The Church in Types and Shadows

Every word of God is divinely inspired, and the Bible that has come down to us is God's way of leaving us without excuse should we fail to understand His divine message. While the Old Testament is historical, it is also prophetic. The prophetical aspect of it is what applies to our generation. Some prophecies are hidden from view until they are fulfilled, clothed in types and shadows, and sometimes even in history, which springs to life for us by direct comparison. The inspiration of God gives all Scripture. God inspired Scripture for the learning of the last generation before the return of Christ. We live in an age when these things will be fulfilled according to the Word of God. Since this is the case, it would obligate us to study the items in the Scripture written before our time for our learning. In the analogy of types and shadows, the types and shadows would prefigure the intended object or the real thing. Prefigure means that the shadows would appear before the real thing came into physical being. God's light shined from the past and struck the "type," casting a shadow that prefigured what was to be. Types and shadows were not the real things but were forerunners of it to enlighten us on what to look for when the real thing would come along.