against all the nations surrounding them; but the enemies of the people did not just lie down and die, but the more clearly they saw their advancing doom, the more they raged and schemed and strove against the certain victory of Israel’s captain, and sought by any means possible to subvert them. First of all, one hostile nation tried to infiltrate the people by deception, and had some measure of success; and then, a great king arose in Jerusalem, and gathered other kings unto himself, and waged a last great assault against Israel, hoping utterly to defeat them once and for all; but instead, they were put to a terrible end, for the Lord fought for Israel, and did great and wonderful things that had never been seen before. How this all happened, and what it foreshadowed, will be the subject of our enquiry. Continue Reading

We may learn something very important from the account of Achan, and the trouble he brought upon Israel; and that is, that even when God has entered into covenant with his people, he still cannot tolerate that which is accursed, and will not permit it to enter his presence, but will pour out his fierce anger upon it, until it is utterly consumed. The people of Israel, under Joshua, that great type of the Savior, had just won a mighty victory over Jericho, and were confident that the Lord would fulfill to them his promise, and give them all the land that he had covenanted to give them. And so, when they came upon the next city, a little place named Ai, they sent only a few men against it, and were very certain of its soon downfall; but those men were dealt a resounding defeat, and they were all perplexed, and cried out to the Lord. Continue Reading

In the blessed visions of Isaiah the prophet, we may meet with a coming Messiah more meek and gentle than all men, who will suffer willingly for the redemption of his people (e.g. Isaiah 50:6; 52:13-53:12); but at the same time, we are given glimpses of this same Messiah as a warrior returning from a great slaughter, his robes stained red with the blood of all the enemies upon whom he had been trampling in his fury (Isaiah 63:1-6). From this portrait of the Christ, we may gather that he is uniquely diverse in his altogether excellent attributes, being both humble and approachable to his people, and yet most terrible in the fierceness of his wrath, which he will pour out against all who are not his own; and as we continue in the histories of Joshua, that great type of the Savior, we may see this latter excellency displayed as well in his own biography: for after he had brought his people into the promised land, meekly and humbly passing before them into the waters which flowed from Adam and symbolized the wrath of God, as a type of the Messiah suffering on the cross; then, he showed what terrible things he had in store for all their enemies, when he brought down the walls of mighty Jericho, and spared no one except Rahab the prostitute, but devoted every man, woman, and child beside to utter destruction by the mouth of his terrible sword. Continue Reading

If, as we have seen, Joshua was a notable type of the Savior primarily because he rose up after Moses, and accomplished what even that great leader of the people had been unable to do; and if the one great act which Moses had been insufficient for was to bring the people of Israel across the Jordan and into the land which God had promised to their fathers to give to them; then we may expect to see very many wonderful and instructive signs and types of the Messiah surrounding the time when the typical savior Joshua actually brought the people of Israel into the promised land of Canaan; and in this expectation, we will not at all be disappointed, when we examine the account before us today with the eyes of faith, comparing spiritual things with spiritual, and hoping by the Spirit to see the great redemption of our Lord and Savior most poignantly displayed before our eyes. Continue Reading

It is implied by the very term “savior” that there is an enemy from which the people need to be delivered: if there were no enemy before whom the children of Israel were unable to stand, then they would have no need of a deliverer, or savior. But furthermore, in order to save a people who are in bondage to an enemy stronger than themselves, it is also necessary that the savior be stronger than this enemy, and able to overcome him. So then, it is manifest that, if one is truly a savior to one people, then he must also be a conqueror and destroyer of another, stronger people, to whom the people of his salvation are in subjection. We have already seen that Joshua, the successor to Moses, was a mighty savior of the people, and that he prefigured thereby the great and coming Savior, Jesus Christ; but now, as we continue through the history of Joshua, we will see that, just as he embarked upon his role of saving some, he entered at the same time upon the complementary role of destroying others. In this, as well, he was acting as a type of Jesus, who in saving his people was utterly destroying their fierce enemy, the devil, who was holding them captive to sin and death (Heb. 2:14-15). Continue Reading

If we were forced to choose one word to sum up the significance of the five books of Moses, we could scarcely find a better than the term “foundational”: first of all, because the Pentateuch is of such vital importance to all biblical revelation that should follow; and second, because it is manifestly incomplete and expectant in its character. Its importance should be obvious: there is nothing in the prophets that may not be found in seminal form somewhere in the Pentateuch, nor may there be found anything absolutely new in all the Old Testament writings beside; and in spite of its common designation as the “New” Testament, there is nothing we may find there, either, that does not hark back to the writings of Moses, and complete and fulfill them all. This is why the long-awaited Savior, Jesus the Messiah, reminded his disciples before he sent them out on their mission, “These are my words that I spoke unto you when I was still with you, that all the things written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning me must be fulfilled;” and then he went on to explain, “Thus it is written that the Christ should suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance unto the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all the nations.” Continue Reading

Thus far in our reflection on the types and images of the Savior from the pages of the Old Testament, we have spent much time looking at specific events, persons, and occurrences which foreshadowed the Messiah in some particular way. In this way, the Holy Spirit has uncovered before our eyes of faith many rich and precious gems, multi-faceted and many-splendored tessarae, each one worth mountains of gold and more precious than all the wealth of ten thousand worlds. But here the wonder increases many-fold: not one of these precious truths was designed to stand alone, but each takes on a deeper and richer significance by virtue of its relationship with all the other truths surrounding it. We may therefore compare the types of the Old Testament to the design of a masterful mosaic: each piece is chosen for its intrinsic value and beauty, and so arranged that, by its place in the whole work, it functions together with the other pieces to bring out a brilliant scene to the eyes of him who steps back but a few paces, and observes the entire display at once. So, throughout the history of redemption, we meet with many types of Jesus the Redeemer; but when we scan redemptive history from beginning to end, we find that these many, various types work together to form one great type. The stories of God’s works are so many types; and the history of his epoch-work brings those types together into one vast picture. The stories of various persons of God are types, and the story of the people of God is the great type which overshadows the whole, and brings all of God’s redemptive mercies into one mighty redemptive history, which is the display of the character of God, and hence the shadow of the lovely face of Jesus our Savior, in whom God’s glory finds its final expression (2 Corinthians 4:6; John 1:14,18). Continue Reading

We have already noted the marvelous events surrounding the beginning of Elisha’s ministry, how he received the Spirit of Elijah and began to do mighty works, taking away the bitterness of death from the waters of the land, and calling down judgment upon the enemies of God. Now, as we examine the remaining accounts of his life, we may see foreshadowed in many other mighty ways the gospel-truths of the Kingdom of Christ. Let us turn to these accounts now with a hunger to know our Redeemer, and with a prayer for that same Spirit of God to open our eyes to the riches of his eternal word. Continue Reading

Of the Messiah in each of his three offices (that is, his offices of prophet, priest, and king), we encounter in the Old Testament scriptures certain types and foreshadows that stand out from all the others by virtue of the clarity and pre-eminence with which they signify the coming Savior, over and above every other example of their kind. Thus, although the persons and activities of all of the Aaronic priesthood prefigured, in some way, the person and work of Jesus Christ, yet it was the sole priest Melchizedek who served as the ultimate type and example of our great High Priest (see Genesis 14:17-20; Hebrews 6:20-7:28). Although the entire line of Davidic kings looked ahead to the reigning Jesus, it was the golden age under David and Solomon, and most specifically, the lifetime of David himself, in which we find the most notable expressions of Jesus’ life and victory. And, although every true prophet of the Lord called to mind the infallible words and teachings of Jesus, he was pre-eminently to be a prophet “like unto [Moses]” (Deuteronomy 18:15), who spoke with God face-to-face, brought the holy Law of God to the people, and interceded for them with earnestness and effectiveness. Continue Reading

David therefore departed from there, and escaped to the cave Adullam: and when his brothers and all his father’s house heard it, they went down there to him. And every one that was in distress, and every one that was in debt, and every one that was discontented, gathered themselves unto him; and he became a captain over them: and there were with him about four hundred men. – 1 Samuel 22:1-2

Abide with me, fear not: for he that seeks my life seeks your life: but with me you shall be in safeguard.– 1 Samuel 22:23

There can be no doubt that the most outstanding type of the Messiah in all the Old Testament scriptures is King David. At every point in the detailed history of his life, we see shadows of the promised Christ, who would likewise come as a Shepherd and a King, strike an irreversible blow against the great champion of the enemy of God’s people, be despised by his brothers and his kindred; and yet finally win for his people a great victory, make them into a great nation, and reign over them as their true King and Deliverer. And even beyond these striking histories, we encounter in David’s psalms some of the clearest and most poignant descriptions of the trials, temptations, and victories that Christ himself should undergo in his great work of redemption – psalms such as twenty-two, forty, and a great many more like them. Moreover, it was promised to David alone that the One who should reign forever would come from his loins, and sit upon his throne (2 Samuel 7:12-16). For all of these reasons, the title “Son of David” was the preferred title for Christ, when he walked upon the earth (e.g. Matthew 1:1; Matthew12:23; Matthew 21:15-16); and in the prophets, we have the singular example of the Christ being referred to simply as “David,” so compelling and thoroughgoing was the typology (Ezekiel 37:24-25). Continue Reading

In all the sacred histories of the nation of Israel, the reader who loves Christ and is taught by the Spirit is everywhere confronted with beautiful images, types, and foreshadows of the coming Messiah’s person and work. This sacred history as typical history no doubt reaches its peak in the golden era of David and Solomon; but even after their rich and fruitful reigns, there follows much history which is well-suited to instruct one in the gospel-truths of Christ. Perhaps this instructive quality finds its deepest expression in the person and reign of Hezekiah, a notable type of the Redeemer. And of the many ways in which his qualities and actions tend to signify the Savior who would come from his line, the most striking is certainly his re-institution of the Passover; which is the occurrence to which we hope to devote the majority of our time. God, open our eyes! Continue Reading

I have long desired to facilitate the spread of a more fundamentally Christian reading of the Old Testament. As Jesus himself said, the Old Testament scriptures are “they which testify of me” (John 5:39). In the pursuit of this goal, it has been an intention of mine, as soon as I had continued my series of “Images of the Savior” throughout the gospels, to proceed through the entire course of the Old Testament. However, crass reality has forced me to acknowledge that the series through the gospels alone may take a very long time, such as I may not even have left upon this earth. Hence, I have decided, for the present, to leave off where I am in the gospels, and to attempt the same approach at various points in the Old Testament – not from the beginning, at the account of creation, as I had before imagined, but randomly, as the Spirit opens my eyes to Christ from various accounts. The following is the first of these essays, this one from the book of Esther. God grant that this brief meditation, as well as all which should follow, may serve to deepen, if only a little, the reader’s knowledge of and love for Christ our Savior. Continue Reading