Luke 21:8

Christian, Be Not Deceived!

CHAPTER VI.

EXAMPLES FROM THE SPIRIT OF PROPHECY OF THE SPIRITUAL INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURES.

"In every page, whether history, or precept, or prophecy, the Old Testament Scriptures are irradiated with the glory of the Son of God." D.A. 211.

Abraham offering his son on Mt. Moriah is applied as a type of God permitting His Son to die on Calvary. See D.A. 468, 469.

"The ladder represents Jesus . . . All this was revealed to Jacob in his dream." P.P. 184.

Christ's incarnation "had been shadowed forth in types and symbols. . The symbol chosen for the representation of the Deity was a lowly shrub, that seemingly had no attraction. This enshrined the Infinite. The all-merciful God shrouded His glory in a most humble type." D.A. 23.

"The Passover was to be both commemorative and typical, not only pointing back to the deliverance from Egypt, but forward to the greater deliverance which Christ was to accomplish in freeing His people from the bondage of sin." P.P. 277.

"The deliverance of Israel from Egypt was an object lesson of redemption, which the Passover was intended to keep in memory. The slain lamb, the unleavened bread, the sheaf of first fruits, represented the Saviour." D.A. 77.

The incense offered in the sanctuary "represents the merits and intercession of Christ." P.P. 353.

"In every part it [the ritual service] was a symbol of Him; and it had been full of vitality and spiritual beauty." D.A. 29. "The Saviour typified in the rites and ceremonies of the Jewish law is the very same that is revealed in the gospel." P.P. 373. '

"By his rash act, Moses took away the force of the lesson that God purposed to teach. The rock, being a symbol of Christ, had been once smitten, as Christ was to be once offered. The second time, it was needful only to speak to the rock, as we have only to ask for blessings in the name of Jesus. By the second smiting of the rock the significance of this beautiful figure of Christ was destroyed." P.P. 418.

"Its [the temple] services were typical of the sacrifice of the Son of God. The priesthood was established to represent the . . . work of Christ. The entire plan of sacrificial worship was a foreshadowing of the Saviour's death. Since the whole ritual economy was symbolical of Christ, it had no value apart from Him." D.A. 165.

"The Jews lost the spiritual life from their ceremonies, and clung to the dead forms." D.A. 29.

"Thus the Lord ... taught the people by means of a series of acted parables." PK. 423. " . . the ceremonial sacrifices ordained by God as a type of the coming Redeemer, Satan discerned in these a symbol of communion between earth and heaven." P.K. 685. "In patriarchal times . and . with the entire ritual of the sanctuary services throughout Israel's history. In the ministration of the tabernacle, and of the temple that afterward took its place, the people were taught each day, by means of types and shadows." PK. 684.

"The lamb representing Christ had been brought to be slain. Clothed in his significant and beautiful dress, the priest stood with lifted knife as did Abraham when he was about to slay his son. . . . Type has met antitype in the death of God's Son." D.A. 756, 757.

"Christ arose from the dead as the first fruits of those that slept. He was the antitype of the wave- sheaf.... For more than a thousand years this symbolic ceremony had been performed.. . So Christ the first fruits represented the great spiritual harvest to be gathered for the kingdom of God. His resurrection is the type and pledge of the resurrection of all the righteous dead." D.A. 785, 786.

"He was the spiritual light that in symbol and type and prophecy had shone upon Israel. . As the sunbeams penetrate to the remotest corners of the earth, so does the light of the Sun of Righteousness shine upon every soul." D.A. 464.

"John the Baptist was the type of the second advent messenger." D.A. 103; 8T. 9, 332. "As a symbol of cleansing from sin, he baptized them in the waters of the Jordan." D.A. 104.

The above extracts from the Spirit of Prophecy show that the Bible contains rich spiritual truths expressed in types, symbols, and acted parables. The following example shows that the Spirit of Prophecy also draws attention to spiritual lessons found in Old Testament narratives:

"Many are the spiritual lessons to he gathered from the story of the healing of the waters. The new cruse, the salt, the spring—all are highly symbolic. In casting salt into the bitter spring, Elisha taught the same spiritual lesson imparted centuries later by the Saviour to His disciples when He declared, 'Ye are the salt of the earth. The salt mingling with the polluted spring purified its waters, and brought life and blessing where before had been blighting and death." P.K. 231. "The polluted stream represents the soul that is separate from God." PK. 233.

Similarly, spiritual lessons may be drawn from every part of Holy Writ.

The New Testament principle of seeing something "greater" in Old Testament narratives and prophecies, even though fulfilled in Palestine, is also the principle followed in the Spirit of Prophecy. For instance, the triumphal entry of the Messiah into Jerusalem, fulfilling Zechariah's prophecy (Zech. 9:9; Matt. 21:4, 5; John 12:15, 16), is applied as "a dim foreshadowing of His coming in the clouds of heaven with power and glory, amid the triumph and rejoicing of the saints." D.A., p. 580.

Literal rains which fell in Palestine are employed as types of spiritual rain falling in all the world. God's servant says

"Under the figure of the early and the latter rain, that falls in Eastern lands at seed-time and harvest, the Hebrew prophets foretold the bestowal of spiritual grace in extraordinary measure upon God's church." A.A. 54, 55; TM. 506, 507; 8T. 21, etc.

The principle of applying, in a spiritual, world-wide sense, Old Testament history, geography, etc., is maintained throughout the Spirit of Prophecy and the New Testament. The Book of Revelation was constructed on this principle. Writing of the Revelation, Gods servant declares:

"This book demands close, prayerful study, lest it be interpreted according to the ideas of men and false construction be given to the sacred word of God, which in its symbols and figures means so much to us." E.G. White, Letter 16, 1900.

The importance of the "symbols and figures" of the Revelation is again emphasized by the Lord's servant:

"In figures and symbols, subjects of vast importance were presented to John . . . that the people of God . . . might have an intelligent understanding of the perils and conflicts before them. . . . In the Revelation are portrayed the deep things of God. . . In the Revelation all the books of the Bible meet and end.... The names of the seven churches are symbolic of the church in different periods of the Christian era. The number seven indicates completeness, and is symbolic . . the symbols used . . .Christ is spoken of as walking in the midst of the golden candlesticks. Thus is symbolized His relation to the churches." A.A. 583-586.

Throughout the Spirit of Prophecy we see applied the use of type and antitype in connection with the Third Angel's Message:

"Arguments drawn from the Old Testament types also pointed to the autumn as the time when the event represented by the 'cleansing of the sanctuary' must take place. This was made very clear as attention was given to the manner in which the types relating to the first advent of Christ had been fulfilled. The slaying of the passover lamb was a shadow of the death of Christ. . . . The sheaf of first fruits ... was typical of the resurrection of Christ.... These types were fulfilled. . . . And as the antitype of the wave-sheaf, our Lord was raised from the dead . the first fruits of them that slept,' a sample of all the resurrected just. . In like manner, the types which relate to the second advent must be fulfilled at the time pointed out in the symbolic service." GC. 399.

Types abound in the Old Testament, and the principle of antitypes operates throughout the New. The types–historical incidents, "acted parables," etc. were literal foreshadowings of spiritual things to come. The New Testament shows that the disciples' faith was based upon the fact that Christ fulfilled "the types and prophecies of the Old Testament." D.A. 796. The Third Angel's Message is also based upon "the types and prophecies of the Old Testament." We can prove that we have the truth of the Third Angel's Message only as we employ the New Testament principle of applying in a spiritual, world-wide sense the literal types of the Old Testament.

Many futurists employ a system of types and antitypes but, because they believe that the things of Israel still belong to the literal Jews, they misapply the antitypes, in connection with literal Israel in Palestine. But, since Christ was enthroned in the heavenly temple and the Holy Spirit became His representative on earth, the types do not have any literal, Palestinian meaning: they are spiritual and world-wide in their antitypical application.