Type and Anti-type: The Missing Link

"And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself."Luke 24:27

Abundant light concerning the future has been revealed to God’s people. By the principle of type and anti-type employed throughout the Spirit of Prophecy we may now know what is to transpire in the future. God’s last-day Message is based upon this principle - only by its application are we able to grasp the significance of this Message concerning the judgment Hour, the fall of Babylon, worshiping the image to the beast, the drying up of the Euphrates, the coming of the Kings from the sun rising, Armageddon, etc. Those who think that understanding concerning the drying up of the Euphrates must await its fulfillment, fail to apply the principle of type and anti-type although they apply that same principle to Revelation 14: 6-12 to comprehend the judgment Hour Message. That is, they are able to grasp clearly the meaning of God’s last-day Message so long as they apply this principle, but are unable to grasp the significance of the drying up of the Euphrates because they do not apply that same principle to this portion of God’s last-day Message. Logic demands that all the Message be understood in the light of type and anti-type.

All the gospel was shown by the types - acted parables - of the sanctuary services (Psalm 77: 13, etc.). The Message we proclaim is “the everlasting gospel” (Revelation 14: 6, 7), and to understand it requires the application of types and anti-types. “All” the recorded experiences of ancient Israel “were our examples,- or 11 our figures”, as stated in the margin of 1 Corinthians 10: 5. “Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples [margin, ‘types’]: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come” (1 Corinthians 10: 11). In this instance, the Apostle Paul does not point out the types of the sanctuary services, but “all” the experiences of the children of Israel.

The inspired Word is clear and definite: “For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning” (Romans 15: 4). “The entire system of Judaism was a compacted prophecy of the gospel” (DA. 212). Not only Israel’s sanctuary and its typical services foreshadowed greater things to come, but the liberation from Egypt, the victory at the Red Sea, the desert experiences, the wars, the entrance into the promised Land – all recorded in the Old Testament concerning Israel - were written as “types,” or “figures”, or “acted parables” (PK. 423; DA. 582) illustrating the experiences of the church and her enemies.

Observe the following statements from the pen of God’s servant:

“The history of the wilderness life of Israel was chronicled for the benefit of the Israel of God to the close of time ... [which] God would have His people review . . . in their preparation for the heavenly Canaan” (PP. 293). “The apostle Paul plainly states that the experience of the Israelites in their travels has been recorded for the benefit of those living in this age of the world” (3T. 358).

“The trials of the children of Israel, and their attitude just before the first coming of Christ, have been presented before me again and again to illustrate the position of the people of God in their experience before the second coming of Christ.” (R. & H. 1890, No. 7).

“This song [of Moses at the end of his life] was not only historical, but prophetic. While it recounted the wonderful dealings of God with His people in the past, it also foreshadowed the great events of the future, the final victory of the faithful when Christ shall come the second time” (PP. 467).

“We are repeating the history of that people [ancient Israel]” (T. No. 31, p. 156).

“As the angel of God presented these facts in the travels and experience of the children of Israel, I was deeply impressed with the especial regard of God for His people ... His modern Israel.” (2T. 108).

The principle that Israel’s history is prophetic of the experiences of the church is continually employed in the Spirit of Prophecy. Therefore when we desire to understand events that are still future in the experience of the church, we may learn them simply by studying the events that occurred in the history of ancient Israel. For instance, how do we know that “the work which the church has failed to do in a time of peace and prosperity, she will have to do in a terrible crisis, under the most discouraging, forbidding circumstances . . . under the fiercest opposition from enemies of the faith”? Because we learn from the history of ancient Israel recorded in the Bible that “the work which God had given His people to do in prosperity was done by them in captivity, under great trial and embarrassment” (see 5T. 454-467).

“The opposition and discouragement that the builders in Nehemiah’s day met from open enemies and pretended friends, is typical of the experience that those today will have who work for God” (PK. 644). Among other anti-typical applications concerning Nehemiah’s work, God’s servant says: “As the time of the end draws near, Satan’s temptations will be brought to bear with greater power upon God’s workers. He will employ human agents to mock and revile those who ‘build the wall.” (PK. 659).

A study of Nehemiah 2: 1, 6; 5: 14-16; 6: 15; 13: 6 reveals that within a short space of twelve years Nehemiah had completed all his work. The “repairing” (see Nehemiah 3) of the walls of Jerusalem was done in 52 days (see Nehemiah 6: 15). This quick work will be repeated in the experience of “modern Israel.” (9T. 11; 5T. 754; Romans 9: 28).

The sealing brought to view in Nehemiah 9: 38; 10: 1, 29 was done in a short space of time. The Spirit of Prophecy says: “The sealing time is very short, and will soon be over.” (EW. 58).

Though the work will be completed amid discouraging circumstances, “the Lord will give us favor before the world until our work is done.” (6T. 21). We read God’s thrice-repeated promise to ancient Israel: “I will give this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians” (Exodus 3:21; 11:3; 12:36). This promise to ancient Israel referred to their last days in Egypt.

When writing of the coming world-wide threat to destroy the remnant people of God, the servant of the Lord bases her statements upon the Old Testament record of Jacob being threatened with death by his brother Esau, see Genesis 32: 6-11; GC. 616, 618-621. Jacob’s deliverance typifies the deliverance which will come to God’s people, see Jeremiah 30: 8; GC. 635-652. When writing of the coming death decree, which will be passed upon spiritual Israel in the last days, God’s servant directs us back to the Old Testament to the death decree passed upon the Jews in the days of Mordecai and Queen Esther. “The decree which is to go forth against the people of God will be very similar to that issued by Ahasuerus against the Jews in the time of Esther” (5T. 450, 451).

Thus we could proceed to show how the Spirit of Prophecy clearly outlines the events to transpire all along the pathway of experience which modern Israel will travel between here and the everlasting Canaan by anti-typically employing the experiences of ancient Israel. By employing the same principle we know now the meaning of the Revelator’s portrayal of the drying up of the waters of the Euphrates and the coming of the Kings from the sun rising, for in Revelation 16:12 we are pointed back to the deliverance of ancient Israel when Cyrus, coming from the East (Isaiah 41:2; 46:11) overthrew Babylon by drying up the Euphrates. To reject this anti typical application is to reject the simplest of Bible teaching and, instead, clutch at a human interpretation of the sacred Word of God.

“The prophecies which the great I AM has given in His word, uniting link after link in the chain of events, from eternity of the past to the eternity in the future, tell us where we are today in the procession of the ages, and what may be expected in the time to come” (Special Testimonies, Series A, Number 11, Page 29).

“A line of truth extending from that time (after 1844) to the time when we shall enter the city of God, was made plain to me.” (Special Testimonies, series B, Number 2, Pages 56, 57).