Concise Bible Dictionary:
This English word occurs in the A. V. only in the margin. The Greek word is τύπος, from which comes the word “type.”
It is translated “print,” (John 20:25);
“figure,” (Acts 7:43; Rom. 5:14);
“form,” (Rom. 6:17);
“fashion,” (Acts 7:44);
“manner,” (Acts 23:25);
“pattern,” (Titus 2:7; Heb. 8:5);
“ensample,” (1 Cor. 10:11, margin, “type”); Phil. 3:17; 1 Thess. 1:7; 2 Thess. 3:9; 1 Pet. 5:3);
and “example,” (1 Cor. 10:6; 1 Tim. 4:12).
That which is prefigured in a type is seen in the “antitype,” ἀντίτυπον translated “like figure,” (1 Pet. 3:21); and “figure,” (Heb. 9:24). If the tabernacle be taken as an illustration, the type or pattern was seen in the mount, that is, figuratively in heaven, and the tabernacle itself was the antitype (Heb. 9:24). Then again, the tabernacle may be taken as a type, and the saints now, as forming the house of God, the antitype. Christ is “Son over His own house, whose house are we” (Heb. 3:6). Many things in the Old Testament are typical of those in the New Testament, as seen in 1 Corinthians 10:11; but, as in all else, the teaching of the Holy Spirit is needed, or there is danger of adopting connections which are merely fanciful.
A few examples of types are here appended: the student of scripture will find it profitable to search out (in dependence upon the Holy Spirit) the numerous types of the Old Testament with their antitypes in the New Testament They may be found in
1, persons;
2, places;
3, things;
4, events.
1. ADAM as the first man, under whom all earthly created things were set—type of Christ, the last Adam, who is Head over all things, the second Man (Gen. 1:28; Rom. 5:14; Heb. 2:7).
EVE as builded from a rib of Adam, and declared to be bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh—type of the church, those who in relation to Christ are members of His body—of His flesh and of His bones—(Gen. 2:22-23; Eph. 4:16; Eph. 5:30).
CAIN as ignoring the fall of man and approaching. God by an offering which was the fruit of the ground which He had cursed, and afterward slaying his brother, became a type of the natural man’s evil in offering to the holy God that which He could not righteously accept, and of his rejection of Christ (Gen. 4:3; Acts 17:23, 25; Heb. 11:4; 1 John 3:12).
ISAAC offered up and received as from the dead—type of Christ as crucified and raised again (Gen. 22:1-18; Heb. 11:17-19; Rom. 4:25; Gal. 3:15-16).
(Consider also Enoch, Melchizedek, Joseph, Moses, Aaron, Joshua, Boaz, David, Solomon, Zerubbabel, Cyrus, Hagar, Ahithophel, and others.)
2. EGYPT as the place where the Israelites were in slavery to the Egyptians—type of the world where mankind is in bondage to Satan, the god of this world (Ex. 2:23; 2 Cor. 4:4; Gal. 1:4; 1 John 5:19).
ZION as the place where David pitched a tent for the ark and had his throne and ruled over God’s chosen people—type of delivering grace established in power and blessing in Christ: Zion will yet be the seat of Messiah’s power on earth in millennial blessing (Psa. 2:6; Psa. 78:68-72; Rom. 5:21; Heb. 12:22; Rev. 14:1).
BABYLON as the center of idolatry and Gentile apostasy from God and the abode of corruption in the activity of power—type of papal Rome whose name is Mystery, Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth (Gen. 11:1-9; Isa. 14:4-23; Dan. 4:30; Rev. 17-18).
(Consider also Sodom and Gomorrah, Jericho, Gilgal, Assyria, Tyre.)
3. THE MANNA given by God from heaven to the Israelites—type of heavenly grace for wilderness circumstances set forth in Christ who was the true Bread come down from heaven (Ex. 16:15; John 6:31-33).
THE BRAZEN SERPENT as raised up by Moses, a look to which gave life—type of the condemnation of sin in the flesh in the death of Christ as the One lifted up on the cross, which thus became the door into eternal life (Num. 21:8-9; John 3:14; Rom. 8:3).
THE WELL OF WATER as a resource from God, digged in the wilderness, Israel singing, “Spring up, O well”—type of the Holy Spirit compared to “a well of living water springing up into everlasting life” (Num. 21:17-18; John 4:14).
THE TWO GOATS (forming one sin offering, Lev. 16:5), the one sacrificed and the other driven into the wilderness—type of the double effect of the death of Christ, which meets all the demands of a holy God, so that He remembers no more the sins of His people, and removes from them all imputation of sin (Lev. 16:8-9,21; Heb. 10:12, 17; 1 John 1:7).
(Consider also the various offerings, the tabernacle and its vessels, the smitten rock, cedar trees, vine, &c.)
4. THE DELUGE (Gen. 7:11-24)—type of the sudden destruction that will fall upon the guilty world (Luke 17:26-27).
THE EXODUS AND PASSAGE OF THE RED SEA (Ex. 12-14—type of redemption—Col. 1:13; Heb. 2:14-15).
(Consider the various events which happened to Israel in the wilderness, 1 Corinthians 10:11, the passage of the Jordan, the return of a remnant from Babylon.)