The God Code

Types and Shadows in the Old Testament

AND THEIR FULFILLMENT IN THE NEW TESTAMENT

A course designed to the examine the use of types, shadows, parables and mysteries in the Bible and the means of

interpretation and application in the life of the Christian. It will particularly look at the Sabbath, circumcision, the seven Feasts of the Lord and other prophetic pictures.

Dr. Steve Highlander

steve@stevehighlander.com

The God Code: Types and Shadows in the Old Testament Dr. Steve Highlander Table of Contents

Course Description ........................................................................................... 3

Section 1: Introduction to Types and Shadows .............................................. 4

The Issue of interpretation ........................................................................... 5

Some Definitions .......................................................................................... 6

Scriptural Examples ..................................................................................... 8

Old Testament Shadows .............................................................................. 8

The Old and New Covenants ...................................................................... 10

Biblical Numerology .................................................................................... 14

Colors and Metals ....................................................................................... 17

Section 2: Types and Shadows and their Fulfilment in Christ ..................... 18

Paul Deals with the Old Testament Types and Shadows ......................... 18

Scriptural Types and Shadows .................................................................. 21

Old Testament People and Stories Who Typified Christ .......................... 33

Section 3: The Feasts of the Lord .................................................................. 43

Prophetic Types .......................................................................................... 43

An Overview of the Feasts .......................................................................... 44

The Conclusion of the First Four Feasts ................................................... 67

The Fall Feasts ― Future Fulfillment ......................................................... 68

The Day of Atonement (Yom Kipur) ........................................................... 72

The Feast of Tabernacles or Sukkot ......................................................... 76

Conclusions ......................................................................................................... 86

1 | P a g e

The God Code: Types and Shadows in the Old Testament Dr. Steve Highlander The God Code

Dr, Steven L. Highlander

Copyright 2018, all rights reserved. No portion of this course may be reproduced in any form without the written permission of the author.

Scripture refences:

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Published by:

C3M Ministries

232 North Huttig Avenue

Independence, Missouri

Contact the Author:

For usage, reprint rights, questions or more information or additional resources please contact the author at:

Email: steve@stevehighlander.com

SKYPE: steve.highlander

2 | P a g e

The God Code: Types and Shadows in the Old Testament Dr. Steve Highlander Course Description

The God Code: Types and Shadows in the Old Testament will provide the student with hermeneutic methods of interpretation and application of the various “types” and “shadows” referred to in the Bible.

The student will gain a working knowledge of what types and shadows are, how to interpret and apply them. and how they relate to our New Testament spiritual experiences.

Subjects covered will include:

 What are Types and Shadows

 Biblical Examples of Types and Shadows

 Biblical Methods of Interpretation

 The Sabbath

 The Seven Feasts of the Lord

 The Tabernacle of Moses

 Circumcision

This course is built on the Biblical concept that God gave the His people physical pictures in the Old Testament to convey spiritual truth in the New Testament. By interpreting and applying them to our New Testament spiritual experience, the student will gain a greater understanding of God’s eternal purposes and how He is working to accomplish them in the life of the individual believer, the world and for eternity.

These three verses provide the framework for our interpretation and application of the types and shadows:

“For this reason, let no man be your judge in any question of food or drink or feast days or new moons or Sabbaths: For these are an image of the things which are to come; but the body is Christ's.” Colossians 2:16-17 The Bible in Basic English

“They serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things. For when Moses was about to erect the tent, he was instructed by God, saying, “See that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown you on the mountain.” Hebrews 8:5 ESV

“Now these things were done as an example; and were put down in writing for our teaching, on whom the last days have come.” I Corinthians 10:11 The Bible in Basic English

3 | P a g e

The God Code: Types and Shadows in the Old Testament Dr. Steve Highlander Section 1:

Introduction to Types and Shadows

This course is called The God Code because God chose to cloak His truth and wisdom in the form of types and shadows in the Old Testament and parables in the New Testament. The apostle Paul also talked about several “mysteries”

in the Bible that had been hidden — but were now being revealed (Colossians 1:26). God did this for a reason. He reserves the right to reveal His eternal truth and wisdom through spiritual revelation by the Holy Spirit. Those without the Holy Spirit cannot understand the deeper spiritual truths contained in the Bible.

In 1 Corinthians chapter Paul pens the famous words, eye has not seen, ear has not heard neither entered into the heart the things which God has prepared for those that love Him (2:9). Most preachers stop here and start talking about the glories of heaven which we cannot comprehend until we get to eternity.

However, this is not what Paul is talking about. Read verse 10. “But God has revealed them to us through the Spirit.” This issue isn’t what we can’t know, but rather the method which we can know. A few verses later Paul reinforces his original idea. “But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned (verse 14).

The Bible cannot simply be taught as one would science, sociology, history or psychology — although the Bible contains all these subjects and more. The Bible was written by the Spirit of God and must be interpreted by the Spirit of God. One great problem with so many conflicting doctrines today is man trying to read, understand and interpret God’s Word without the revelation of the Holy Spirit.

As Christian disciples we are not looking for information, but revelation. Neither do we want confirmation, but rather transformation.1 Any teaching or doctrinal system that does not produce revelation and transformation is either not the true word of God or is not being taught with an anointing of the Holy Spirit.

1 Religious entities (churches, denominations, schools, ministries, etc. operate on an information/conformation system. We give you the right information (our doctrine, practice, model of church) and we expect you to conform. Christianity is based on a revelation/transformation system. The revelation of the Holy Spirit produces a transformation in our lives. Romans 12 tells us not to be “conformed to the world, but to be transformed by the renewing of our minds.”

4 | P a g e

The God Code: Types and Shadows in the Old Testament Dr. Steve Highlander Jesus said, “You shall know the truth (God’s entire revelation in the universe2, the word, and through the Church3) and the truth shall set you free (transform you from slaves to God’s people, as typified by the Exodus story).

The Issue of interpretation

It must be acknowledged and understood that the Bible requires interpretation. It is obvious that portions of the Holy Scriptures are not meant to be taken literally. Much of the book of Daniel and The Book of the Revelation must be interpreted, as do many prophetic passages. This is especially true when trying to discern what God is saying when He uses types and shadows, parables, allegory and metaphor in the Bible.

Some have said things like, “I don’t interpret the Bible, I just take it for what it says.” While that may sound good and spiritual, the truth is that, “Taking the Bible for what it says,” may be a harder than it looks.

The religious leaders of Jesus’ day prided themselves on interpreting and understanding the Hebrew scriptures – yet they totally missed their Messiah when He showed up.

There are at least a few things that must be considered when interpreting the Bible:

1. Interpretation is the process of determining what the original writer meant within the context of his time and culture. Until someone understands that the bible was written to a people 2000-4000 years ago, in a totally different world and cultural context, we will not be able to accurately interpret it for our modern time and culture.

2. Translation is the process of changing the text from one language to another. The translator must know both languages ― and the cultural context ― well enough to get the sense of the original intent of the writer and be able to accurate translate into the world of a different language and culture. Translation automatically requires interpretation. In other words, unless you are reading an original Greek, Hebrew or Aramaic manuscript, the Bible you are reading has already gone through a process of interpretation. Words and thoughts sometimes do not translate well from one language to another. Idioms, poetry and other literary devices can alter the meaning of the straight text.

3. Cultural context is a key factor in Biblical interpretation. The near eastern worldview of 2000 years ago simply is not the same as the modern western worldview. Social norms, customs, local proverbs, figures of speech, slang, history, poetry, stories and more all played a part when Jesus spoke to the average Jew 2000 years ago. Many of those things are lost to the modern reader, and with it, the ability to 2 Romans 1:19-29

3 Ephesians 3:10-11

5 | P a g e

The God Code: Types and Shadows in the Old Testament Dr. Steve Highlander accurately understand the passage of scripture as it was originally presented.

4. Application is different from interpretation. There is usually only one interpretation to a passage, but there may be more than one application. The same verse may be applied to different situations or people differently. Much of what we call interpretation is application.

We should not argue over application, but we do need to contend for accurate interpretation.

Some Definitions

Before we can proceed, it is important to get a working definition of some of the terms we will be using.

• Shadow: The dictionary definition of a shadow is: “A dark area or shape produced by a body coming between rays of light and a surface.”4 The Bible uses this term to refer to an Old Testament object (person, ritual, event, location, building, etc.) that gives a dim profile of genuine New Testament spiritual truth. Like a real shadow gives an outline of the object it represents, but cannot give the details, so a Biblical shadow can only give us vague information about the truth it conveys. While the shadow has reality, the object casting the shadow is more important than the shadow itself. This is the nature of the Old and New Testaments, the Old is a physical shadow of the New and therefore must give way to the greater reality of Spiritual truth and application.

Our dictionary definition above notes the shadow is caused by light shining on real physical object. This light is the revelation of God, coming from heaven, hitting Jesus Christ and revealing some limited information about Him on earth. Some shadows mentioned in the Bible are the Old Testament feasts, Sabbaths, rituals and rules. The key scripture for “shadows,” is Colossians 2:16-17: “So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ.”

Notice the emphasis put on the “substance.” All Old Testament things are shadows that point to a reality found in Christ Himself ― and by extension ― His church. Therefore, to emphasize the Old Testament types and shadows apart from their fulfillment in Christ is wrong hermeneutics.

• Type: The Greek word for “type” ― Tupos ― is used sixteen times in the New Testament and is variously translated as: print, fashion, form, figure, pattern, manner, example, and likeness. The “type” is the Old Testament picture of the New Testament reality. The reality is called the

“anti-type,” or the fulfillment of the type. There is something similar between the two that is usually defined by the New Testament. Types are typically persons. For Instance, although King David lived under the 4 Taken from the Google dictionary

6 | P a g e

The God Code: Types and Shadows in the Old Testament Dr. Steve Highlander time of the Law of Moses, He acted as prophet, priest and king ― a type of Christ. Other “types” in the Bible would include: Joseph, Abraham’s servant, Solomon and others. The key text for this term is Romans 5:14:

“Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come.” Adam was the type (something similar) and Christ was the “anti-type,” the fullness or reality.

• Allegory: “A story, poem, or picture that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning, typically a moral or political one. A Symbol.”5 An allegory is much like a parable. A person can tell one story that is true in and of itself, but also have a meaning that is applicable to something totally different. Paul explains that the two mountains (Sinai and Zion) were representative of the two women Abraham had children with (Hagar and Sarah) and the two covenants (Old and New).6

• Parable: “A story that has a lesson or moral that can be applied to other things. Jesus’ main method of teaching involved parables.7 Matthew, Mark and Luke record 31 unique parables of Jesus. Twenty-four were repeated in two or all three of the synoptic gospel accounts for a total of 55 instances of Jesus teaching in parables. Now doubt He told the same parable on many separate occasions to different audiences.

• Mystery: The Greek word for “mystery” is Mysterion.8 The word is derived for the word meaning, “to shut the mouth.” It signifies truth that was revealed but hidden. It also carried with it the idea of secret information that is known only to initiates of a religious order. The words

“mystery” and “revelation” go hand in hand. Mystery is the hiding of a truth, while revelation is the exposing of the truth. The word mystery is used 21 times in the New Testament. There are several “mysteries,”

that we will look at in the next section. A key passage is found in Paul’s letter to the Colossians “…the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints.

To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”9

• Prophetic Double Reference: Sometimes scriptures have both an immediate application and a long-range prophetic application. This is especially true in terms of Old Testament references to Christ. For instance, King David was told that his son would sit on His throne forever. One generation after Solomon the kingdom was divided. Yet we are told that God would give Jesus the throne of His father David.

David’s throne does not exist in a physical, geo-political (actual physical 5 Taken from the Google dictionary.

6 Galatians 4:21-31.

7 Matthew 13:34

8 Strong’s Greek Lexicon #3466 mystērion; from a derivative of μύω muō (to shut the mouth); a secret or “mystery” (through the idea of silence imposed by initiation into religious rites): —

mystery.

9 Colossians 1:27

7 | P a g e

The God Code: Types and Shadows in the Old Testament Dr. Steve Highlander kingdom) sense today, but it exists in the spiritual realm ― and one day will be an earthly reality again. We are also told that the promises made to Abraham were made through Abraham to Christ. “Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, “And to seeds,”

as of many, but as of one, “And to your Seed,” who is Christ….”10

Scriptural Examples

As a starting point we will look at a few scriptures that plainly explain this revelatory strategy of God.

The Parable of the Seed and the Sower

Matthew 13, Mark 4 and Luke 8

Matthew, Mark and Luke record the parable of the seed and sower. While the interpretation and application of the parable is important, there is a secondary message that many people never consider. The disciples are struggling to understand, not only the parable, but why Jesus is even speaking on parables at all. In their reasoning, if He wanted them to understand what He was saying, He should just speak plainly.

Jesus has a different plan and a different motive. He told the Disciples, “To them (the disciples) it was given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of God, but to the rest of the Jews (non-disciples) it was not given.

This brings up several interesting questions.

• Why didn’t Jesus want everyone to hear and understand what He was saying?

• Why were the disciples privileged and others were not?

• Is God being unfair to hide truth from some and reveal it to others.

• What did Jesus mean by “mystery?”

• What are the “mysteries of the Kingdom of God?”

As we consider the answer to these and other questions, we will discover some things about the way that God works.

Old Testament Shadows

“So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ.”11

In this passage Paul explains that the Old Testament rituals and rules were just dim shadows of New Testament spiritual reality. Holy days, rules concerning 10 Galatians 3:16

11 Colossians 2:16-17

8 | P a g e

The God Code: Types and Shadows in the Old Testament Dr. Steve Highlander food, and even the feasts, priesthood, offerings and tabernacle all pointed to a higher truth that needed to be interpreted and applied spiritually.

This explains the apparent contradiction between Old and New Testaments and the requirements of the Law. Christians live under a totally different covenant. We are no longer subject to the Old Covenant with the rules, laws and rituals. Many Christians try to place the Old and New Covenants side by side on equal status of authority, but this is not Biblically accurate.

Others try to mandate the keeping of the laws, rituals, festivals and other Old Testament shadows as if they were still valid for Christians today.

Paul put it this way in I Corinthians 13: We know in part and we prophesy in part. We see a dim vision of reality, it is hazy and dark, but when that which is perfect is come, that which is part shall be done away with.

This verse also has two applications. First it applies to the physical, Old Testament types and shadows giving way to the spiritual reality of Christ in the New Testament, but it also refers to our present understanding being less than what it will be when Christ comes back, and we gain full revelation.

The Pattern for the Mosaic Tabernacle

(The student should stop and read all of Hebrews chapters 8-10.)

“For if He (Jesus) were on earth, He would not be a priest, since there are priests who offer the gifts according to the law; who serve the copy and shadow of the heavenly things, as Moses was divinely instructed when he was about to make the tabernacle. For He said, “See that you make all things according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.” But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as He is also Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises.”12

“For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with these same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect.”13

Here the writer of Hebrews shares a few more important things about shadows.

1. The contrast between the Old Covenant priesthood of Aaron and the New Testament priesthood of Christ. Under the Old Covenant a man had to be a Levite to be a priest and a direct descendant of Aaron to be High Priest.14

12 Hebrews 8:1-6

13 Hebrews 10:1

14 Although from the time of the Roman occupation through 70 AD, the priesthood was bought and sold at the direction of the Roman government – thus invalidating the priesthood before God.

9 | P a g e

The God Code: Types and Shadows in the Old Testament Dr. Steve Highlander Jesus was from the tribe of Judah and could not be a priest under the Old Covenant. There had to be a New Covenant for Him to legally be a High Priest – which the Bible says He is. There is no longer any Old Covenant priesthood – only the High Priest of the New Covenant – Jesus Christ and the priesthood of all believers!15 The New Testament clearly states that the Church is a kingdom of Priests,16 which was God’s original intent.17

2. The Old Covenant Priesthood –indeed the entire temple and sacrificial system –was a “copy and a shadow of heavenly things.”18 Copies are not as valuable as the original. Shadows reflect only a vague outline of the real, but can’t give accurate detail.

3. Moses was given very detailed instructions on how to create the tabernacle and its furnishings, because the Mosaic tabernacle was a pattern of the real tabernacle in heaven. By looking at the Old Covenant tabernacle, priesthood and sacrificial system, we were supposed to be able to discern some things about the New Covenant realities. Note that the tabernacle that Jesus serves in as High Priest is not on earth. It is the true tabernacle in Heaven.19

4. The New Covenant was BETTER than the Old and was established on BETTER promises.20 Do you want something good or something BETTER?

5. The Old Covenant could never make anyone perfect. Only Jesus can perfect a person.21

The Old and New Covenants

It is important to understand the absolute difference between the Old and New Covenants22 and that the New (second) Covenant supersedes the Old (first) one.23 The writer of Hebrews uses the idea of a last will and testament to get 15 I Peter 2:9-10 You will note that this passage is addressed to the Gentiles, not the Jews, because Peter says, “at one time you were not the people of God, but now are the people of God.”

16 The Book of the Revelation 1:5-6

17 God never wanted a kingdom with priests –He wanted a kingdom of priests. See Exodus 19:6. The Jews forfeited this national priesthood when they told Moses they didn’t want to hear from God directly and asked Him to go talk to God and tell them what He said. By their own choice they chose go-between priesthood, and none could go to God directly (Exodus 20:18-20). We see God’s desire transferred to the New Testament Church in I Peter 2:9-10.

18 Hebrews 8:5

19 Hebrews 8;2

20 Hebrews 8:6

21 Hebrews 9:9

22 Hebrews 8:6-7

23 Hebrews 8:13 It is significant to note that Paul says that the Old Covenant is growing obsolete and ready to vanish away. The reason for this was this: at the time of the writing of the book of Hebrews, God was still honoring the Old Covenant for the Jews who had not yet converted to Christianity. Jesus died in 30 AD (not 33 AD) and the Romans sacked Jerusalem and tore down the temple in 70 AD, according to Jesus’ prophecy in Matthew chapter 24. This gave the Jews a forty-year window to hear the gospel and convert. It gave the early church 40

years to evangelize the known world where the Jews has scattered and were living. Forty is the number of probation in the Bible. The Children of Israel were 40 years in the wilderness before 10 | P a g e

The God Code: Types and Shadows in the Old Testament Dr. Steve Highlander his point across.24 A Will and Testament is a legal document testifying to the will (stated purpose and intent) of a person regarding his affairs after he dies.

Legally, and logically, a person can only have one “Last will and Testament.”

He may write one, but if he changes it, all previous versions of his “Last Will and Testament” are invalidated the moment he signs the new document.

A person may have an old copy of a Will and Testament that grants him half of the testator’s estate, but if a new “Last Will and Testament” is put into place before the man dies, changing that will and giving that man 100% of the estate, it does not matter what the first one says. Legally he will get 100%. Others may point to the old Will and Testament and say, “Look here, that fellow only gets 50%, why are you giving him all of it?” It makes no difference how much he points out the old one. He can list the conditions of the old one and even try to change what it says, but the Old Will and Testament simply has no legal power any longer.

This is what God did. He changed His Will and Testament ― to one more beneficial to us.25 The New Covenant was better, was based on better promises and a better sacrifice.26 The old one was ratified with the blood of bulls and goats, but the new one was ratified with the precious blood of Jesus.27

In fact, we need to consider the truth that Gentiles (you are a Gentile unless you are a Jew) were never under the Old Covenant Law of Moses. They were not in Moses’ day, Jesus’ day, Paul’s day, or today. If you are a Gentile, you were never subject to the Law of Moses. Neither were (are) you partakers of the Old Testament Covenant which the Law of Moses was a part. Here are two passages of scripture that make this plain:

“…who are Israelites, to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises; of whom are the fathers and from whom, according to the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, the eternally blessed God. Amen.”28

“Therefore, remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh—who are called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands—

that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth entering the Promised Land. Thus, the nation started and ended with a 40-year probationary period. The second 40 years prepared them to enter the New Testament promised land.

24 Hebrews 9:26-27

25 Hebrews 8:8-9 …I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah — not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt….”

26 Hebrews 8:6

27 Hebrews Chapters 9 and 10

28 Romans 9:4-5

11 | P a g e

The God Code: Types and Shadows in the Old Testament Dr. Steve Highlander of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.”29

You will note in both passages a distinct separation between Jew and Gentile.

In his letter to the Ephesian church Paul makes a point of saying that Gentiles were not under the law, were not part of the Old Covenant or had any hope in God. Trying to make a Gentile subject to the Old Testament is scripturally wrong.

The Mosaic Law, with all the rules and rituals was valid for the time it was in effect ― for the Old Testament period Jews (up to AD 70 – See previous footnote #19). However, the writer of Hebrews tells us that the Old Covenant is ready to vanish away. Not only were the Gentiles not subject to it, the modern Jew is not subject to it any longer― nor indeed can be. The law required a temple and the Aaronic priesthood to function. Neither of those things exist today and have not for nearly 1900 years. When God allowed the destruction the Jewish Temple in 70 AD and the scattering of the Jews all over the world, He was indicating an end of the Old Testament system once and for all.30

“For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second. Because finding fault with them, He says: “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah— not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they did not continue in My covenant, and I disregarded them, says the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. None of them shall teach his neighbor, and none his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them. For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.” In that He says, “A new covenant,” He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.”31 Hebrews 8:7-13

29 Ephesians 2:11-12

30 Dispensational Theology teaches that God will rebuild the temple in the last days and return to Old Covenant worship complete with priesthood and sacrifices. This is entirely against the clear revelation of the New Testament. How could God ever accept an animal sacrifice again, once the blood of Jesus has been shed?

31 The phrase translated “vanish away” (Strong’s Greek Lexicon #G0854) literally means to

“make to disappear.” This is what God did when the nation was scattered, and the temple torn down. The Old Covenant was no longer had the visible (physical) things required to make it work.

12 | P a g e

The God Code: Types and Shadows in the Old Testament Dr. Steve Highlander We find several import spiritual thoughts in this passage.

1. There are two covenants.

2. God was going to make a New Covenant with Israel and Judah. (Note how God differentiates between the two.)32

3. God disregarded Israel because they did not fulfill the Old Covenant. (A covenant between two people had to be kept by both sides or the other party was freed from the obligations of the covenant.) 4. This New Covenant was not going to be like the Old Covenant ― it was going to be completely different in structure and nature.

5. The New Covenant was not based on anyone keeping it ― i.e. outward observation of rules and rituals ― but rather on God doing something spiritual inside of His people.

6. The New Covenant supersedes the Old Covenant. When the New Covenant was ratified by the Blood of Jesus, the Old Covenant was set to vanish away. It is important to note what the writer of Hebrews says in this passage. He said the Old Covenant was “becoming” obsolete and

“was ready” to vanish away. Jesus died in the spring of 30 AD.

Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD. God gave the Jewish people a probationary period of 40 years to turn from the Old Covenant to the New Covenant. The Old Covenant did not simply cease when Jesus died. God still honored the sacrifices which covered the nation and allowed God to work on their behalf. However, He gave the church forty years to preach the gospel in the region where all the Jews lived.

This is the intent of the Book of Acts, to chronicle the apostolic effort to preach the New Covenant to the Jews. When the temple was destroyed in 70 AD, God closed the door on the Old Covenant. When Hebrews was written, the temple had not yet been destroyed and the Old Covenant was still in effect for those Jews who had not yet heard the gospel message. The writer of Hebrews knew that the time was short though and said that the Old Covenant was “ready to vanish away” –but had not yet done so at the time of the writing.

To these thoughts we can add a couple of things:

1. The New Covenant was given to the House of Israel and the House of 32 While every Jew is an Israelite, not every Israelite is a Jew. The terms “Jew” and “Jewish”

came about after the destruction of the first temple and the Babylonian captivity. The term Jew is a derivative of the name of the tribe of Judah. Prior to that the divided Kingdom came to be known as the “house of Israel,” (the rebellious kingdom made up of ten of the 12 tribes of Israel) and the House of Judah,” the people of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin who remained somewhat faithful to God and maintained control of Jerusalem and the temple. The house of Israel rebelled against Assyrians in 721 BC and was scattered throughout the Assyrian kingdom. They have become known as “the lost tribes of Israel,” because they have not maintained tribal identities Only the tribe of Judah returned to rebuild the temple. After their return, they became known as the “Jews” (a derivative of Judah), because the other tribes were no longer definable people groups.

13 | P a g e

The God Code: Types and Shadows in the Old Testament Dr. Steve Highlander Judah. The Jews now have a New Covenant to operate in. The Old Covenant is no longer valid for them because there is no longer a temple in which the prescribed sacrifices can be offered which empowered the Old Covenant. We should ask those who want to keep the Jews under the Old Covenant why they want to do so? We should also ask those who want to make Christians subject to the Old Covenant why they want to do so?

2. The Gentiles can also partake of the New Covenant. It is no longer strictly a Jewish covenant.33

Biblical Numerology

Biblical numerology should not be confused with occultic numerology. Biblical numerology is simply understanding how God used numbers in the Bible to place coded messages into the stories of the people and events it relates to us.

While not every number mentioned in the Bible has prophetic significance you can look for places where the numbers obviously have additional meaning.

Many of the modern translations change the Biblical numbers (cubits, shekels, etc.) to modern numbers. For instance, a cubit was about 18 inches. So, the Bible may use the length of 50 cubits, however the modern translation may change it to 75 feet. While the distance is still accurate, if there was a message coded into the number, the picture is lost.

Additionally, the Hebrew language did not have numbers, but used letters to represent numbers. Many times, the Hebrews letters making up names of people and places carried a hidden numerical message. Such was the name/number of the Beast in Revelation: 666.

“He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man: His number is 666.”34

It is not possible in this study to review all of the reasons why the numbers have specific meanings in the Bible, but the student is encouraged to do more self-study and look up the rationale behind the typically accepted numerical meanings. The goal of this section of this section is to give a brief overview of commonly accepted numerical meanings.

One is indivisible by any number, It represents God as being one and indivisible.

33 (Romans 3:27-31; Romans 9:24; Ephesians 2:11-18)

34 The Book of the Revelation 13:16-18

14 | P a g e

The God Code: Types and Shadows in the Old Testament Dr. Steve Highlander Two is the number of witness and support, it may also refer to Jesus as the second person of the Godhead.

Three was a perfect number in ancient cultures. It may also refer to the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Godhead.

Four was the number of the earth, relating the four corners of the earth, the four winds, and the four key elements: earth, wind, fire and water.

Five is the number of grace, It can also refer to the five-fold ministry. David picked up five smooth stones from the brook, but only used one of them to kill Goliath.

Six is the number of man. Jesus was six hours on the cross.

Seven is the number of spiritual perfection and completion. It represents the completion of a process or God’s plan and purpose. We often find the number seven multiplied by itself or other numbers to give a coded message. For instance, Jesus told Peter to forgive 70 x 7 times. He did not mean that Peter had to forgive 490 times and the 491st time he could hold a grudge. The hidden message, in this case, was to forgive completely and perfectly. Seven is used 735 times (54 times in the book of Revelation alone), the number seven is the foundation of God's word. If we include with this count how many times

'sevenfold' (6) and 'seventh' (119) is used, our total jumps to 860 references.35

Eight is the number of new beginnings. Coming after seven (divine completion and perfection) it represented the start of something new regarding the plan and purpose of God. Jesus rose on the 8th day (the first day of the week after the 7th). The Feast of Tabernacles had an 8th day added to it.

Nine is the number of spiritual grace and empowerment. There are nine gifts of the Spirit and nine fruits of the Spirit.

Ten represents the law of God. There were actually 613 commandments in the Old Testament Law, but they were condensed to the ten commandments.

Eleven can represent chaos and disorder ― going past ten but falling short of 12.

Twelve relates to God’s governmental authority and power. There were twelve tribes of Israel and twelve original apostles. In Revelation we discover the 24

elders (representing the 12 tribes of Israel and the apostolic Church) sitting on throne in heaven and casting their crowns before God’s throne.36

Thirteen represents rebellion and lawlessness. Iniquity means self-will or lawlessness. It goes beyond God’s government represented by the number 12.

Twenty-four is associated with the priesthood, and particularly temple worship.

35 http://www.biblestudy.org/bibleref/meaning-of-numbers-in-bible/7.html 36 The Book of the Revelation 4:4; 4:10, 5:8, 5:14, 11:16, 19:4

15 | P a g e

The God Code: Types and Shadows in the Old Testament Dr. Steve Highlander It is twice 12, God’s governmental number. David divided the priesthood into 24 groups and the twenty-four elders of revelation are worshipping in the temple.

Forty is mentioned 146 times in the Bible. The number 40 generally symbolizes a period of testing, trial or probation. The Israelites were 40 years in the wilderness. Moses was 40 years in Egypt, 40 years in the desert and 40 years as prophet and leader of Israel. From the death and resurrection of Christ in 30 AD, God gave Israel 40 years to hear and respond to the Gospel before the Old Testament system came to a close with the destruction of the temple by the Romans in 70 AD. Jesus endured 40 days of trial and testing in the desert before His ministry.

Fifty is used 154 times in the Bible. It is directly related to the coming of God's Holy Spirit and the joy and freedom of the Spirit-empowered life. Pentecost means fifty. They were to count 50 days from the Feast of First Fruits to the Day of Pentecost. Every fifty years the Israelites celebrated the Year of Jubilee in which bond servants were set free, debts were released, and land was returned to the original land owners.

Seventy is also a unique number in scripture. It represents the perfection of God’s ministry ― being made up of 7 (God’s perfect and complete number) times 10 (God’s governmental authority). Moses appointed 70 elders37 and Jesus appointed an additional 70 (besides the original 12 disciples) and sent them out to minister with power and authority.38

Four Hundred and Ninety is specifically related to waiting on God’s plan and purpose. It seems to be specifically related to God’s purpose in Israel. It is 70

X 7. The Israelites failed to keep the seventh-year Sabbath, allowing the land to lie fallow every seventh year over a 490-year period. God sent them into Babylonian captivity for 70 years (representing the 70 Sabbaths the land should have enjoyed in that time).39 God also decreed 490 (70 X 7) years between the rebuilding of the temple and the first advent of Jesus. Daniel relates this time period as 70 weeks or 70 periods of 7.40

Six Hundred and Sixty-Six is probably the most famous number symbol in the Bible. It is associated with the name/number of the Beast of The Revelation.41

One Thousand is a highly symbolic number representing God’s perfect rule and reign. It represents what is called the Millennial (1000-year) Reign of Christ.

37 Numbers 11:16

38 Luke 10

39 Chronicles 36:21

40 Daniel 9:24

41 The Book of the Revelation 13:17 and 15:2

16 | P a g e

The God Code: Types and Shadows in the Old Testament Dr. Steve Highlander There is a variety of doctrinal opinion on if this 1000-year reign is literal or symbolic.

Colors and Metals

Colors and metals used in scripture also convey consistent spiritual truths.

These colors and metals are used significantly in the Tabernacles of Moses and later in the temple.

Red represents blood and particularly the blood of Jesus. It is related to mortality and life on earth. We are told the “life is in the blood.”42

Blue is the heavenly color.

Scarlet which is a combination of red and blue represents the dual nature of Christ. Red representing His humanity and Blue His divinity, combined into one person.

White stands for righteousness and being spiritual clean. Priests were to wear white linen garments.

As metals, gold, silver and bronze all have significance.

Gold represents the purity brought about by refining. Just as gold is smelted to eliminate impurities in the ore, so our faith is refined by the trials we face.43

Silver indicates the purchase of redemption. Old Testament things were redeemed with silver. Judas sold Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. Peter reminds us we are not redeemed with corruptible things such as silver and gold but with the precious blood of Christ.

Bronze or brass has to do with judgment. First, in Moses Tabernacle and then later in the Temple, the items of the outer court were made of brass. The altar of sacrifice and the laver were brass. The sixty pillars that held up the white linen curtain surrounding the tabernacle of Moses has sockets (base plates of brass with silver hooks and tops. The coded message here was that judgment touches the earth (brass) but the white line curtain (righteousness) was capped with silver (redemption) and the pillars or righteousness were coupled to one another with hooks of silver (redemption).

While these are the most significant numbers, colors and metals, the student will want to do some more self-study to discover other symbolic meanings associated with other items and the spices used for incense and anointing oil in the Tabernacle of Moses.

42 Genesis 9:4; Leviticus 17:11 & 14; Deuteronomy 12:23 and elsewhere 43 1 Peter 1:7; James 1:2-8

17 | P a g e

The God Code: Types and Shadows in the Old Testament Dr. Steve Highlander Section 2:

Types and Shadows and their Fulfilment in Christ

With some terms defined and some Biblical examples as a foundation, we now want to look at some Types and Shadows in the Bible and how the New Testament writers dealt with them.

Paul Deals with the Old Testament Types and Shadows

The early church dealt with two major doctrinal opponents besides paganism: Legalism and Gnosticism. Legalism required Christians to keep the Old Testament laws and rituals. Gnosticism taught that all material things were bad, and all spiritual things were good. Therefore, according to Gnosticism, Jesus could not have had a physical, human body, because all material things were bad.44 While Gnosticism is outside the scope of this study, we do need to look at how the New Testament teaching deals with types and shadows regarding legalistic Judaism.

There are two key New Testament scriptures dealing with this.

Paul was very clear on Gentile Christians keeping the Jewish, legalistic requirements. In Colossians 2:16-17 he said, “Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.”

There are three things here to understand.

First, the problem Paul and the first century church had to deal with was legalism. The Jews who fought against the gospel message demanded that the Christians keep all the Old Testament rituals, including Sabbath, circumcision, dietary restrictions and other Jewish customs in order to be saved. In other words, Christians could not be saved by faith in Christ without also keeping the Jewish law. To Them Jesus simply replaced the need for animal sacrifices. Paul is clear about this issue; “Do not let anyone judge you regarding these things….”

Even today a form of this legalism still exists in the church. When the church teaches that we are only righteous if we keep the ten commandments, or that a person can lose their salvation if they die with an unconfessed sin in their life. Legalism denies that we have truly been made the “righteousness of God 44 When you understand that Gnosticism was a real theological problem in the early church, we can better see why the New Testament writers wrote the way they did. John, particularly, wrote against Gnosticism. “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life….” (I John 1:1) Note how John goes out of his way to show that Jesus had a physical body.

18 | P a g e

The God Code: Types and Shadows in the Old Testament Dr. Steve Highlander in Christ Jesus.”45

Second, as we have already seen, the Old Testament physical things were

“shadows” of the heavenly reality. The shadow can only give a dim outline of the reality, it cannot convey the detail of the reality itself. For instance, a bright red, blue and orange object will still cast a black shadow. The shadow cannot tell you what color the original object is. Shadows can only tell us three things: 1. There is a light shining

2. There is something between the light and the shadow (“a body”) 3. The basic shape or outline of the object

When we understand this, some scriptures start to make more sense.

“Seeing it is God, that said, Light shall shine out of darkness, who shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”46

The light shining on a face makes that face more discernable, if you are looking at it. Light shining past a face gives the dark, undiscernible outline of a head.

This principle is very important when bringing the Old Testament elements into the New Testament. Too many Christians want to maintain and emphasize the shadow, rather than seeking the reality. They are keeping a physical Sabbath.

They are stilling looking for a physical temple to be built. They still want a dedicated priesthood to intercede to God for them. By insisting that Christians keep the physical, Old Testament expressions of these things, they do not bother to look for the New Testament spiritual realities.

The third thing to see is that “the Body is of Christ.” Every Old testament type and shadow pointed to Christ as the ultimate fulfilment. The type or shadow could not be the fulfillment of the thing by itself. As the shadow dimly conveys something about the “body” it represents, it could not give the detail of the reality.

To keep the Old Testament object without operating in the New Testament spiritual principle was not what God intended and produced no spiritual value.

Keeping the Sabbaths, not eating certain food, and being circumcised produced no spiritual value for the New Testament Christian. None of these things made a difference to God. Only Faith in Christ counts to make us right with God.47

In Romans 14:1-6 Paul says:

“Receive one who is weak in the faith, but not to disputes over doubtful things.

45 II Corinthians 5:21

46 II Corinthians 4:6

47 Galatians 6:15 “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation.”

19 | P a g e

The God Code: Types and Shadows in the Old Testament Dr. Steve Highlander For one believes he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats only vegetables.

Let not him who eats despise him who does not eat and let not him who does not eat judge him who eats; for God has received him. Who are you to judge another's servant? To his own master he stands or falls. Indeed, he will be made to stand, for God is able to make him stand. One person esteems one day above another; another esteems every day alike. Let each be fully convinced in his own mind. He who observes the day, observes it to the Lord; and he who does not observe the day, to the Lord he does not observe it. He who eats, eats to the Lord, for he gives God thanks; and he who does not eat, to the Lord he does not eat, and gives God thanks. For none of us lives to himself, and no one dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord's.”

Paul is explaining the same issue to the Roman Christians he explained to the saints at Colossae. Notice what he says.

First, the person who is “weaker” believes he needs more laws to regulate his life. “He who is weak (in faith) eats only vegetables.” It is the weaker, legalistic person who claims you must be a vegetarian to be spiritual. The “spiritual”

person, strong in faith, can eat meat. He uses the same argument for keeping special days (to the Jews these were the Sabbaths, New Moon and the Feasts).

The spiritually strong in faith did not need to keep these things. The spiritually weak required outward observation of rituals and laws to make them feel religious.

Paul deals with both the Jewish holy days and the legalistic diet by dismissing them as things that could not make us spiritually strong.

It is important to note here that those who do not keep the Sabbath and who eat things the Old Testament deemed “unclean” should not judge those who still need those things in their understanding of faith. In other words, if someone believes they need to keep the Sabbath and does it as a matter of faith to God, then he should do that, or he violates his own conscious.

At some point in their spiritual growth, they will probably come to the place where they realize they don’t need those things anymore. While we should take a strong stand for the truth and not be personally swayed by religious arguments, it is wrong to force someone to do anything that violates their conscious faith in God.

While there is other scriptures, we will look at one last one in this section.

“But now after you have known God, or rather are known by God, how is it that you turn again to the weak and beggarly elements, to which you desire again to be in bondage? You observe days and months and seasons and years. I am 20 | P a g e

The God Code: Types and Shadows in the Old Testament Dr. Steve Highlander afraid for you, lest I have labored for you in vain.”48

This is the third group of people Paul is writing the same message to. We must understand this was not an isolated issue, it was church wide. It is one of the basic messages of the New Testament ― One which many Christians still haven’t gotten.

Again, Paul calls the keeping of the Old Testament Law and rituals, “weak and beggarly.” The Greek Word for “beggarly” here is ptōchos and it literally means to crouch in fear. It carries the idea of a beggar that had no influence, no money and no power. Someone who literally sat and begged, expecting to be rebuked or abused. This is the word picture Paul uses when talking about Christians returning to legalism.

We also note that those in legalism are in bondage. Those being influenced to go back to legalism were returning to bondage. The word here means slavery.

Paul literally says that we were released from slavery to the Old Testament law and rituals and voluntarily went back to slavery. When these people came to Christ, they were set free. Jesus said, “Whom the Son sets free is free indeed.”49

The last point to note is Paul’s fear. He was concerned that He had “labored in vain” for them. The gospel meant nothing if someone returned to legalist observance to be right with God.50

Scriptural Types and Shadows

The Sabbath and the Seven Feasts of the Lord

In Leviticus 23 God instructs Moses on the seven Feasts of the Lord. They are: 1. Passover ― A one day feast on the 14th day of the first Ceremonial month. This feast occurs in the spring in late April or May. Jesus Died on the Passover day as the Passover Lamb.51

2. Unleaded Bread ― A week-long feast, from the 15th day of the first month to the 21st day of the month.

3. First Fruits ― The 17th day of the first month. Jesus rose from the dead on the 17th day of the month as the First Fruits to God from the dead.

4. Pentecost ― 50 days after the Feast of First Fruits 5. The Feast of Trumpets ― The First day of the 7th ceremonial month.

This day corresponds to the first day of the first month of the civil year 48 Galatians 4:9-11

49 The word “free” in this passage is eleutheroō; to liberate, i.e. (figuratively) to exempt (from moral, ceremonial or mortal liability) Strong’s Greek Lexicon 50 Galatians 2:21 and Galatians 5:1-6

51 This was Thursday not Friday, as he was three days and three nights in the grave. See appendix 1 The Passion Week at the back of the study guide.

21 | P a g e

The God Code: Types and Shadows in the Old Testament Dr. Steve Highlander

― or Jewish New Year. The fall feasts occur in late September or early October each year.

6. The Day of Atonement ― Yom Kippur in Hebrew. A one-day feast, that require complete fasting for 24 hours. Ten days after the feast of trumpets the Jews celebrated the Day of atonement on the 10th day of the 7th ceremonial month.

7. The Feast of Tabernacles – Also called the feast of ingathering or booths. This week-long feast started on the 15th day of the 7th month and ran until the 21st day of the month. There was an 8th day that was also celebrated called “The Great Day of the Feast.”52

Here are some important things to understand about the feasts: 1. God began the instruction on the feasts with a command about the Sabbath. Although the Sabbath was not a feast day, understanding and practicing the principle of the feasts required understanding and practicing the Sabbath principle. More on this later.

2. God grouped the seven feasts into 3 celebrations (Exodus 23:14 & 17; Exodus 34:23-24). While there were seven individual feasts, they were grouped into three distinct acts of worship generally called: a. Unleavened Bread (Passover, Unleavened Bread and First Fruits)

b. Pentecost

c. Tabernacles (The Feast of Trumpets (Rosh Hashanah), The Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur in Hebrew) and the Feast of Tabernacles also called Booths or Ingathering)

3. All Jewish males were to present themselves before the Lord three times in a year during the respective Feasts. All seven feasts were important in the life of the Jew, none could be avoided.

4. The Feast days were usually a prescribed Sabbath day also. These Included: The first and last day of Unleavened Bread, Pentecost, The Feast of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement and the first and last day of the Feast of Tabernacles. (Note that there was not just the weekly seventh-day Sabbath but were also other Sabbath days during the Feasts.)

5. There are Seven feasts spread across seven months. Seven is the number of divine perfection and completion. It is the end of a spiritual cycle. It is important to note that the feasts were not spread over twelve months – but only seven months. This should cause us to stop and question why. Seven feasts in seven moths indicates the perfection and completion of God’s plan of salvation.

6. A one-day feast indicates an experience, while week-long feasts 52John 7:34

22 | P a g e

The God Code: Types and Shadows in the Old Testament Dr. Steve Highlander indicate a spiritual process.

These biblical pictures or principles allow us to draw some conclusions about the spiritual, New Testament fulfillment of the feasts. Remember the feast days were “a shadow of good things to come.” The feasts themselves were simply signs to a greater reality. While it is okay ― and even valid ―

for Christians to celebrate the feasts of the Lord as a means of honoring our biblical Jewish heritage and teaching greater spiritual truths, it should be remembered that the keeping of the physical feasts are no longer required, nor do they provide any spiritual merit or benefit in and of themselves. In fact, it is quite possible to keep the seventh-day Sabbath and the other feasts and totally be outside of God’s plan and purpose in salvation. When a Christian enters the spiritual reality to which the feast points, he is in fact “keeping the feast” and does not need to do it in the flesh any longer.

The Sabbath

The principle of Sabbath is well defined in the Bible. No serious Bible student can escape the fact. Many Christians are very confused about the Sabbath. In fact, we have some denominations that place a major emphasis on Sabbath-keeping as a means to being right with God. But what is the scriptural truth.

How do we interpret and apply the Sabbath principle to our modern Christian lives?

First a note about the Seventh Day Sabbath. God established the Sabbath in Genesis, by saying, “…On the seventh Day God rested from all His works.”

There are three important things to note here.

1. The Sabbath was the 7th day (not just any day of our choosing).

2. The Hebrew day started at sundown and lasted until sundown the next day (about 6 pm - 6 pm); not midnight to midnight like our modern days.

3. Therefore, the Hebrew Sabbath, directed by God, was Friday afternoon from about 6 pm until Saturday Afternoon about 6 pm.

Basically, Christians error on two extremes.

On one extreme they require people to keep a Saturday (seventh day) Sabbath as a religious requirement, citing the Old Testament scriptures and God’s commands. Of course, there are verses that can be read that way if you do not understand the reality and nature of types and shadows. Remember the principle mentioned above: Once a Christian enters into the spiritual experience of the feast, he is keeping the feast.

The other extreme tends to do away with or diminish a seventh-day Sabbath all together. Some Christian attempt to keep the basis of taking a day to honor God but change the Sabbath to Sunday and call it the Christian Sabbath.

Sunday is the “first day of the week.” Jesus rose from the dead early in the 23 | P a g e

The God Code: Types and Shadows in the Old Testament Dr. Steve Highlander morning on the “first day of the week.” One cannot simply change what God established because it fits their religious view or practice better.

Other Christians ignore the principle of Sabbath altogether. Even pastors change the Sabbath. Many say, “Since I work on Saturday and Sunday preparing for Church and preaching, my Sabbath is Monday.” You cannot simply change it. This extremely unbiblical application simply reduces the Sabbath to a day off.

Both extremes are scripturally wrong. There is no biblical justification for doing any of these things.

Where is the truth to be found? First, we must understand that the Sabbath was an Old Testament Shadow of a New Testament reality. In keeping with our definitions and examples we must interpret and apply the Sabbath in a New Testament sense. Simply keeping the Old Testament pattern will not bring us into New Testament spiritual reality. It did not for the Jews of Jesus’ day, yand it will not for us today.

Moses, Joshua, Jesus and the Sabbath

The Jewish people (mostly) keep the seventh-day Sabbath for 1500 years, but the writer of Hebrews tells us they never really entered God’s rest and that there is “…yet a rest for the people of God.”53 This rest was pictured, in type, by entering the promised land. It was supposed to be God’s blessing, peace and prosperity. However, due to Israel’s continued disobedience, they rarely experienced what God intended for them. Even in the land of Israel they rarely experienced the Sabbath principle.

Joshua (Hebrew for Jesus) was the leader who took over from Moses. Moses, as the giver of the law, was not able to enter the promised land. Joshua serves as a type of Christ, while Moses pictures the law. As the story goes, Moses did one act of self-will and God refused to let him into the promised land.54 While this sounds harsh and unreasonable, Moses is a picture of the Old Covenant, which could never bring a person into the promises of God. James tells us, "For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all.”55

While Moses (representative of the law) could not take the people into the promised land, Joshua (meaning Savior) 56 could. The Law could not give true Sabbath rest. It could only foreshadow the true rest in Christ. We discover the fulfillment of this type when Jesus says, “Come to me all you who labor and are 53 Hebrews chapter 3 and 4

54 Numbers 20:12

55 James 2:10

56 Joshua is the Hebrew equivalent to the Greek name Jesus. ‘Messiah’ is the Hebrew equivalent of the Greek word ‘Christ’. Joshua the Messiah is the same as Jesus the Christ.

24 | P a g e

The God Code: Types and Shadows in the Old Testament Dr. Steve Highlander heavy laden and I will give you rest.”57 Genuine Sabbath rest is not a day, but a person ― Jesus Christ! The only real Sabbath a person needs is found in Christ. When we cease from our labors, trying to earn salvation by good works and religious observances, and come to Christ in faith to obtain mercy and grace, we enter genuine Sabbath rest for the first time.

The principle of Sabbath was not about taking a day off work for religious activity. The Sabbath principle was about ceasing from our labors. It was about stopping our self-effort and turning our hearts and minds to God in faith and obedience.

While the first real Sabbath a person can find is in Christ, we can also ‘enter into Sabbath’ on a regular basis. This was why the Old Testament had a weekly Sabbath.

Every time you are faced with situations where you don’t know how to “work it out,” you can ― and should ― enter spiritual Sabbath rest. In other words, you stop trying to “work” it out. You stop your labor and effort to make things turn out okay. You enter a rest in God through faith and obedience, trusting Him to

“work it out.” This is Sabbath. This is true rest that brings peace to your weary soul and spirit.

Faith and Obedience

The Sabbath principle contains the dual elements of faith and obedience.

While the principle of the Sabbath was revealed in Genesis where we are told.

“God rested on the seventh day,” the first time the actual word “Sabbath”58 is used in the Bible is in the story of the giving of Manna to the children of Israel in Exodus 16.

As the story goes Moses told the Israelites to gather only one omer59 of manna for each person. Even though some did collect more or less, when they measured it out it came to exactly one omer60 per person. They were also told not to keep any leftovers, but to eat it all. Again, some hoarded it up for the next day. That which they kept over in disobedience was full of worms and stank. On the sixth day Moses told them to collect two omers and keep the second one for the Sabbath, because on the Sabbath they were not to go out and collect anything, because God would not send the manna on the Sabbath.

True to their nature, some did not obey and when the Sabbath came, they went out anyway and there was no manna to be had.

The first time a thing is mentioned in the Bible often gives us a clue to later interpretation. In this case, the first mention of Sabbath has a lot to do with 57 Matthew 11:28

58 Hebrew Sabat

59 Hebrew: Heap or bind sheaves

60 Easton’s Bible Dictionary Omer: A handful, one-tenth of an ephah=half a gallon (2 liters) dry measure

25 | P a g e

The God Code: Types and Shadows in the Old Testament Dr. Steve Highlander faith and obedience. It is simply trusting what God has said. Faith is not believing IN God; Faith is BELIEVING God. The Word says, “Abraham BELIEVED

God and it was counted to him as righteousness.”61

We are also told that “Abraham obeyed” and followed the direction of the Lord.62

Faith and Obedience are the two elements we discovered in the first mention of Sabbath.

We can conclude that the real Sabbath principle is: faith in God’s Word, through Christ, that produces obedience ― and thus ― Sabbath rest for our souls.

New Testament Sabbath – Principle and Experience

Should Christians keep the Sabbath? Yes, but not necessarily the physical, seventh-day Sabbath. Today Christians should be keeping the spiritual principle of the Sabbath, in two ways:

1. First by entering salvation through faith in Christ, and 2. Second by exercising faith and obedience in allowing God to work out the details of their lives. Paul and the apostles were very clear on Gentile Christians keeping the Sabbath. “Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of a holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.”63

The truth is, unregenerate man loves religion and all the religious trappings that go with it, because it makes him feel special. It does nothing spiritual for him.

Circumcision

Another major issue for the early Jewish and Gentile Christians to solve was circumcision. The Old Testament absolutely required circumcision as a sign of being in covenant with God. God had said if a male was not circumcised, he would be “cut off” from Israel.

Furthermore, God required that all Jewish slaves had to be circumcised as did any foreigner (Gentile) that wished to live among the Jews and be a part of the Jewish society. The question arose, how could a Gentile enter a covenant with God if they were not circumcised?

Once again, we find that Old Testament circumcision was a shadow of a heavenly (spiritual) reality that finds its fulfillment in Christ. Like the Sabbath, we discover a principle that went beyond the actual act of physical 61 Romans 4:3

62 Genesis 26:5; Hebrews 11:8

63 Colossians 2:16-17

26 | P a g e

The God Code: Types and Shadows in the Old Testament Dr. Steve Highlander circumcision.

In the Old Testament a spiritual idea is attached to circumcision. It was the symbol of purity.64 We read of uncircumcised lips65, uncircumcised ears66, and uncircumcised hearts.67 The fruit of a tree that is unclean is spoken of as uncircumcised68 and thus could not be eaten for three years. That which was uncircumcised was unclean and outside of the covenant of God. Therefore, David referred to Goliath as the “uncircumcised Philistine.”69 He was unclean and outside of God’s covenant.

The question of circumcision became a major doctrinal issue in the early church. Keep in mind that, at least for the first few years, it was strictly a Jewish church. It wasn’t until God opened the door for the Gospel to be preached to the Gentiles that the issue surfaced.

There were two sides to the battle. Those that said God has always required circumcision and therefore Christianity was no different; and those that said Christians were under a different covenant of grace and therefore the Old Covenant sign was no longer valid or mandatory. The New Testament writers were among the later. Again, we turn to Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles, to see how he dealt with this issue.

“And certain men came down from Judea and taught the brethren, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.”

Therefore, when Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and dispute with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas and certain others of them should go up to Jerusalem, to the apostles and elders, about this question.”70

Self-appointed teachers71 were going to Gentile churches teaching that everyone still had to be circumcised according to the law of Moses. Paul and Barnabas ― grace teachers ― argued with them. They referred the entire issue to the apostles at Jerusalem. This meeting because the first church council to weigh significant doctrinal issues and make a church-wide ruling.

“But some of the sect of the Pharisees who believed rose up, saying, “It is necessary to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of 64 Isaiah 52:1

65 Exodus 6:12, 30

66 Jeremiah 6:10

67 Leviticus 26:41

68 Leviticus 19:23

69 I Samuel 17:26

70 Acts 15:1 NKJV

71“Since we have heard that some who went out from us have troubled you with words, unsettling your souls, saying, “You must be circumcised and keep the law”—to whom we gave no such commandment….” Acts 15:24

27 | P a g e

The God Code: Types and Shadows in the Old Testament Dr. Steve Highlander Moses.” Now the apostles and elders came together to consider this matter.”72

Paul, Barnabas, Peter and James all weighed in on the matter. The conclusion of the council was recorded in Acts 15:19-20: “Therefore I (the apostle James) judge that we should not trouble those from among the Gentiles who are turning to God, but that we write to them to abstain from things polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from things strangled, and from blood.”

James declared keeping the law was a “burden” to the Gentiles. Out of hundreds of Jewish laws and regulations73 ― including The Sabbath, circumcision, dietary laws and temple worship – the council only advised the church to abstain from four things:

1. things polluted by idols74

2. sexual immorality75

3. things strangled76

4. from blood 77

To this end the apostolic council sent letters with Paul and Barnabas to the churches to verify the decision of the council. It is extremely significant that they did not mention the things the Judaizers were so concerned about. They debated the matter. They prayed. They issued their decision. They sent letters to confirm that decision to the Gentile churches. Christians were not obligated to keep the main Jewish customs. If they had been, they would have settled the issue right then and there and it would have been included in the canon of scripture regarding that decision, settling the issue once and for all in the other direction.

We can, however, clearly understand their decision ― Christians were not required to be circumcised. Yet we find Paul mentioning the PRINCIPLE of circumcision several times. Old Testament circumcision was a type or a shadow of the New Testament spiritual reality.

Paul explains this in Romans when he says, “For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh; but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not 72 Acts 15:5-6

73 There were actually 613 Jewish regulations in the Old Testament.

74 This to avoid any possibility of idol worship.

75 An issue of purity and holiness.

76 This for two reasons. First, pagan sacrifices were typically strangled. Avoiding things strangled would assure that they were not accidently partaking in idol worship. Later on, Paul even dismisses this requirement by saying and idol was nothing (I Corinthians 8:1-13 and I Corinthians 10:23-33) Second, the Jews practiced a Kosher method of slaughter – slitting the animal’s throat to drain the blood. The heart of the animal was still beating and therefore the blood would be pumped out of the body. An animal that was strangled would not bleed out.

This had to do with the next requirement ― abstaining from eating blood.

77 Because of the Jewish understanding that life was in the blood and honoring the blood of Jesus the apostles decided that the prohibition on eating blood was valid ― but not as an Old Testament law, but a New Testament principle.

28 | P a g e

The God Code: Types and Shadows in the Old Testament Dr. Steve Highlander in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God.”78

Relationship with God has moved from the external to the internal. From that which is man-made79 and observable, to that which is God-made and unobservable.

Paul instructs the church at Corinth: “Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing but keeping the commandments of God is what matters.”80

The apostle again negates circumcision as a means for being in covenant with God. In fact, the argument all along is that it is possible to keep the law, observe the Sabbath, be circumcised, eat the right things and worship according to temple tradition and still NOT be right with God.

Paul knew this as a Pharisee who rejected Christ and was killing Christians. He declared himself to be “righteous and blameless according to the law.”81 Yet he was lost and persecuting Christ. Because of their hatred, the Jewish leaders broke their own laws by hiring false witnesses to testify against Jesus. They rejected the very Christ they claimed to be waiting for in their religious observance.

Other scriptures that deal with circumcision include: 1. “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love.”82

2. “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation.”83

Paul explains the fulfillment of the Old Testament shadow of circumcision in Colossians 2:8-15: “Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power. In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against 78 Romans 2:26

79 Ephesians 2:11 and Colossians 2:11 Pal refers to the circumcision made by hands – in others words man-made.

80 I Corinthians 17:19

81 Philippians 3:6

82 Galatians 5:1-6

83 Galatians 6:11-15

29 | P a g e

The God Code: Types and Shadows in the Old Testament Dr. Steve Highlander us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.”

Again, we discover the principle of circumcision has been transferred from Old Testament ritual to New Testament reality. The shadow has once again been fulfilled in Christ.

Paul says we have been “circumcised with a circumcision made without hands.” That is, it was not something men could do, but something only God could do.

Circumcision and Baptism

How does this circumcision of Christ work? Paul relates the connection between the sign of the covenant in the Old Testament ― circumcision ― and the sign of the New Testament Covenant ― baptism. We must look carefully at what Paul is saying here. While he doesn’t say it specifically, we are led to assume that that baptism is the New Testament sign of the Covenant.

There is a problem though. Religious people love religious rituals. New Testament baptism can be nothing more than a ritual people go through.

This is why some people baptize babies ― because the Old Testament Jewish parents circumcised their babies. They take this scripture, connect the two signs and conclude that a baptized baby is covered under the New Covenant with God, just as the circumcised baby was under the Old Testament Covenant.

However, the rest of the New Testament does not bear this conclusion out. The truth of the matter is a person baptized as a baby still must come to personal faith in Christ to be saved. That infant baptism does nothing spiritually for them. In fact, it can hinder their genuine salvation by making them believe that somehow, they are already in right relationship with God because their parents had them baptized.

Still others who don’t believe infant baptism can use baptism in unbiblical ways. Some teach the doctrine of baptismal regeneration. This doctrine says that you are saved by and during the physical act of baptism. Others teach baptism as a means of gaining membership in a specific, local church. Neither of these applications of baptism are scriptural.

What did Paul teach? A close reading of the Colossians text shows that it was not the physical act of baptism that had power, but rather the spiritual reality of Christ dying and raising from the dead and bringing us into his death and resurrection. Our faith and obedience in physical baptism causes us to enter into the spiritual reality of the death, burial and resurrection of Christ, not the act itself. In other words, the act ― without faith ― means nothing.

The application, through faith, of this spiritual reality is what kills our flesh in the same manner Jesus’ flesh was killed. It also empowers the Spirit of God to 30 | P a g e

The God Code: Types and Shadows in the Old Testament Dr. Steve Highlander work new, resurrection life into our old lives. We are born again through the working of God ― not ritual or self-effort.

The King James Version of the Bible uses the phrase, “through faith of the operation of God.”84 The word “operation” or working in the NKJV is the word for energy.85 It means the effectual working of God and it is only used in the New Testament regarding superhuman power.

Paul makes this point very clear in Romans 8:11. It is the power of the Holy Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead and now lives in us, imparting that same life. “But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.”

Circumcision ― the Old Testament sign of the covenant ― could not change a person in any way. The New Testament reality ― Jesus offering the power over the flesh by defeating sin, death and the grave and imparting His own resurrection life into us ― transforms us from the inside out.

What Does the Shadow of Circumcision Teach Us?

The shadow should point to something and give us at least a vague idea about the reality it points to. The big question is, “Why circumcision?” Out of all the things God could have chosen as a sign of His covenant, why did he pick circumcision. Why did the males have to cut off the end of their penises? Does that not seem like an odd thing?

The word circumcision means “cutting around.” Obviously, the picture is clear.

The foreskin was cut off. There are several spiritual principles we can glean from this unusual sign.

1. The first ― and main principle ― is the cutting away of the flesh.

Throughout the Bible the flesh was often synonymous with the sin nature. Sin resided in the flesh. Peter tells us, “Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind, for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for the will of God.”86 Circumcision showed us that the flesh had to be cut off. It was not something you could keep and deal with. Many Christians are simply told they need to control their sin. God wants to set us free from the power of sin and it needed to be cut out of the life.

Circumcision cuts off living flesh ― and it can be painful. We’ve all 84 Galatians 2:12

85 Strong’s Greek Lexicon #g1753. ἐνέργεια energeia; efficiency (“energy”): — operation, strong, (effectual) working. In the NT used only of superhuman power, whether of God or of the Devil.

86 1 Peter 4:1-2

31 | P a g e

The God Code: Types and Shadows in the Old Testament Dr. Steve Highlander snipped a bit of dead flesh from fingernails. It doesn’t hurt. However, if you cut too close you get into living flesh and it hurts a lot. The process of God getting the flesh out of our lives is painful at times. Unredeemed flesh is full of self, jealousy, pride, and anger. The flesh wants pleasure, sex, recognition, power, wealth, fame, fortune and all the other things the world offers. These are some of the same things the devil offered to Jesus during His temptation in the wilderness ― and later, during his ministry. Satan was trying to entice the flesh-part of Jesus. It had worked with Adam 4000 years earlier and it had worked in the 4000

years since Adam. If pride, jealousy, unforgiveness, lust ― or any other fleshly thing ― is a problem in your life, God will get around to circumcising you in that area. The process and the lessons can be difficult, but that is how God transforms us.

2. Jewish parents brought their newborn males to the temple to be circumcised on the eighth day. The significance of this is two-fold. First no matter what day the baby was born, he had lived through one Sabbath day before he was circumcised. In this shadow God is pointing out our need to have experienced true Sabbath in Jesus ― salvation by faith apart from works ― before we started the process of cutting off the flesh. Circumcision doesn’t save us, it sanctifies us.

3. For adults, a man did not circumcise himself. Circumcision was something you submitted to. Likewise, as Christians we can’t circumcise ourselves spiritually. In the Colossians passage we are told it was a “circumcision made without hands ― yours or anyone else’s.

We discover that Christ circumcises us and that it is an “operation of God.” It is a process of removing the flesh from our lives that we cannot do on our own. We must submit to the Spirit of God to accomplish this.

4. Circumcision wasn’t something that was publicly obvious. One simply did not go around showing off their circumcision. The work of God in our life is a private matter. While God often uses others to affect the spiritual work in our life, how He works in us and the personal process we go through is often hidden from the world and the church. God must deal with many things in our lives. Sin and failure bring guilt and shame.

God does not often expose those things unless a person remains unrepentant after a period of time with the Holy Spirit bringing conviction. God is so kind to work in the private areas of our lives and not reveal everything to everyone. Aren’t you glad?

5. Religious rites and rituals tend to cause people to be spiritually proud

― yet not necessarily holy. In Romans 2:25-29 Paul says that under the New Covenant circumcision doesn’t make us righteous unless we are keeping the entire law. A person can “walk the isle”, say the sinner’s prayer, get baptized, join a church, pray, read a bible and even be a Sunday School teacher or preacher and never be born again. None of 32 | P a g e

The God Code: Types and Shadows in the Old Testament Dr. Steve Highlander those things make a bit of difference if we have not first come to faith Christ. If we are not careful, observing religious rituals tend to cause us to stop seeking the spiritual reality in Christ. They also cause us to judge others who have not had the same experience we place so much importance on.

Conclusion

Christians keep the principle of circumcision through yielding their lives to the sanctifying power of the Holy. Spiritual circumcision is not a one-time event, but rather an ongoing principle in our lives as we continue to grow in Christ.

Our flesh cannot be patched up or reformed. It must be cut off. We might use anger as an example. In our modern phycological era we refer people with serious anger issues for counseling and anger management classes. God is not interested in a person managing their anger. God wants to cut anger out of our life by healing the wounds that cause the anger in the first place. The same could be said for any other area of flesh we are dealing with. This is true circumcision of the heart ― the cutting away of the flesh nature that keeps us in bondage.

Old Testament People and Stories Who Typified Christ

Several people in the Old Testament were types of Christ. In other words, their lives provide some insight into who Jesus was and what He was going to do. Of course, those living before Christ could not see these things. It is only through hindsight and revelation we can see how they clearly paralleled Jesus.

Adam

Although Adam failed to fulfill God’s mandate, he still serves as a type of Christ in the following ways:

1. He was the Son of God. In Luke’s genealogy he traces Christ’s lineage back through the generations to “Adam, the son of God.”87

2. Adam was perfect, and Jesus was perfect.

3. Adam was given a mandate and authority to rule the earth and Jesus is given a mandate to rule heaven and earth. Jesus started what we call the Great Commission with the words, “All authority is given to me in heaven and on earth, go therefore…. “88

4. Adam went to deep sleep (typifying death) and God created a woman who was to be his bride out of his side. Jesus experienced death and His side was pierced ― the Church was created out of his sacrifice.89

5. Adam and Eve typified the marriage relationship of Jesus Christ and 87 Luke 3:35

88 Matthew 28:18-19

89 II Corinthians 5:17 ”Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation….”

33 | P a g e

The God Code: Types and Shadows in the Old Testament Dr. Steve Highlander His Bride ― the Church.90

6. Paul called Jesus, “The Second Man and the Last Adam.”91 God reckoned the entire human race in both Adam and Jesus. Adam represented the entire human race. His failure brought death to the race. Jesus is the second champion. He succeeded where Adam failed.

His victory brought life to the human race for anyone who would believe.

7. We see typified in Adam and Christ the two covenants. One that was based on one perfect man’s obedience to a single law. Though Adam was sinless, He still had the inability to obey. This shows us the utter futility of man’s ability to claim self-righteousness. Failure to keep one law brought death. The other covenant is about a Spirit-filled man who succeed because He did not trust the power of the flesh to serve God.

Adam’s Sons: Cain, Abel and Seth

In Adam’s first three sons we also see some Old Testament types being played out.

Cain and Abel represent religion: The two basic methods by which men attempt to come to God. Able represented true worship though faith in a substitutionary sacrifice. (He brought a blood sacrifice as a atonement.) Cain brought the fruits of his own labor ― as we will see.

The big question is, “Why didn’t God accept Cain’s offering?” This seems a bit rude on God’s part. No doubt Cain brought the very best that he had to offer.

His intention in offering something to God was commendable. It would be like someone bringing a tithe and God saying, “no I don’t accept that.” What was God’s Problem?

Cain represented man’s religious self-effort. He brought the fruit of his own labors. Remember the ground was cursed because of Adam’s sin.92 Because of this curse man would have to labor to bring forth fruit, in the sweat of his brow, indicating man’s hard work just to exist.93 Cain not only offered his own self-effort to God, but the fruit of that labor, which was cursed from the beginning.

It is important to note two things in this section:

90 Ephesians 5:22-33

91 “So also it is written, The first man Adam became a living soul. The last Adam became a life-giving spirit….The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is of heaven.” I Corinthians 15:45-47

92 Genesis 3:17-19 The ground was cursed, and man would have to labor and even sweat –

indicating man’s hard work just to exist.

93 Later, under the law, priests were to wear white linen, because they were not to sweat while performing the work of the Lord. By this God was indicating that true religion did not require man’s laborious effort, but rather cooperation with God 34 | P a g e

The God Code: Types and Shadows in the Old Testament Dr. Steve Highlander 1. The Law of Moses came with both blessing and cursing.94 God said, cursed is everyone who continues not in all things written in the law.95

Paul plainly declares that by the works of law (man’s effort at keeping the law) would no one be justified.96 It was not keeping the law (works of righteousness97) that made the Old Testament people right with God, it was the sacrificial system that continually covered their sins until Christ would come. The Daily Burnt Offering sacrificed twice a day, the Passover lamb and the goats on the Day of Atonement, provided their righteous standing with God. It is clear the Israelites, as a whole, rarely keep the law. In fact, it was not just a lack of morality they struggled with, it was outright rebellion and idolatry they kept stumbling into.

Struggling with morality is one thing ― rebellion is quite another.

2. God removed the curse from the ground when He made His covenant with Noah after the flood. The flood, which is a type and shadow of New Testament water baptism, cleansed the earth and allowed God to remove the curse.98

In type, Abel represented faith and Cain represents self-effort. We are told in Hebrews, “Without faith it is impossible to please God.”99 All of man’s self-effort to please God as in vain. We see this truth played out from the beginning, but people still don’t understand the important message of this story.

The story continues. Cain kills Abel because of religious jealousy. We see here the beginning of religious persecution and martyrdom. Cain killed Abel because he worshipped differently, and God accepted Abel’s Worship and he did not accept Cain’s worship. The same is true today. Jesus said that no one could come to the Father except through Him.100 God has always maintained the right to set the conditions on which man may come before Him. He does not accept just any way of worship. To religious man this seems unfair that God would not accept everyone’s effort at worship. We need to remember that Cain did not think this was right either.

Adam and Eve’s third son, Seth, also gives us picture of Christ. His name means “appointed” or “substituted.”

“And Adam knew his wife again; and she bare a son, and called his name Seth: For, said she, God hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel; for Cain 94 Deuteronomy 11:26; 11:29; 30:1; and 30:19

95 Gelatins 3:10

96 Romans 3:20; Galatians 2:16, 3:11 and 5:4

97 Titus 3:5

98 I Peter 3:19-21 “…in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water. There is also an antitype which now saves us—

baptism (not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God), through the resurrection of Jesus Christ….”

99 Hebrews 11:6

100 John 14:6

35 | P a g e

The God Code: Types and Shadows in the Old Testament Dr. Steve Highlander slew him. And to Seth, to him also there was born a son; and he called his name Enoch. Then began men to call upon the name of Jehovah.”101

Some of the types and shadows are hidden and you only discover them by studying a little bit deeper. There are four important messages in this man’s story.

1. Jesus was the substitute for a person who had been killed by sin and false religion. This, of course, was the entire human race.102 Jesus was our substitute. A new son to replace the old one who had died.103 In Christ alone we have life. Every person is a “new creation” in Christ Jesus.

2. Enoch’s name means, “Mortal”.

3. The scripture tells is that then men began to call on the name of the Lord. It wasn’t until Seth (a type of Christ) produced a son, that men began to call on God’s name. Of course, Adam and Eve worshipped in some manner, as did Cain and Abel, but there is something different here. We are told in Romans, “Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”104 Through Jesus. we discover a people who are calling on the name of the Lord, as typified by Seth and his son Enoch.

4. God did not reveal who he was all at once. As history unfolds, we find God providing a progressive revelation of who and what He is. Here are some verses that reveal this progressive revelation.

a. “And God spoke unto Moses, and said unto him, I am Jehovah: and I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, as God Almighty; but by my name Jehovah I was not known to them.”105

b. “God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person….”106

c. “For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.”107

101 Genesis 4:25

102 “We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one.”

I John 5:19

103 I Corinthians 15:45-47

104 Romans 10:13

105 Exodus 6:2-3

106 Hebrews 1:1-3

107 John 1:17-18

36 | P a g e

The God Code: Types and Shadows in the Old Testament Dr. Steve Highlander Noah and the Flood

Noah heard and obeyed God. Christ heard and obeyed God. This is the basis of true Biblical Faith. That faith resulted in the salvation of mankind. Two things happened:

1. Noah was the savior of the human race and created a new generation.

In Christ we are saved and become new creatures.108 Paul tells us old things are passed away and all things are becoming new. This is typified by Noah’s experience.

2. The flood separated or saved Noah and his family from the sins of the world.109

Isaac

Abraham’s son Isaac typifies Jesus in several ways:

1. He was a promised son whose pregnancy and birth was prophesied.

2. He was born to a woman who could not have children by natural process, typifying the virgin birth.

3. His wife was chosen by the Holy Spirit. (Abraham’s servant, Eliezer, is a type of the Holy Spirit who finds the son’s bride by direction of God and immediately presents here with gifts.110)

Jacob and Esau

In Jacob and Esau, we again find a picture of two men; one who failed in the flesh and one who succeed through the grace of God. The first son, Esau, sells his birthright for something to eat,111 just like Adam. As first-born son, Esau was supposed to inherit the major portion of the Father’s wealth and have control of the family. By giving into the flesh he lost all the Father wanted to give him.

Jacob, although the second son, was favored by God and obtained the birthright. Once again, we see the type of the first and Second Man and the first and Last Adam.112

Moses and Joshua

The name Joshua is the Hebrew equivalent of the Greek name Jesus and means Savior. It is no surprise then that we find some parallels to the Life of Christ in Joshua’s story.

There is a very key point God wants us to understand in the story of the lives of these two men of God.

108 2 Corinthians 5:17

109 1 Peter 3:21

110 Genesis 24:22 & 53

111 Genesis 22:29-33

112 I Corinthians 15:45-49

37 | P a g e

The God Code: Types and Shadows in the Old Testament Dr. Steve Highlander 1. Once again, we see the failure of the first man and the success of the second.

2. Moses could not take the people of God into the promised land, but Joshua could. The point of the story is very clear. The law cannot get you where God has promised to take you. The New Testament writers dealt with the issue of Mosaic legalism (Christians have to keep the law of Moses to be saved). The conclusion ― which we have discussed previously ― was that no one was justified by keeping the Law,113 and that the apostles told the Gentiles that they didn’t have to keep the Jewish laws.114 Moses, representing the law, failed one time and was not permitted to take the Children of Israel into the promised land.115

The Bible tells us that if we keep the whole law and yet offend in one point we are guilty of the whole law.116 Joshua ― representing faith ―

was able to take the Children of Israel into the promised land and conquer it, just as Jesus is able to bring us into the land of promises and conquer the giants in our lives. Faith appropriates the promises and brings them to pass in our lives.

a. “According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.”117

b. “For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us.”118

Boaz

In the life story of Boaz and Ruth, the grandparents of King David, we find the message of the Kinsmen Redeemer. According to the Mosaic Law, if a man had to sell his property, his nearest living relative (kinsman) had the right and responsibility to redeem it, if he had the money to do so. Additionally, if he died childless, his oldest brother was supposed to marry his widow and have children with her in the dead man’s place so his inheritance would not be lost.119 Whoever redeems the dead man’s property must also marry Ruth ― he dead man’s widow. As the story goes, Boaz is second in line to redeem the 113 Romans 3:27, 9:32; Galatians 2:16, 3:2, 3:5, 3:10

114 Acts 15

115 Numbers 20:7-13

116 James 2:10

117 I Peter 1:2-4

118 2 Corinthians 1:20

119 Half of the man’s estate was passed to his first-born son and the rest divided equally among his other sons.

38 | P a g e

The God Code: Types and Shadows in the Old Testament Dr. Steve Highlander inheritance. The first in line was not able to redeem the land or take Ruth,120

so the responsibility and right fell to Boaz. Once again, we see a consistent story of the first man given the right and responsibility of redemption failing to accomplish it. The duty fell to the second man. Jesus is our redeemer,121 who succeeded where Adam and Moses failed. Boaz wants to marry Ruth, but he must provide redemption according to the law first. The Bible tells us that the Church is the Bride of Christ122 and the Wife of the Lamb123 and that we are to be married to Him.124 For that to happen, Jesus had to provide redemption for His bride first.125

David

It is obvious that David is a type of Christ. While a complete list of types are not possible in this study we will examine a few significant ones.

1. David is the second King of Israel. The story is starting to sound repetitive. The First King, Saul, was picked by God, but only because the people rejected His rulership. Saul was King but failed. David,

“a man after God’s own heart,” was chosen to succeed where Saul failed.

2. As a type of Christ, David is the only Old Testament person who lived under the type of the New Testament. While he certainly had his share of sins and failures, he was never rebellious to God as Saul was. David typifies the life of grace and favor of God.

3. David operated as a prophet, priest and king. Under the Mosaic Law the king had to come from the tribe of Judah and the priest from the tribe of Levi. In the Old Testament there could never be a priestly King, because a man could not come from two tribes. While there was no law against it, neither do we find prophet-priests or prophet-kings in the Old Testament. However, David acts as prophet, priest and king, Christ was also prophet, priest and king. However, Jesus was not a priest after the Old Testament, Levitical order of priests, he was a priest after the order of Melchisedek.126

4. During a portion of David’s reign, the Tabernacle of David was set up in Jerusalem in addition to the Tabernacle of Moses. However, the Ark of the Covenant was not in the Tabernacle of Moses, it was 120 Ruth 4:6

121 Romans 3:24; 1 Corinthians 1:30; Ephesians 1:7 and others 122 John 3:29; 2; Corinthians 11:2

123 Revelation 19:7

124 Wherefore, my brethren, ye also were made dead to the law through the body of Christ; that ye should be joined to another, even to him who was raised from the dead, that we might bring forth fruit unto God.” Romans 7:4

125 “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her….” Ephesians 5:25

126 Hebrews 5:6, 6:10, 6:20

39 | P a g e

The God Code: Types and Shadows in the Old Testament Dr. Steve Highlander in the Tabernacle of David.127 David brought the Ark back after the Philistines had captured and held it for some time. Twenty more years had passed as it sat out of the way and unattended in the house of Obed-Edom.128 David set a up a different tent for the Ark

― and thus the presence of God. The Tabernacle of Moses concealed the presence of God behind a white linen fence129 to keep Israelites out. There was only one door in, and then two other doors to get to the presence of God. Each section limiting more people from coming closer to God.130 Yet in David’s tabernacle the Ark was in the open for all to see. To come to the tabernacle was to come into God’s presence. This typifies the New Testament experience. Everyone can come to God through the blood of Jesus.

Also, while the many blood sacrifices required by the law were still being offered in Moses Tabernacle according to the Law, David’s tabernacle did not have blood sacrifices offered there. When David brought the Ark of the Covenant back to Jerusalem from the house of Obed–Edom the priest carrying the Ark on their shoulders stopped every six steps131 and they sacrificed oxen and fattened sheep.132 They also sang and danced before the Ark in jubilant worship. When they set the Ark in the Tabernacle David offered burnt offerings and peace offerings, but once the Ark was established, David did not offer more sacrifices there. This typifies the once-for-all sacrifice of Jesus. The Tabernacle of Moses was a place of continual sacrifice, while the Tabernacle of David was a place of continual praise and worship. Once last thought is significant in this context. We are not told when David’s Tabernacle was taken down and the Ark of the Covenant restored to the Mosaic Tabernacle. It was probably at the end of David’s life, because God 127 2 Samuel 6:12-19

128 Read the story in 2 Samuel 6

129 White linen represents righteousness and the barrier was erected to maintain God’s holiness. The Righteousness of God was a barrier that men could not get through easily. This reminds us of God’s command to Moses when He gave them to the Law on Sinai. He told the people not to come close to the mountain not to come up to gaze at the Lord.

130 “The Holy Ghost this signifying, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet standing:” Hebrews 9:8

131 No one knows for sure where Obed-Edom’s house was located. The Ark had been in Kiriath Jearim for 20 years and had travelled part of the distance to Jerusalem when the oxen stumbled, and a man was killed. They stopped at the house of Obed-Edom for several months.

One Jewish scholar suggested it was in the Kidron Valley five or 6 Kilometers from Jerusalem.

If this is the case it was at least 5000 meters from Jerusalem. Given a man’s step is approximately .65 meters, we can safely assume there were around 7,692 steps. Dividing that by 6 steps gives us about 1,282 sacrificial stops as they brought the Ark back. Given at least two animals (perhaps more) were sacrificed every six steps we can conclude that a minimum of 2,564 animals were sacrificed on the trip back, with more offered when they arrived. This massive sacrificial offering pictures the grand significance of the once-for-all sacrifice of Christ Jesus.

132 2 Samuel 6:13

40 | P a g e

The God Code: Types and Shadows in the Old Testament Dr. Steve Highlander was blessing David with a foretaste of the grace and mercy which was to come ― of which David was a type and shadow. However, we discover an interesting prophecy in the Book of Amos and reference to it in the Book of Acts.

a. “On that day I will raise up The tabernacle of David, which has fallen down, And repair its damages; I will raise up its ruins, And rebuild it as in the days of old; That they may possess the remnant of Edom, And all the Gentiles who are called by My name,” Says the Lord who does this thing.”133

b. “‘After this I will return And will rebuild the tabernacle of David, which has fallen down; I will rebuild its ruins, And I will set it up; So that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord, Even all the Gentiles who are called by My name, Says the Lord who does all these things.’”134

c. God has promised to return to pure, unrestricted worship that David typified 1000 years before Christ.

Solomon

King David’s son, Solomon, typifies Christ as ‘The son of David’ who would sit on David’s throne, with a promise of a continued linage of kings ― if they obeyed God.”135 This was a dual-reference prophecy. When the angel announced to Mary’s she was going to have a son he said, “He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Most High: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David….”136 Consider an obscure verse in the Psalms 132:11-12, “The Lord has sworn in truth to David; He will not turn from it: “I will set upon your throne the fruit of your body. If your sons will keep My covenant And My testimony which I shall teach them, their sons also shall sit upon your throne forevermore.” Notice here the double refence. Christ will sit on the throne for sure and, if David’s sons obey in the meantime, they too will have a continued dynasty. Solomon also typifies Christ in the wisdom, majesty, power, riches and glory of His kingdom. The Book of the Revelation declares,

“Saying with a great voice, Worthy is the Lamb that hath been slain to receive the power, and riches, and wisdom, and might, and honor, and glory, and blessing.”137

Jonah

Every Bible student knows that Jonah typified Christ’s death, burial and resurrection. When asked for a miraculous sign to prove He was the Messiah, 133 Amos 9:11-12

134 Acts15:16-17

135 2 Chronicles 7:17-18

136 Luke 1:32

137 The Book of the Revelation 5:12

41 | P a g e

The God Code: Types and Shadows in the Old Testament Dr. Steve Highlander Jesus simply said there would be no sign given to them except for the sign of the prophet Jonah. As Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the fish, so the Messiah would spend three days and nights in the grave before coming out.

42 | P a g e

The God Code: Types and Shadows in the Old Testament Dr. Steve Highlander Section 3:

The Feasts of the Lord

A careful study of the seven Feasts God gave to Israel will reveal God’s plan for the Church. Each of the Feasts typified a New Testament, spiritual experience.

We will look at each these later in this section.

Prophetic Types

God commanded all Israelite males to “appear before Him three times each year”138 at the appointed feasts. These three appointments foreshadow and picture God’s plan to work in the lives of New Testament believers. There are three great works of the Spirit in the lives of God’s people: 1. Salvation (Pictured in the first three feasts: Passover, Unleavened Bread and First Fruits.)

2. The Baptism with the Holy Spirit (Pictured in Pentecost.) 3. Sanctification/Perfection (Pictured in the last three feasts: Feast of Trumpets, Day of Atonement and the Feast of Tabernacles.) You will discover that the feasts had a four-fold fulfillment: 1. Agricultural Fulfillment in Israel ― each of the Feasts occurred in conjunction with a harvest time:

a. Passover/First Fruits was the barley harvest

b. Pentecost was the wheat harvest

c. Tabernacles was the great year-end harvest of fruits and vegetables.

2. Fulfillment in Jesus’ Ministry

a. Passover - Death

b. First Fruits – Resurrection

c. Pentecost – His Coronation as King and outpouring of the Holy Ghost

d. Trumpets – End time prophetic messages

e. Atonement – Sanctification

f. Tabernacles – Great end-time harvest producing many souls and great rejoicing

3. The Church

a. Passover – Salvation by faith in the risen savior is released in the Church, water baptism and the sanctification process b. Pentecost – the Baptism of the Spirit

c. Fall feasts – Final release of Christ’s sanctification, power and evangelism resulting in the tremendous end-time harvest of souls

4. The Life of the Believer

a. Passover – Salvation

b. Pentecost – the Baptism of the Spirit

138 Exodus 23:17, Exodus 34:23-24; Deuteronomy 16:16

43 | P a g e

The God Code: Types and Shadows in the Old Testament Dr. Steve Highlander c. Fall feasts – Final Release of Christ’s sanctification, power and spiritual gifts for evangelism and discipleship

An Overview of the Feasts

The Student should read the following chapters in the Bible in preparation for a discussion on the prophetic significance of the feasts.

• Exodus 12

• Exodus 23:10-19

• Leviticus 23

• Deuteronomy 16

Here are some quick facts about the feasts of the Lord you should know before we start looking at the types and shadows in the feasts: 1. We discovered earlier in the course that Paul clearly tells us that the feasts were shadows of New Testament Spiritual Reality. “So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance (body) 139 is of Christ.”140

2. The word “Feast” means an appointed time, season or sign. It also refers to a solemn meeting and the people who gathered. It is also the word translated “meeting” in the phrase “tent of meeting” referring to the Tabernacle of Moses.

3. The Feasts were either one-day feasts or seven-day feasts. One-day feasts represent a crisis event ― or a onetime event in the life of a believer, while a seven-day feast represented an ongoing process.

4. When God gave Israel the feasts, He also changed their calendar.141

Please refer to the Calendar (chart 1) in the appendix. It is important to understand that the nation of Israel operated on two calendars that were exactly six months off from each other. One was the Civil calendar that the country still runs on today. It does not correspond to the calendar we use. The Jewish new year occurs in our months of late September to early October each year. There is no set day in our calendar because their calendar is based on 30 days. When God instituted the feasts, it was the middle of the year ― the seventh month

― and he tells Moses, “This month shall be the beginning of months to you.” (Exodus 12:1). So the first day of the seventh civil month was also the first day of the first ceremonial month. Likewise ― and more importantly ― the first day of the seventh ceremonial month was also 139 Strong’ Greek Lexicon g4983 sōma ”V. that which casts a shadow as distinguished from the shadow itself….”

140 Colossians 2:16-17

141 Exodus 12:1

44 | P a g e

The God Code: Types and Shadows in the Old Testament Dr. Steve Highlander the first day of the first civil month. (Refer to the calendar chart to understand this better.)

5. When God instituted the Feasts, He started with a command to keep the Sabbath. Understanding Sabbath ― Spiritual Rest ― is key to the spiritual application of the Feasts in the life of a believer. In simple terms, true Sabbath is defined as faith and obedience to Christ that produces rest for our souls. It is the opposite of trying to work things out in your own mind and efforts. The work God wants to do in the life of a believer is a spiritual work based on faith ― never religious works or self-effort. The three works of the Spirit mentioned above are salvation, the baptism with the Holy Spirit (and resulting gifts and ministries) and sanctification. All three of these works are entered into and activated by faith in Jesus Christ. Understanding the nature of spiritual rests allows the spiritual fulfillment of the feasts in our lives.

6. Four of the feasts have been clearly fulfilled142 in New Testament History, the Ministry of Christ, The Universal Church and the life of the believer. Three of the feasts have not yet been fulfilled but relate to the last days. This course suggests that by looking at how the first four feasts where fulfilled, we can draw some conclusions about how the last three will be fulfilled in the future.

7. There were seven feasts grouped into three sets of feasts, corresponding to Israel’s three harvest seasons: the spring barley harvest, the summer wheat harvest and the great fall harvest of corn, wine and all the other fruits and vegetables. The grouping is significant as noted above.

a. The three spring feasts. Corresponding to the barley harvest were Passover, the Feast of Unleavened Bread and the Feast of First Fruits.

i. Passover occurred on the 14th of the first ceremonial month143

ii. Unleavened bread was observed from the 15th -21st, iii. First Fruits occurred on the 17th of the month

b. The summer harvest came fifty days after the Feast of First Fruits. It was the wheat harvest and they celebrated the Feast of Pentecost144.

c. The fall harvest was by far the largest harvest of the year and included corn, grapes, and all of the other fruits and vegetables 142 Passover, The Feast of Unleavened Bread, The Feast of First Fruits and the Feast of Pentecost. While they were physically and historically fulfilled nearly 2000 years ago, they all have an ongoing spiritual fulfillment today. I.E. people are still being saved, sanctified and filled with the Holy Spirit.

143 Exodus12:1-6

144 Pentecost means fiftieth ― referring to the 50th day after the Feast of First Fruits ― or Pentecost.

45 | P a g e

The God Code: Types and Shadows in the Old Testament Dr. Steve Highlander grown during the summer months. It occurred in the seventh month of the ceremonial year. The three feasts celebrated at this harvest were:

i. The Feast of Trumpets on the first day of seventh ceremonial month (This day is also the Jewish New year

― or the first day of the Jewish civil year ― Rosh Hashanah in Hebrew.)

ii. The Day of Atonement was observed on the 10th day of the seventh month. It was a day of required fasting and prayer. This was the one day of the year the High Priest could go into the Holy of Holies and present the blood of the sacrificial goat to cover Israel’s sins for another year.

iii. The week-long feast of Tabernacles was celebrated from the 15th – 21st of the month. This feast was also called the Feast of Ingathering (because of the great annual harvest) and the Feast of Booths (because the Israelites lived in rough booths or huts for the entire festival. (We’ll discuss these points later in the study.)

iv. There was a eighth day added to this week-long feast called the “octave” (meaning 8th). The was commonly known as “the Great Day of the Feast.” John refers to this day in his story of Jesus crying out in the temple, “If any man thirsts let him come to me and drink….”145 There is an interesting Jewish ceremony that was taking place on this particular day that Jesus used to illustrate that He was the fulfillment of the ceremony. We will discuss this Biblical event in the section on the Feast of Tabernacles.

The Spring Feasts Correspond to Jesus’ Passion Week

Before we look at the first three feasts it is important to get a overview of the last week of Jesus’ mortal life. The events and timing of the Passion146 week and related feasts carry many types and shadows.

As you look at the chart below, giving an overview of the Passion week, you will need to keep a couple of things in mind.

1. The Hebrew day started at sundown (about 6 pm) and ended at sundown the following day.147 Thus, the weekly 7th day Sabbath was from our Friday about 6 pm until our Saturday about 6 pm. The arrows on the chart show 145 John 7:37

146 The word ‘passion’ is from the Latin word passionem, it means suffering and/or enduring. This refers to the things Jesus suffered and endured during the last week of His earthly life and ministry.

147 Genesis set the stage for the timing of the day when it repeatedly said the evening and the morning comprised a day.

46 | P a g e

The God Code: Types and Shadows in the Old Testament Dr. Steve Highlander the Hebrew day in relationship to our current days of the week so you can follow easily.

2. The Passover (14th day of the month) started on our Wednesday night at twilight and concluded on our Thursday afternoon.

The Passion week started on our Saturday night (after the weekly Sabbath on the 10th day) with the selection of the Passover lamb. This corresponds to the Triumphal Entry of Christ into Jerusalem. The 14th Day of the month (starting on Wednesday night) was Passover. The 15th (Thursday night and Friday morning/afternoon) was the first day of Unleavened Bread. It was also a High Sabbath Day. 148 This was the morning they left Egypt and started toward the Red Sea Crossing. The 16th (starting Friday night and ending Saturday afternoon) was the weekly Sabbath. The 17th (starting Saturday night and ending Sunday afternoon) was collectively, the Feast of First Fruits, the crossing of the Red Sea and the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

You will notice how this explanation easily allows for the fulfillment of Jesus’

prophecy that He would be three days and three nights in the grave. It also answers the question of how Jesus could eat the Passover with His disciples and still be crucified on the Day of the Passover ― according to prophetic type.149

We will discuss how Jesus’ passion week lines up perfectly with God’s instructions to the Hebrews regarding the Feasts. We will also see many types and shadows contained in the three Spring feasts in this section.

148 High Sabbaths were holy days other than the 7th day Sabbath. The included the first and last day of Unleavened Bread, The Day of Atonement and the first and last days of the Feast of Tabernacles.

149 Jesus could have eaten the Passover meal on the evening of the 14th (starting Wednesday evening) and been crucified on the afternoon of the 14th (Thursday) in accordance with the original Passover instructions.

47 | P a g e

The God Code: Types and Shadows in the Old Testament Dr. Steve Highlander The Passover

The student should read Exodus chapter 12 before continuing in this section.

The first feast in the ceremonial year was Passover. Passover gets its name from God’s declaration, “When I see the blood, I will Pass over you.” As the story goes, God judged the gods of Egypt through ten plagues; the last one being a death angel sent to kill all the first-born of man and animal.

The Israelites were instructed to kill a lamb, place some of the blood on the door posts of their house and enter the house and remain there all night. God said the blood would be a token between Him and the Israelite family that a death had already occurred, and the death angel would ‘ pass over’ that house honoring the blood of the slain lamb. Of course, the type and shadow of this is very clear.

Paul declares that Jesus is our Passover Lamb.

For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. Therefore, let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.150

Paul does two things in this verse. First, he relates the fulfillment of the Passover’s sacrificial lamb to Jesus. Second, he tells us to keep the feast spiritually. His reference to unleavened bread moves completely away from eating real unleavened bread and becomes a metaphor for getting sin out of our lives.

Basically, Paul tells them that keeping the traditional feast won’t bring any spiritual power into their life but entering into the spiritual fulfillment by applying the shed blood of Jesus Christ to their lives will result in true life.

To this the scriptures bear witness. “…. over these the second death has no power….”151

Likewise, Paul says God’s purpose is not that we eat unleavened bread ―

which was a shadow ― but that we would become unleavened personally.

Leaven being a type of sin that spreads once it is given free reign. Paul instructs us to get rid of the old leaven that we may be a new lump. The spiritual application of this passage is extremely clear.

Passover and Communion

We can take this one step further by connecting Old Testament Passover 150 I Corinthians 5:7

151 The Book of the Revelation 20:6

48 | P a g e

The God Code: Types and Shadows in the Old Testament Dr. Steve Highlander and New Testament Communion.152

• Jesus instituted Communion at the last Supper ― which was a Passover meal.153 Passover being the memorial supper of the deliverance from Egyptian bondage through the application of the blood of the Passover lamb. Communion was a supper memorializing the application of the blood of the true Passover ―

Jesus Christ. Passover was a sign of the Old Covenant and Communion a sign of the New. This is no coincidence as Jesus was finalizing the Old Covenant and inaugurating the New Covenant.

The Communion Supper superseded the Passover meal.

• Paul likewise connects the two ritual meals in 1 Corinthians. He says, “I speak as to wise men; judge ye what I say. The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? For we being many are one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread.” The Communion passage routinely quoted from 1 Corinthians chapter 11 is not an isolated passage and should not be interpreted as such. From chapter 10 through chapter 14 the main thought Paul is teaching is not communion, but rather the Body of Christ ― of which Communion is a part. Paul refences the Body of Christ 19 times in these five chapters and gives clear instruction on how the Body of Christ is to function in chapters 12 and 14. Rather than interpreting Communion apart from the Body of Christ, we need to interpret Communion through our understanding of the Body of Christ in keeping with Paul’s teaching.

• Just as the unleavened bread had a spiritual application (outside of the ritual), so the Communion bread has a spiritual application.

We are the ‘one bread and one Body. ’ When Paul says that the Corinthians were sick and dying because they were not discerning the Body of Christ, he was not referring to the physical body of Christ on the cross, but rather the Spiritual Body of Christ ― The Church. If you read seamlessly from chapter 11 to chapter 14 you discover a single thought ― how to properly discern and function as a part of the Body of Christ. True Communion does not happen apart from our connection to and discernment of the Church ― the Spiritual Body of Christ.

• The original, Egyptian Passover was a one-time event, yet God told the Israelites to commemorate it yearly with a feast. Likewise, the 152 Paul also connected Old Testament circumcision with New Testament Baptism in Colossians 2:11-17.

153 Luke 22:15

49 | P a g e

The God Code: Types and Shadows in the Old Testament Dr. Steve Highlander crucifixion of Christ was a one-time event. God told us to memorialize the event with a celebration of Communion. “As often as you do this, do this in remembrance of Me.”154 There are two things to note here. First, we do not sacrifice Christ over and over when we celebrate communion ― like the Roman Catholic Church teaches.155 The second thing is that Communion should not be a ritual. Paul did not prescribe a set time or way of communion. It was not required daily, weekly, monthly or yearly, but “as often as you do this.” We should be careful about ritualizing spiritual things, because we can turn them into meaningless activities.

Why Doesn’t God Like Leaven?

God told the Israelites if they ate leaven (yeast) during the Feast of Unleavened bread they would be cut off from Israel.156 He even went to a more extreme command: No leaven was to even be found in their houses.157

To this day the Jews perform a ceremonial removal of leavened food (called chametz) from their homes. Using a candle, a spoon and a feather they search the entire house looking for any bits of leavened food ― down to the crumbs. The candle allows them to look in dark corners of cabinets, they use the feather to sweep the crumbs into the wooden spoon which is then taken outside of the home. They took God’s command seriously. It was probably to this ceremonial ritual Solomon was referring to in Proverbs when he said, “The spirit of man is the candle of the Lord, searching all the inward parts of the belly.”158 Once again we see the spiritual application of the type given in the physical feast.

Again, this brings us to a critical question: What is more important, getting the crumbs of leaven out of your house for a week, or getting sin out of your life for good?

We have to ask the question, why did God have a problem with leaven one week out of the year? If seems if eating leaven were a bad thing, He would not have allowed it the rest of the year either. We are left with only one conclusion: Leaven was a type of something, and the feast was a shadow of a spiritual reality.

154 I Corinthians 11:24-25

155 Hebrews 9:23-28

156 Exodus 12:19

157 Exodus 12:15; 12:19, 13:7; Deuteronomy 16:4

158 Proverbs 20:27 KJV

50 | P a g e

The God Code: Types and Shadows in the Old Testament Dr. Steve Highlander The characteristic of leaven (yeast) is that it is alive159 and, given the right conditions, it will start to grow until the entire lump of dough has been affected by it. The Bible uses leaven as a type representing two things: 1. Sin: Given the right conditions, sin will come alive in a person’s life.

Paul called sin a slave master.160 Sin also tends to take over. Once a person starts sinning it leads to other sins. For instance, if a person covets something someone else has it leads to stealing and stealing then leads to lying to cover it over. Therefore, the Feast of Unleavened Bread was important. As Paul interprets it, we are the lump (bread) and we need to get the leaven (sin) out of our lives.

The Feast of Unleavened Bread lasted seven days. It is interesting to note that there are seven spiritual leavens listed in the New Testament.

a. The leaven of the Pharisees (Matthew 16:6) – Doctrine and tradition that overrides and invalidates the Word of God. Jesus told the Jewish leaders that they had made God’s Word ineffective by their traditions.161

b. The leaven of the Sadducees (Matthew 16:6) – The

Sadducees did not believe in spiritual things. They did not believe in the Spirit of God or the resurrection from the dead.162 Theirs was a social/philosophical religion.

c. The leaven of Herod – Political Power (Mark 8:15) d. Malice – properly trouble, badness (1 Corinthians 5:8) e. Wickedness – evil purposes and desires (1 Corinthians 5:8)

f. Leaven of the Galatians (5:9) – Legalism, keeping the law for right standing with God,

g. Tolerating sexual immorality (1 Corinthians 5:1-6) 2. The Kingdom of God:163 Jesus also used leaven as an example of the Kingdom of God. The same dynamics apply. The Spirit is alive in the world and will continue to affect the world and people until it has nothing left to feed on.164 The Kingdom of God could be described as viral. It passes from one to another much like a flu virus. One infected person can infect others with the same thing.

159 Yeast is a single-cell fungus that produces carbon dioxide and alcohol when it is activated and has something to feed on. The Carbon Dioxide makes the bread to rise because of the gas bubbles and then it causes fermentation that produces alcohol in beer, wine and liquor.

160 Romans chapters 6 and 7

161 Mark 7:6-13

162 Acts 23:8

163 Matthew 13:33 It is interesting to note that this entire chapter is Jesus using types, shadows and metaphor to explain what the Kingdom of god is like. The student should read the entire chapter in this context.

164 What are the possible implications of this passage?

51 | P a g e

The God Code: Types and Shadows in the Old Testament Dr. Steve Highlander Basically, this is what evangelism is. One person, infected by the love of God and the Holy Spirit, passing that to another person.

The Egyptian Passover – Exodus 12

We find the story of the Egyptian Passover in exodus chapter 12. The student should stop and read that chapter now to get a context for this portion of the study.

As mentioned earlier, the Egyptian Passover was a one-time event.

However, God told the Israelites to commemorate it year by year with a feast. There is a difference between the actual Passover event and the memorial. For instance, they did not apply the blood to the doors of their homes after the original Passover; they did not leave Egypt anymore. Some of these events were types and shadows of New Testament, spiritual realities though.

A Crisis Experience

Passover was a one-day feast, indicating it was a crisis experience. By that it is meant that salvation happens in a moment of time. It is an experience rather than a process. While the lead-in to salvation may take days, weeks or even years for a person to come to faith in Christ ― salvation takes place in an instant. The act of salvation should not be confused with the outworking of salvation. The impartation of eternal life happens in a second when the Holy Spirit comes to dwell on the inside of a person and co-join with that person’s human Spirit. Paul tells us that if we are joined to the Lord we are “one Spirit’ with the Lord.”165

A New Calendar

The Passover story starts with a change of time. God instituted a new calendar for Israel as mentioned earlier in this section. The parallel is that we start fresh in Christ. We are not operating on the same old system as we once were. The apostle Paul describes it this way, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”166 As Christians we have now entered into a new plan, a new scheme ordered by God Himself. This is the spiritual significance of the calendar change.

Choosing the Lamb

God told the Israelites to choose a spotless lamb on the 10th day of the first month (v3). They were to keep it until the 14th day of the month and then 165 1 Corinthians 6:17; Romans 8:9

166 2 Corinthians 5:17

52 | P a g e

The God Code: Types and Shadows in the Old Testament Dr. Steve Highlander sacrifice it. During this time, they were to examine if for imperfections. God required a perfect lamb.

This ties into the life of Christ. On what we call Palm Sunday, Jesus rode into Jerusalem in what has come to be known as the Triumphal Entry. It was four days before Passover ― corresponding to the 10th day of the month. The Jews hailed Him and received Jesus as King of the Jews and the Son of David, shouting Hosanna to the Son of David, the King 0f Israel.167 The word Hosanna means, “save us.” Without a doubt they chose Him as their Messiah (ultimately their Passover lamb) on the 10th day of the month as the anti-type of the Egyptian Passover.

The Jewish leaders spent the next few days examining Jesus, asking Him questions, trying to trick Him and trap Him with something they could accuse Him with. Inadvertently the Jews fulfilled the Passover ritual by examining the lamb for blemishes ― as the lamb they chose was to be perfect. Even the pagan ruler Pilate declares, “I find no fault with is this man.”168 Jesus was perfect!

The perfect Passover Lamb.

The Application of the Blood

The blood was to be applied to the side posts and top post of the door (v7). It has been pointed out that it was not applied to the threshold, as the blood was not something to walk on or over. God promised that the blood applied to the house would be a token (sign, beacon, mark, evidence) that a death had already occurred for that family. Because of this sacrifice the death angel would pass over that house.

The New Testament application should be clear. Jesus our Passover was slain for us and, when a person applies His blood to their life by faith, death also passes over them. New, eternal life is imparted, and spiritual death is defeated.

Eating the Lamb

God gave them very specific instructions governing how to eat the lamb that night.

1) It was to be roasted with fire. Fire represents the purifying aspect of God.

Many verse describe God as a fire. He appeared to Moses in a burning bush. We are plainly told, “Our God is a consuming fire.”169 In the same manner John the Baptist said Jesus would baptize us with “the Holy Ghost and fire. Many have falsely associated this baptism of fire with spiritual zeal. They would say things like, “I’m on fire for God.” While there is a validity to that statement, it is not really what was meant by the baptism of 167 Matthew 21:8-11 and John 12:12-15

168 Luke 23:4 & 14

169 Deuteronomy 4:24; Hebrews 12:29

53 | P a g e

The God Code: Types and Shadows in the Old Testament Dr. Steve Highlander fire, Jesus baptizes us with. The baptism of fire has to do with the refining fire of God. Fire has the unique ability to bring out the true nature of a thing.

a) James says our faith is refined in the fire, like silver or gold.170

b) Paul tells us that our works are like wood, hay and stubble, or gold, silver and precious stones. “Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one's work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one's work, of what sort it is. If anyone's work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. If anyone's work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.” 171 The day of judgment will try our works with fire to see what sort they are. Our efforts for God (or lack thereof) will be ‘revealed by fire.’ (Emphasis mine.)

Additionally, roasting the lamb with fire was representative of the whole burnt offering. The burnt offering was totally consecrated to God.

2) They were to eat it with unleavened bread. We have already discussed the association of leaven with sin. The picture was: get the sin out of your life.

They were to leave in haste. They did not have time for the leavening process to take place. The spiritual implication is that once we apply the blood of Jesus to our lives we are to leave our Egypt ― that is the old things that produced bondage in our lives; things like false religious ideas, the occult, sin and even bad relationships that will hinder our spiritual lives.

The children of Israel had a covenant with God. They were protected during the plagues. Even though they had eaten the Passover meal, if they did not leave Egypt, they would never truly be free or experience God’s plan for their lives.

3) They were to eat it with ‘bitter herbs.’ The Israelites understood this to represent the bitterness of bondage they endured in Egypt. Since they were to keep the feast annually, this was to remind them of what God delivered them from. Under the New Covenant we are to take communion in remembrance of Christ and His bitter suffering for us, as well as the deliverance from the bitter bondage of our own sins.

4) The lamb could not be eaten raw or boiled in water. The significance of these commands can relate to the both the Word of God and the Christian life. To eat it raw meant no fire was applied to it. In other words, there was no touch of the Holy Spirit. In the case of the Word of God (Jesus the 170 James 12:2 The phrase “tried by fire” refers to the smelting or purifying process of gold or silver. The raw ore was mixed with other mineral impurities that must be removed for the gold to be useful and valuable. The goldsmith heats the ore until it melts. The gold, being the heaviest of the minerals, sinks to the bottom, while the lighter impurities come to the top. The smelter then scrapes the impurities off, lowers the heat and the gold sets. The process is repeated several times. The purest gold was refined in the fire seven times.

171 1 Corinthians 3:12-15

54 | P a g e

The God Code: Types and Shadows in the Old Testament Dr. Steve Highlander Passover Lamb was also the “Word made flesh”), it means trying to understand and interpret the Word of God without the power and agency of the Holy Spirit. Jesus told Nicodemus, that unless a person was born again they could not see (understand and comprehend) the Kingdom of God.172 In the case of trying to live the Christian life, it is just raw fleshly effort to live for God without the power of the Holy Spirit. This is the essence of religion ― Man’s efforts to relate to God in his own understanding, power and effort.

5) Neither did God want the lamb boiled or sodden with water. One application is that God does not want His Word watered down or diluted. The book of Hebrews tells us the Word of God is powerful and sharper than a two-edged sword.173 Paul said the gospel was the “Power of God to salvation.”174 Many other verses could be provided to show the power of God’s word. Indeed, God spoke the world into existence. And, as already mentioned, Jesus was the “Word made flesh.”

Now combine this with what Jesus told the religious leaders of His day. “You have made the word of God ineffective by your traditions.”175 Basically He told them they had robbed God’s Word of its power to change their lives. In effect, they watered down the word with man-made doctrines and traditions. Remember, Jesus warned the disciples to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees. Anything that dilutes the pure word of God and ultimately the power of the Christian life is to be avoided. We are told there are those who have a form of godliness but deny its power.176 Again this is man-made religious effort. Only the Fire of the Holy Spirit can properly interpret and apply the Word of God to our lives without weakening its power to transform us.

6) They were to cook it whole. Not a bone of the sacrificial lamb was to be broken, which could be the case it they cut it apart to cook it in a pot. It should be noted that the thieves crucified with Jesus had their legs broken to hasten their death.177 Jesus did not have his bones broken because He was already dead. They were eat the head, the legs and the pertinence 172 John 3:3

173 Hebrews 4:12

174 Romans 1:15

175 Matthew 15:6

176 2 Timothy 3:5

177 The position of hanging on the cross meant that when hanging limp by the arms it made it difficult to breathe. The person would have to push up using the nail through his feet to get a breath of air and then sag back down in pain. Breaking the legs of the victims ensured they would die quicker because they would suffocate. They could not just be killed, the process of the cross had to complete the execution process. Sometimes a crucifixion would last a day or even longer, depending on the method of attachment to the cross and the physical condition of the victim.

55 | P a g e

The God Code: Types and Shadows in the Old Testament Dr. Steve Highlander (inward parts).178 The command was to eat the whole lamb and leave nothing until the morning. Every edible part was to be eaten. That which was not edible ― bones, gristle and intestines, etc. where to be taken outside the camp and burned the following morning, as noted in number six below.

When Jesus instituted Communion, He told His disciples to take and eat the bread and to drink all the cup. Jesus’ words and actions refer to the original instructions. In doing this he was making a connection between the original Passover and the New Covenant He was inaugurating with Communion. While the Covenant was changing, the applications of the ritual meal were still valid.

The prophetic significance of eating the whole lamb should be obvious to any thoughtful student of the Bible. We are instructed that we cannot pick and choose which parts of the lamb we want to eat. In other words, we need to ‘eat’ the entire message of God’s Word and not choose that which we like while ignoring the parts we do not like. Obviously, the love of God, forgiveness of sins and the promise of eternal life are good things that could be readily ‘eaten’. Loving your enemies and forgiving those who hurt us are more difficult things to accept, apply and live out in our lives.

Passover shows us we are not free to pick and choose.

7) The inedible parts were to be taken outside the camp and burned. The carcass of the lamb was not to be left to rot or be eaten by insects or animals. In this regard God said He would not allow His Holy one to see corruption.179 God raised the body of Jesus from the dead after three days.

Corruption or decay would not have time to set in yet in the coolness of the closed tomb.

8) The last command was to eat it fully clothed with their shoes on their feet and the staff in their hand. They were to eat it with the intention of leaving as soon as possible. As mentioned earlier God does not want us lingering around the old lifestyle. The new Christian needs to be instructed to leave behind those things which have held them in bondage, including false religious systems, sins and habits and even relationships. They could never be a free people who would discover their destiny in God if they stayed in Egypt. They would ultimately return to bondage, as it happens with many 178 It should noted here that there were also some practical reasons for this. The ancient Egyptians used the animal intestines to foretell the future. They were either used raw or boiled.

Roasting them made sure they could not be used for occultic practices, which the Hebrews were most certainly accustomed to. Remember, at this point in their history, they had no law that told them not to do these things. They were not accustomed to worshipping Jehovah but worshipped the Egyptian Gods – as witnessed by the golden calf Aaron created when they thought Moses was dead.

179 Psalms 16:10 and quoted twice in the New Testament: Acts 2:27 and 13:35

56 | P a g e

The God Code: Types and Shadows in the Old Testament Dr. Steve Highlander professing Christians who make no effort to change their lifestyle.

9) The Passover was given to Israel as a perpetual feast to be celebrated as an ordinance forever (v14). This was to remind the Jewish people of what God did for them, hopefully leading them to place their faith in Christ the true Passover Lamb. However, the New Testament Christian is no longer obligated to keep the feast as a perpetual ordinance, seeing the type has been fulfilled in Christ and Communion. It is for this reason Paul says that we are not to let anyone judge us regarding the new moons, Sabbaths or Holy Days (Passover included).180

The Feast of Unleavened Bread

The second feast commanded by God was Unleavened bread.181 We discussed the prophetic picture of leaven earlier in the study. We understand it to be sin, attitudes and religious doctrine that tends to grow in a person’s life ― ultimately influencing all other areas of the life. Now we can look at some types contained within the feast itself.

They were to eat unleavened bread from the 14th day of the month (Passover) until the 21st day of the month. They ate unleavened bread for eight days. This is significant because, eight is the number of new beginnings. It is the day after the 7th day, which is God number of perfection and completion of a cycle or plan. The 8th day started things over again. It was symbolic of a new beginning, This is in agreement with both the new calendar God instituted and Paul’s declaration that anyone in Christ is a new creation.182 The old or original creation ended on the 6th day (six being the number of man) and God rested on the 7th day. The eighth day began the cycle of the new creation.

The Feast of Unleavened Bread officially started on the 15th day of the month and ran seven days to the 21st. The first day (15Th) was to be a Sabbath and the last day (21st) was to be a Sabbath. This is significant for several reasons.

1) As discussed previously in this study, The Sabbath principle is based on faith and obedience. It is, in essence, the appropriation of grace. In the Old Testament application, it was a time when men could not work. In the New Testament Spiritual fulfillment, it is a time when God will not accept man’s work. No one can earn or buy salvation by being good enough or doing enough good works for God. We must appropriate grace and rest in faith regarding God’s promise of forgiveness and salvation. Unleavened Bread then typifies the outworking of our salvation and sanctification through the agency of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

180 Colossians 2:16

181 Exodus 12:15-20

182 2 Corinthians 5:17 The new creature or creation is something brand new and not seen before.

57 | P a g e

The God Code: Types and Shadows in the Old Testament Dr. Steve Highlander It is prophetically significant then, that this feast started and ended with a Sabbath Day. The type and anti-type is simple. Jesus is the “author and finisher of our faith.”183 We could not start the work of salvation and sanctification in our life and we cannot end the work of salvation and sanctification in our life. We are told it was not by the righteous works we have done that we are saved and sanctified.184 Neither can keep ourselves saved. We are “sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.”185 Peter instructs us to commit the keeping of our souls to God as a faithful creator.186

2) The Feast of Passover was to be eaten in haste. As mentioned above they were to eat it with an expectation of immediately leaving the old life and journeying toward a new one. The picture should be clear. When a person truly repents and believes the Gospel, they do so with an understanding that a life change is required. Old things are left behind. Once again Paul’s statement in 2 Corinthians 5:17 refers to this. ‘Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.’ To stay in Egypt would have meant staying in the very things that held them in slavery.

The feast of Unleavened Bread represents the process by which God works with us to get the sin, attitudes and false religious things out of our life that keep us from living the life God wants us to have ― eternal life.

The Feast of First Fruits

The third feast God gave then was First Fruits. Like all the feasts, First Fruits has both physical and prophetic significance for the nation of Israel, the life of Christ, the Church and the individual.

Types and Shadows in the Barely Harvest

Israel’s feasts were centered around their three harvest seasons. This represents the spiritual harvest shown in type by the feasts themselves. The first harvest of the season was barley. There are several things to know about this particular feast.

1) Barely represents blessing in the Bible. Jesus fed the 5000 with five barley loaves and two small fish.

2) The Barley harvest was the beginning of the three harvest seasons.

3) Before anyone could harvest or eat the barely, they had to wait for the 17th day of the first month; Or the Feast of First Fruits.187 We will discuss the 183 Hebrews 12:2

184 Titus 3:5

185 Ephesians 1:13

186 I Peter 4:19

187 Leviticus 23:3

58 | P a g e

The God Code: Types and Shadows in the Old Testament Dr. Steve Highlander practical and spiritual reason for this below.

4) This, of course, was 3rd day after Passover (14th). The Bible clearly defines it as the “morning after the Sabbath”.

5) First Fruits was a one-day feast indicating a spiritual crisis experience or event in our lives.

Spiritual Fulfillment of the Feast of First Fruits

There are four significant events that are tied together by the Feast of First Fruits:

1) The ritual of the wave sheaf. As mentioned above no one could eat of the barley harvest until the Feast of First Fruits on the 17th day of the month. A priest would cut a sheaf of raw grain and wave it before the Lord as a testimony and thank offer, recognizing the provision of the Lord in giving the harvest. Additionally, the priest would offer a year old lamb, fine flour mixed with oil and wine. There are also some types and shadows in the flour, oil and wine. These food offerings188 were not death or blood related.

They represent the other offerings we give to the Lord of our time, ability, and resources. Paul said we were to present our bodies as a living sacrifice, which was our reasonable service. The word service in this passage carries the idea of worship. There are several spiritual sacrifices in the New Testament. Peter declared we were a spiritual priesthood, build up as a spiritual temple to offer spiritual sacrifices.189 (The student should do a self-study on New Testament spiritual offerings at some point.) 2) The crossing of the Red Sea. On the 3rd day after Passover the Israelites crossed the Red Sea.190 The deliverance from Egypt was both miraculous and definitive. The Israelites could not save themselves. They were not an army and they had no weapons with which to fight for their freedom. Their only hope of freedom was a miraculous act of God. Likewise, salvation and sanctification are miraculous acts of God. We are told, the weapons of our warfare are not fleshly or natural, but powerful through God to defeat the enemy.191 It was in the Red Sea that the power of the Egyptian army was broken once and for all. Pharaoh, representing Satan and his kingdom, did not want to let the Israelites go. His intent was to keep them in bondage.

Keep in mind they had not yet departed from the land of Egypt. It was in the sea where the power that held them as slaves was broken. They were not truly a free people until they crossed the sea. The Feasts of the Lord 188 It should be noted that the KVJ and some other older versions use the phrase ‘meat offering”. As seen it was not meat, as in the flesh of an animal. The Old English used the word

‘meat’ to mean food. The meat offering was simply a food offering ― flour, oil and wine.

189 1 Peter 2:5

190 Numbers 33:6-8 record the two camps the Israelites made after they left Rameses and then crossed the Red Sea on the third day.

191 2 Corinthians 10:4

59 | P a g e

The God Code: Types and Shadows in the Old Testament Dr. Steve Highlander and the Exodus story reveal some aspects of our salvation experience. We have seen that Passover represents the application of the blood of Jesus.

Unleavened Bread represents the ongoing work of sanctification in our lives. But what does First Fruits represent? Paul tells us that the Israelites were ‘baptized unto Moses in the sea and in the cloud.’192 The Red Sea crossing then correlates to our New Testament Baptism. They went into the water and came back out. The Egyptians did not. What brought life and liberty to the Israelites brought death to the power of the enemy. Because of this the crossing is a type of New Testament Baptism in Jesus’ name.

The truth revealed is important, because it is part of the narrative of the salvation story. Any serious Bible student can only draw one conclusion.

Something about baptism works in the life of the believer to set them free from the power of the enemy. To this revelation we can add the next one to see the complete picture.

3) The Resurrection of Christ. Jesus rose from the dead on the 17th (the 3rd day after Passover and the Feast of First Fruits). To this we add Paul’s statement to the Corinthians.193 He called Jesus the ‘First Fruits from the dead.’ Here we find a second, solid scriptural and spiritual connection between the Feast of First Fruits and the resurrection. The message coded into First Fruits should be clear.

4) To these revelations we add the fourth. When we are baptized, we are buried with Christ and raised from the dead in Him. The student should stop and read Romans chapter six now to see Paul’s logic on how this relates to new life in Christ and how it ultimately relates to the Feast of First Fruits.

The power of sin has been broken in our life through our joining in Christ’s death, burial and resurrection. This is the antitype to the dual story of First Fruits and the Red Sea Crossing.

To sum up the Feast of First Fruits, it represents Christ’s death, burial and resurrection and our participation in it through Faith in the power of God to deliver us form the bondage of the enemy The three spring feasts ― taken together ― represent the great spiritual harvest of salvation Jesus spoke of when He said, don’t say there are yet four months to the (physical) harvest, look around, the fields were already (spiritually) ripe to be harvested.194 In this one statement Jesus shows the type and antitype of the Feasts.

The Feast of Pentecost

The fourth feast in Israel’s spiritual calendar was the Feast of Pentecost. Here are some quick facts about the feast.

192 1 Corinthians 10:1-11- Paul spiritualizes the story of the exodus and subsequent journey in the wilderness and uses It as allegory to explain New Testament things.

193 1 Corinthians 15:20-23

194 John 4:35

60 | P a g e

The God Code: Types and Shadows in the Old Testament Dr. Steve Highlander 1. Pentecost means fiftieth. God instructed the Israelites to count seven Sabbaths (49 days) after the Feast of First Fruits to the day after the 7th Sabbath, which would always the first day of the week in the Jewish Calendar.195 The Instruction was to count from the day they offered the wave sheaf.

2. Pentecost was the celebration of thanksgiving for the wheat harvest.

3. No one could eat of the wheat harvest until the day of Pentecost had come and the priest offered the wave loaves and sacrifices to the Lord ― after which they could partake of the harvest freely.

4. Pentecost is also called the Feast of Weeks, because they counted seven weeks from the conclusion of the Spring feasts to Pentecost.

5. The serious Bible student should ask the question, “Why did God wait 50

days to pour out the promised Holy Spirit? We discover some reasons a little later in this section.

Why Did God Wait Fifty Days Fulfill His Promise?

Without question God did everything for a reason. Many times, those reason were coded into the people, places, and events in the Israel’s experience. Many people never think to ask the question as to why God waited fifty days, from Jesus’ resurrection to Pentecost, to pour out the promised Holy Spirit. We just take the story at face value. Does the Bible give us any clues as to the messages coded into Pentecost? Yes, several!

1. Seven was the number of divine completion and perfection. Multiples of seven indicate the absolute completion and perfection of God’s purposes, freedom from bondage and great joy. We discover the formula seven times seven, or seventy times seven, in various places.

Not only was there a Sabbath day every seven days, God commanded a Sabbath year every seven years. Every 50th year was a Year of Jubilee in which debts were cancelled, bond servants were set free and mortgaged land was returned to the original owners. We understand that the 50th year was the year after the 49th ― or the end of seven Sabbath years. We discover the divine formula of seven times seven. The year of Jubilee was also a Sabbath year, so they had two Sabbath years in a row every 49th and 50th years.

Another application of the divine formula is found in the book of Daniel when Daniel received the word from the angel that seventy weeks (70

periods of 7) were determined for Israel. Of course, we understand this to mean 490 years. The angel told Daniel it would be forty nine weeks (69 x 7

or 483 years) from the command to rebuild the temple until the Messiah would come, and that in the middle of the 70th week (7 year period) the Messiah would be killed. Of course, Jesus was crucified after 3 and one half years of ministry.

195 Leviticus 23:15

61 | P a g e

The God Code: Types and Shadows in the Old Testament Dr. Steve Highlander When Peter asked if he should forgive his brother seven times, Jesus responded by saying he should forgive seventy times 7. The Jewish people would not have missed the obvious references and associations to the year of Jubilee and he release from debt and bondage.

We see the divine formula repeated in type with the Feast of Pentecost. As noted, the Israelites were to count seven Sabbaths, or 49 days, with the 50th day being Pentecost. That this is a type of Jubilee should be obvious.

With Pentecost occurring on the 8th day ― or the first day of the week foreshadows a new beginning in God’s plan and purpose. The Church was born on the Day of Pentecost.

2. Jesus finished teaching His soon-to-be-apostles about the Kingdom of God.

Jesus was putting the finishing touches on His revelation of the Gospel of the Kingdom He started preaching three and one-half years earlier.

The former account I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, until the day in which He was taken up, after He through the Holy Spirit had given commandments to the apostles whom He had chosen, to whom He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.196 (Emphasis added.)

There were things told the disciples that they did not understand until after He had risen from the dead.197 He also told them, “I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.”198 It was during the forty day between His resurrection and ascension that Jesus finished His earthly instruction to His disciples.

3. Jesus was building the faith of His disciples in the waiting period. He instructed the disciples to wait in Jerusalem until they were clothed with power.199 Jesus ministered to His disciples for forty days after His resurrection and instructed them to wait another ten days before Pentecost. Again, we should ask why? What happened in those ten days?

Why could God not have poured out His Spirit then and there?

4. God wanted the widest possible audience for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. The Jews would have come to Jerusalem from all over the Roman empire to celebrate the Feast of Pentecost. Indeed, we are told that Jews from fifteen nations where present in the temple on the Day of Pentecost.

196 Acts 1:1-3

197 Luke 24:45, John 13:7

198 John 16:12

199 Luke 24:49; Acts 1:4-9

62 | P a g e

The God Code: Types and Shadows in the Old Testament Dr. Steve Highlander We are also told they spoke many different languages in their respective countries and provinces. God waited until the Day of Pentecost because it was the perfect time to reach the most amount of people who would take the message and experience back to their homes and families. In contrast, Jesus’ resurrection was relatively obscure. He appeared to the disciples and to 500 people at one time, but the Jews who had come for the Passover would have already started their journey home. In addition, the disciples were not instructed to start preaching yet. So, Pentecost gave the first opportunity to reach representatives of the Jews around the known world.

5. Every feast had to have some fulfillment in the life and ministry of Christ.

What could have happened in Jesus’s ministry on Pentecost? There is a statement Peter made that gives us a clue as to what happened in Heaven on this day. Peter preached to the multitudes on the Day of Pentecost. In his message Peter declares the outpouring of the Holy Spirit ― which they saw and heard ― was the result of Jesus now being seated at the right hand of God and having received from His Father to promised Spirit. It was nothing less the Coronation of Christ as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses. Therefore being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you now see and hear.“ For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he says himself: ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand, Till I make Your enemies Your footstool.” “Therefore, let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.”.200

The Sacrifices of the Feast of Pentecost

The Jewish people celebrated the Feast of Pentecost for hundreds of years before the ultimate fulfillment we read about in the Book of Acts. During this period God coded His message into the sacrificial ritual of the day.

“And you shall count for yourselves from the day after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering: seven Sabbaths shall be completed. Count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath; then you shall offer a new grain offering to the Lord. You shall bring from your dwellings two wave loaves of two-tenths of an ephah.

They shall be of fine flour; they shall be baked with leaven. They are the first fruits to the Lord. And you shall offer with the bread seven lambs of the first year, without blemish, one young bull, and two rams. They shall be as a burnt offering to the Lord, with their grain offering and their drink offerings, an offering made by fire for a sweet aroma to the Lord.

Then you shall sacrifice one kid of the goats as a sin offering, and two 200 Acts 2:32-36

63 | P a g e

The God Code: Types and Shadows in the Old Testament Dr. Steve Highlander male lambs of the first year as a sacrifice of a peace offering. The priest shall wave them with the bread of the first fruits as a wave offering before the Lord, with the two lambs. They shall be holy to the Lord for the priest. And you shall proclaim on the same day that it is a holy convocation to you. You shall do no customary work on it. It shall be a statute forever in all your dwellings throughout your generations.”201

We discover several significant things in these instructions: 1. Pentecost was a Sabbath Day (verse 21). It was a “Holy Convocation”

and they were to do “no work”. (Not the weekly seventh day Sabbath, but a special holiday Sabbat called a “High Sabbath” by the Jews.

Pentecost occurred on a Sunday.) This means that, like Unleavened Bread, there were two Sabbath Days in a row at the feast. This typified the fact that man had to rest to enter the experience of Pentecost. As noted previously, Sabbath rest was faith, not self-effort. We cannot earn, buy, or deserve the Baptism with the Holy Spirit. The Baptism with the Holy Spirit was identified as both “the promise of the Father,”202

and a “gift.”203 It is simply to be believed and received.

2. The Feast of First Fruits and the Feast of Pentecost were directly linked in two ways:

a. God told them to count fifty days from one feast to the other.

This was indicating there was a connection between the feasts.

and thus, the experiences the feasts represented. There was no such connection between Pentecost and the fifth feast ― the Feast of Trumpets later in the year. The reason being was that the first four feasts represented our New Testament Christian experiences of salvation, baptism, new life, ongoing sanctification and the baptism with the Holy Spirit. The last three feasts represented experience that were to take place at the end of the age. So far nearly 2000 years have transpired between the literal, spiritual fulfillment of the first four feasts and the last three which will soon to be fulfilled.

b. The second connection is found in the Wave Offering God instructed them to make on these two feast days. Both physical feasts where related to the physical harvest. Both are also related to the spiritual harvest. First Fruits related the harvest of souls at salvation and Pentecost relates to the Harvest of Christians receiving the Baptism with the Holy Spirit and the power of the Spirit to serve as witnesses and ministers of God.

At First Fruits the priest waved a single sheaf of raw grain. At Pentecost priest waved two loaves of baked bread. The picture God presents is simple to see when you look at happened on the 201 Leviticus 23:15-21

202 Acts 1:4-5

203 Acts 2:38-39

64 | P a g e

The God Code: Types and Shadows in the Old Testament Dr. Steve Highlander two feast days. First Fruits represents the individual act of salvation through our personal identification and belief in the resurrection of Christ from the dead. (Read the two scriptures noted in the footnotes to see this clearly.204)

The two Wave Loaves represents a corporate work. Salvation is personal and individual but being a part of the Body of Christ is a corporate experience. You make bread through the process of grinding wheat and mixing it together. In this process the chaff is removed and the grain ground to fine flour. In one sense you could not point to the loaf of bread and single out an individual grain of wheat. The grain was now identified as a loaf, rather than an individual. This is the “Ecclesia”205 ― the Church of Jesus Christ. Individuals no longer matter. Their identity is consumed in the greater identity of Christ.

On Pentecost there were two Wave Loaves, instead of one raw sheaf of grain. Two is also the number of witness. We are told everything would be established in the mouth of two or three witnesses. The disciples had to wait until the Day of Pentecost to receive the Baptism with the Holy and be endued with power from on high to be witnesses.206

Like First Fruits, the Israelites could not eat any of the harvest until the feast had been observed. The significance of this fact

― in both feasts ― was we could not experience the spiritual fulfillment of the feasts until the type had been fulfilled in Christ.

No one could be saved and born again until Christ rose from the dead. After the resurrection ― the same day in fact ― the disciples received the Holy Spirit and were born again.207 After that day anyone who believes can be saved ― or in staying with the theme of the feast ― eat of the harvest. Likewise, no one could be baptized with the Holy Spirit until the Feast of Pentecost had been fulfilled spiritually. After that day any born-again Christian could be filled with the Holy Spirit through faith.

204 “…That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” (Romans 10:9 & 10);

“Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore, we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.”

(Romans 6:3-6)

205 Greek for Church means, “Called out ones.”

206 Luke 24:49; Acts 1:4-8

207 John 20:19-23 This was the first time in history a person could fulfill the requirement of believing that God raised Jesus from the dead, Paul mentions in Romans 9:9-10.

65 | P a g e

The God Code: Types and Shadows in the Old Testament Dr. Steve Highlander It is very significant to understand this. God had planned for salvation and the Baptism with the Holy Spirit from the foundation of the world. He had given many prophecies and clues about it in the Old Testament. Jesus spoke of it and prepared people for it ― but no one could experience it until the time set by God. Afterwards that spiritual reality and experience was released into the Church for all who would believe and receive.

3. The special sacrifice of Pentecost

a. A variety of blood sacrifices constituted the special ritual of Pentecost. Each blood sacrifice was fulfilled in the one-time offering of Jesus:

i. Seven lambs ― seven being the perfect number of the perfect lamb or Jesus himself.)

ii. One young bull ― The bull was used as a whole burnt offering, It was totally dedicated to the Lord with no benefit to the people – meaning neither the person offering the bull or the priest performing the sacrifice got any part of the animal, including the meat or the hide. In some offerings, such as the peace offering or thank offering, the priest received the best shoulder portion for his services and the person offering the sacrifice received the rest of the meat and hide back to do with as he pleased. The seven lambs represent both Jesus’ total consecration to God and the church that was to be dedicated wholly to the Lord.

iii. Two rams ― Rams were specifically used in the consecration of the priests. They too were whole burnt offering indicating the total consecration of the priest to the Lord’s service. The New Testament Church was to be a kingdom of priests. Earlier we learned that God did not want a kingdom with priests, but rather a kingdom of priests. The people forfeited this right and privilege when they told Moses they did not want to hear directly from God.208 We find God’s desire transferred to ― and fulfilled in ― the Church.209 Of Course, Jesus was our High Priest after the order of Melchizedek. The rams represent the consecration of the Church to the New Testament, spiritual priesthood.

iv. A goat ― goats were used as sin offerings. Only the liver and kidneys, along with the fat pertaining to them, were burned on the altar. The rest of the animal was taken 208 Exodus 20:18-19

209 1 Peter 2:4-5 and 9-10

66 | P a g e

The God Code: Types and Shadows in the Old Testament Dr. Steve Highlander outside the camp and burned. The liver and kidneys are the cleansing organs of the blood, and only these parts were burnt. God indicating the cleansing nature of the sin offering. Everything else was taken outside the camp and burned. God simply asks us to bring our confession to him. John told us if we confess our sin God is faith and just to forgive our sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.210 It is this cleansing that allows the Holy Spirit to empower us, not any moral or spiritual effort of our own.

v. Two male lambs ― the two additional lambs were for a peace offering. The peace offering did not necessarily have to do with sin or consecration but was rather an offering given out of love and honor to God. Paul said we have peace with God through the Lord Jesus Christ.211

vi. Each of these blood sacrifices had their corresponding meal offerings of grain and wine.

b. The sacrifices on the Day of Pentecost explain perfectly what was happening because of the sacrifice of Christ.

The outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost is in perfect alignment of God’s plan. In fact, we should not think of the outpouring of the Spirit and the birth of the Church as a fulfillment of Pentecost, but rather the Feast of Pentecost as a type and shadow of the New Testament reality. Those symbolic things in the Old Testament feast reveal New Testament spiritual truth. As a pattern, God instructed Moses to make the Tabernacle exactly as he was told, because it represented the true Tabernacle in the spiritual realm.212 The physical tabernacle was designed to help us understand spiritual truth and reality. A copy is never as valuable as the original on which the copy is based.

In fulfillment of the Old Testament types, shadows and prophecies, Jesus offered his blood as the sacrifice in heaven and sat down on the right hand of God as High Priest and Lord of Lords.213 The result of that coronation was the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the disciples and the birth of the New Testament Ecclesia ― the Church, the Body of Christ on earth. The young Church was now saved and empowered to spread the Gospel in power and demonstration of the Kingdom of God.

The Conclusion of the First Four Feasts

We have discovered that the first four feasts serve as types and shadows of our New Testament spiritual experiences of salvation, baptism, the resurrection to new life. ongoing sanctification and the baptism with the Holy 210 I John 1:9

211 Romans 5:1

212 Hebrews 9:23-24

213 Acts 2:33

67 | P a g e

The God Code: Types and Shadows in the Old Testament Dr. Steve Highlander Spirit. These feasts represent the two great harvests of salvation and the Baptism with the Holy Spirit which are still happening around the world today.

They will also serve as a pattern for our efforts at interpreting the three remaining feasts that have not yet been fulfilled in the Church. Hindsight gives us the ability to interpret the events and pictures of the first four feasts. We should apply those same principles in understanding how the last three will be fulfilled. It is difficult to speak absolutely about something that hasn’t happened yet, but we should be able to get a good idea about some of the future experiences that are in store for the Church of Jesus Christ.

We discovered that there were several things that had to be fulfilled in each feast:

1. There was the physical aspect relating to the nation of Israel.

2. There had to be a corresponding aspect to the life and ministry of Jesus.

3. There was an initial release of a spiritual experience through the feast to the Church.

4. There was an ongoing application of that experience in the lives of individuals.

Using these principles of interpretation, we will not look at the last three feasts.

The Fall Feasts ― Future Fulfillment

The next set of three feasts include the Feast of Trumpets in the first day of the seventh Month (also Jewish New Year), the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) on the tenth day of the month, and the week-long Feast of Tabernacles from the fifteenth to the twenty first day. There was also an eighth day on the twenty second called the “Great Day of the Feast.”

The Feast of Trumpets

The fifth feast in Israel’s religious and prophetic calendar was the Feast of Trumpets.

As mentioned earlier there was no counting of days between Pentecost and Trumpets. This indicates that there was an intervening time frame between the fulfillment of the first four feasts and the last three feasts that would be unknown. We find a hint of this in Acts Chapter one when the disciples ask Jesus if He was going to restore the Kingdom to Israel at that point in history.

Jesus’s response was, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”214

The phrase “times and seasons” is significant. The word times (Greek: Chronos) indicates a delay or uncertain period of time as opposed to a definitive or set period of time. The word seasons (Greek: Kairos) indicates a specific period. In other words, Jesus was saying, you cannot know how long it 214 Acts 1:6-8

68 | P a g e

The God Code: Types and Shadows in the Old Testament Dr. Steve Highlander will be until the time comes when God will specifically fulfill the set times for the next prophetic event (short period of time) to happen.

You will notice that this question, and Jesus’ answer, is directly associated with the Feast of Pentecost, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and the commission to be Spirit-filled witnesses to the entire world. No one would know how long it would take to preach the Gospel to the ends of the earth. Many people talk about the signs of the end times in Matthew 24 ― making much of the wars, earthquakes, diseases, and other things Jesus prophesied. However, Jesus said these were the beginnings of the end, not the end itself. Jesus said the end would not come until something happened first. “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come,” according to Jesus.215

The interval between the spiritual fulfillment of Pentecost and the Spiritual fulfillment of the Feast of Trumpets is called the Church age and has been going on for nearly 2000 years. As we near the end of the Church age, we will begin to see the fulfillment of the last three feasts in association with what is called, “the last days.”216

Jesus gave us a couple of time refences for the last of the last days. He said,

“Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.”217 The Jewish nation regained sovereign control of Jerusalem in June of 1967 after what has been called the Six-Day War. This was first time they controlled Jerusalem since before the Romans conquered them sixty years before Christ was born.

This could well be the fulfillment of Jesus’ prophetic word concerning the fulfilling of the time of the Gentiles. If this is the case, then we are in the last days and should see many of the signs happening around us, including the spiritual fulfillment of the last three feasts.

Types and Shadows in the Feast of Trumpets.

We read about the Feast of Trumpets in Leviticus 23:23-25.

“’Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the children of Israel, saying: ‘In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall have a sabbath-rest, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation. You shall do no customary work on it; and you shall offer an offering made by fire to the Lord.”’

The instructions for the Feast of Trumpets were simple compared to the other Feasts.

215 Matthew 24:14

216 It should be noted that the phrase “the last days” has been used for nearly 2000 years.

Acts 2:17 indicates that the events of Pentecost in 30 AD were indication of the “last days.”

Hebrews 1:2 also indicates the time of the writing of the book of Hebrews was considered the

“last days.”

217 Luke 21:24

69 | P a g e

The God Code: Types and Shadows in the Old Testament Dr. Steve Highlander 1. The feast if celebrated on the “first day of the seventh month.” It should be noted that this day was also the first day of first month of the civil calendar ― or the Jewish New Year. Jewish New Year is called Rosh Hashanah or the “head of the year,” in Hebrew. The significance of these coinciding days indicates the overlap of the physical and spiritual plans of God. For nearly 2000 years the Jewish nation had laid dormant.

However, in the last says the nation was regathered from the nations of the world according to God’s prophetic promise.

“The Lord your God will bring you back from captivity, and have compassion on you, and gather you again from all the nations where the Lord your God has scattered you. If any of you are driven out to the farthest parts under heaven, from there the Lord your God will gather you, and from there He will bring you. Then the Lord your God will bring you to the land which your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it.

He will prosper you and multiply you more than your fathers.”218

In preparation for the fulfillment of the prophecies concerning the last days, God restored the nation of Israel. Israel is a signpost to the end-times.

Again, the number seven is the number of divine perfection and completion. It should be understood that this is the beginning of God completing and perfecting His plans for Israel and the Church.

2. It was to be a Sabbath Day. This is a type of spiritual rest the Church must enter to experience the fulfillment of the things of God in the last days.

3. They were to blow trumpets as a memorial. The indication is not so much to remember something of the past, but to mark the present day for future purpose.

4. They were to offer a sacrifice made by fire ― or a burnt offering. That offering was to be one bull, one ram and seven lambs. The sacrifices indicated the same aspects of Jesus’ sacrifice and the ongoing consecration of the Church as we discussed in the Feast of Pentecost.

5. It was a Holy Convocation, or a time of gathering.

6. They were to do no work. The spiritual work God is doing in the Church in the last days is a work of grace by the Spirit ― not man’s effort.

Jewish Traditions concerning the Feast of Trumpets.

1. The Bible gives no indication on how or why to blow the trumpets, except that it was a memorial. It did not say a memorial to what though, so we are to remember something during this feast. Since it is the beginning of the year, we might suppose that we are to remember the past year 218 Deuteronomy 30:3-5

70 | P a g e

The God Code: Types and Shadows in the Old Testament Dr. Steve Highlander and reflect on it in preparation for the new year. The Jews believe that, ten days later, on the Day of Atonement, a person’s name is written in the Book of Life for another year. Additionally, memorial indicates to mark the present day for future purpose. In other words, they were to remember the day for something that would happen in the future.

The blowing of trumpets was a wakeup call to prepare for the coming Day of Atonement ― both physically and spiritually.

Performing Teshuva

The ten days from The Feast of Trumpets on the first day of the month to the tenth day of the month (Yom Kipur or the Day of Atonement) were called half-holy days, according to Jewish tradition. During this time the Jewish people observe a rabbinic custom called Teshuvah. Teshuvah simply means returning and is associated with repentance. However, it was not just about repentance, but rather a total reflection on one’s life over the previous year. These nine days were days of preparation for the Day of atonement. The emphasis was not just feeling sorry for sin, but rather a returning to the Lord in any area a person had drifted away from God.

Trumpets in the Bible

Trumpets have a symbolic and prophetic meaning in scripture. To understand the Feast of Trumpets we need to see the spiritual truths they represent.

The Jewish Meanings of the Trumpet Blasts

1. The Tekiah ― is a long, single blast. It was straight and smooth, it did not waver. It symbolized joy and contentment.

2. The Shevarim ― three short blasts. These three broken notes symbolize sorrow, grief and weeping.

3. The Truah ― a combination of nine, short, staccato trumpet blasts in a very quick succession of short trill. This symbolizes trepidation, sorrow and sobbing.

4. The Tekiah Gedolah ― means the last trump. This one symbolizes the hope of redemption. It is a very long, final note. The person blowing the Shofar would hold the note as long as possible.

The Jews blew 100 trumpet blasts on the Feast of Trumpets ― ending with the Tekiah Gedolah. God’s intent should be obvious. The Feast of Trumpets called us to a time of reflection, sorrow, repentance and hope. It wakes us up to the fact that the Day of Atonement is approaching and that we should be ready.

Trumpets represent the prophetic voice of God

71 | P a g e

The God Code: Types and Shadows in the Old Testament Dr. Steve Highlander A trumpet is the type of a prophetic message. More specifically it was often associated with God’s own voice speaking to His people (which is what prophecy really is).

“Then it came to pass on the third day, in the morning, that there were thunderings and lightnings, and a thick cloud on the mountain; and the sound of the trumpet was very loud, so that all the people who were in the camp trembled….And when the blast of the trumpet sounded long and became louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him by voice. Then the Lord came down upon Mount Sinai, on the top of the mountain.”219

“I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day, and I heard behind me a loud voice, as of a trumpet, saying, ‘I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last,’ and, “What you see, write in a book….’”220

One word for Trumpet in the Bible is “Shofar”. The word literally means

“incising” or to make metal glean by scratching it. We might use the Pidgin word sigarap in this case. The combination of ideas and pictures could be interpreted to indicate that the prophetic word cuts us. The Bible also declares the Word of God to be a sharp, two-edged sword. The combined imagery of a trumpet and sword give a powerful testimony to the prophetic word.

The prophetic meaning of the feast of Trumpets indicates a time when the prophetic word of God will be sent out in preparation for end-time events.

Prophetically we could be in this time now. This is clear prophetic call for the church to repent and come back to the Lord in preparation for the last days harvest.

The Day of Atonement (Yom Kipur)

The sixth feast in Israel’s religious and prophetic calendar was the Day of Atonement. This is the holiest day in the Jewish year.

Read Exodus 23:26-32 and Leviticus chapter 16.

“And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: “Also the tenth day of this seventh month shall be the Day of Atonement. It shall be a holy convocation for you; you shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire to the 219 Exodus 19:16-20

220 The Book of the Revelation 1:10-11

72 | P a g e

The God Code: Types and Shadows in the Old Testament Dr. Steve Highlander Lord. And you shall do no work on that same day, for it is the Day of Atonement, to make atonement for you before the Lord your God. For any person who is not afflicted in soul on that same day shall be cut off from his people. And any person who does any work on that same day, that person I will destroy from among his people. You shall do no manner of work; it shall be a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings. It shall be to you a sabbath of solemn rest, and you shall afflict your souls; on the ninth day of the month at evening, from evening to evening, you shall celebrate your sabbath.”221

There was a strict Sabbath and fasting for 24 hours. For the Israelites, it was a day that God inscribed their names in the Book of Life for the next year. The Jewish people still observe Yom Kippur in the following five ways: For nearly 26

hours they “afflict their souls,” by : 1; abstaining from food and drink, 2. not washing, 3. not applying lotions or creams, 4. not wearing leather footwear, and 5. abstaining from sex. Instead, they spend the day in synagogue, praying for forgiveness.

The day was associated with the forgiveness of the Israelites after their sin with the golden calf. Moses went to the mountain for 40 days, during which he received the Ten Commandments on stone tablets. The Israelites got tired of waiting and wanted a god to worship, so Aaron made a golden calf ― which resulted in both idolatry and immorality. Moses broke the tablets when he discovered the sin. He returned to the mountain for another 40 days where God forgave Israel, re-inscribed the Ten Commandments and blessed Israel again. The end of that second 40-day period was the very first Day of Atonement.

Entering the Holy of Holies

Only the High Priest could enter the Holy of Holies222 ― and then only on Yom Kippur. There was a unique ritual sacrifice that was performed on this day.223

Before the sacrifices of the day started the High Priest had to remove his priestly garments and be washed. He then put on pure white line garments. He could only perform these sacrifices and enter the Holy of Holies with a linen ephod ― not the priestly garments his office. This signified that atonement was not through the religious office of the Levitical priesthood, but only through a righteous man. The white linen ephod represented a garment of righteousness (spoken of in both the Old and New Testaments224) and a prophetic mantel225.

221 Exodus 23:26-32

222 The Tabernacle, and later the temple, was divided into three sections: the outer court where the sacrifices were offered; the Holy Place where only the priests could enter to worship and serve God; and the Holy of Holies where the Ark of the Covenant was. The Mercy Seat, or lid of the Ark, was God’s throne on Earth and His glorious presence rested there.

223 See Leviticus chapter 16 and Hebrews chapter 9.

224 Isaiah 61:10; The Book of the Revelation 19:14, 18

225 1 Samuel 30:7-8

73 | P a g e

The God Code: Types and Shadows in the Old Testament Dr. Steve Highlander The High Priest would offer the sacrifice of a bull and a ram for his own sins and take the blood into the Holy of Holies. He carried a golden censor with coals from the altar and a handful of special incense to offer with the blood.

He dipped his finger in the blood and sprinkled it on and in front of the Mercy Seat seven times to make atonement for his own sins and to cleanse the sanctuary. Only then could he act on behalf of the nation.

After coming out of the Holy of Holies, two goats would be chosen, and lots cast on them. The goat chosen for the Lord’s offering was slain, The High Priest would again take the blood and incense into the Holy Place and sprinkle it before the Mercy Seat to make atonement for Israel. After this he would come out, wash, and change into his high priest garments to complete the sacrificial offerings.

The high priest would then take the scape goat and lay his hands on its head, confessing his sins and the sins of Israel. This act transferred the sin of the nation to the goat. That goat was then led into the wilderness and released by a man specially choose for the task. This symbolized the transference of our sins to Jesus Christ. Two scriptures explain this transaction:

“All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, everyone, to his own way; And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” Isaiah 53:6

”For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” 2 Corinthians 5:21

The fact that two goats were used is very significant. They both represent Jesus.

One died and the other lived but carried the sins away. Jesus both died and lives. It is also significant that John the Baptist introduced Jesus as, “The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the

world.”226 It should be noted that the

Passover Lamb did not take sin away, it

The astute student

only covered sin. The goat of Atonement

literally took the sin away into the

should ask the question,

wilderness. John was referencing Jesus,

“Why, if they had a

both as the Passover lamb and the goat

Passover, did they need

of atonement. The astute student

should ask the question, “Why, if they

the Day of Atonement?

had a Passover, did they need the Day

What was God trying to

of Atonement? What was God trying to

get across in the two

get across in the two different sacrifices

and experiences?

different sacrifices and

experiences?

226 John 1:29

74 | P a g e

The God Code: Types and Shadows in the Old Testament Dr. Steve Highlander The Sin offering for the Day of Atonement

To finish the sacrifice, only the fat of the sin offering was burned on the altar.

The bodies of the sacrificial animals were not burned on the altar as usual but taken outside the camp and burned. Again, scripture references Jesus in this part of the ritual.

“For the bodies of those animals, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned outside the camp.

Therefore, Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered outside the gate.” Hebrews 13:11-12

Fifteen hundred years before Christ, God pictured the death of Jesus outside the city gates of Jerusalem on a hill called Golgotha.

In the book of Leviticus, we discover five types of offerings God gave Israel to perform. All five types relate to various things Jesus did/does for us. One of the offerings was the sin offering. Its significance was that only the fat (or caul) above the liver and kidneys was burned on the altar. The rest of the animal including the meat, skin and entrails was taken and burned outside of the camp in a clean place.

There are several types and shadows involved here. The most obvious is the reference to Jesus suffering outside of the city gates of Jerusalem on the hill of Calvary or Golgotha. However, there is a much more subtle picture that requires a little word study to understand.

The liver and kidneys are the two cleansing organs of the body. All the blood passes through these two organs to have the toxins and poisons removed. Fat, of course, is excess. The fact that this was all that was burned should make us stop and take notice to see what God was saying to us. The word translated inward parts ’ in the King James Version of the Bible is the word for the fat above the liver and kidney. David used this word in Psalms 51 when we wrote his song of repentance, asking for forgiveness for His sins with Bathsheba (adultery) and her husband Uriah (murder). Listen to David’s lyrics. “Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts….”227 A few verses later he says, you do not desire burnt offering and bulls.

David understood something about the prophetic nature of the sin sacrifice.

The only thing God really wants from us is an honest confession of our sin. The

“rest of the animal” was to be “burned outside the camp.” In other words, all of our excuses, reasons, justifications and any gossip about the sin issues involved were to be removed from the camp ― from the midst of where the people lived ― and properly disposed of and burned, never to be remembered again.

227 Psalms 51:6

75 | P a g e

The God Code: Types and Shadows in the Old Testament Dr. Steve Highlander This corresponds to the truth of the New Covenant when God said, “And their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.”228 God does not want us talking about sin that has been forgiven and cleansed. The problem occurs when the old carcass of sin lays around the camp rotting and stinking the place up. This happens when unforgiveness and gossip circulate in the church.

The Feast of Tabernacles or Sukkot

“Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the children of Israel, saying: The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the Feast of Tabernacles for seven days to the Lord. On the first day there shall be a holy convocation. You shall do no customary work on it. For seven days you shall offer an offering made by fire to the Lord. On the eighth day you shall have a holy convocation, and you shall offer an offering made by fire to the Lord. It is a sacred assembly, and you shall do no customary work on it…‘Also on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the fruit of the land, you shall keep the feast of the Lord for seven days; on the first day there shall be a sabbath-rest, and on the eighth day a sabbath-rest. And you shall take for yourselves on the first day the fruit of beautiful trees, branches of palm trees, the boughs of leafy trees, and willows of the brook; and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God for seven days. You shall keep it as a feast to the Lord for seven days in the year. It shall be a statute forever in your generations. You shall celebrate it in the seventh month. You shall dwell in booths for seven days. All who are native Israelites shall dwell in booths, that your generations may know that I made the children of Israel dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.’”229

The Feast of Tabernacles was unique in many ways, as we will discover in this section. It celebrated the greatest harvest of the year and was an occasion for great joy and celebration after the ten days of self-inspection and the fasting, affliction and repentance of Yom Kippur.

The Numerical Significance of the Feast

It should be keenly noted that the seventh feast occurred in the seven month for seven days. Seven is the number of divine perfection and completion of a process. It is significant then that this feast combines three sevens to indicate the completion of a major portion of God’s plans and purposes.

The Various Names of the Feast

228 Hebrews 8:12 and 10:17

229 Leviticus 23:43-43

76 | P a g e

The God Code: Types and Shadows in the Old Testament Dr. Steve Highlander The Feast of Tabernacles had several names. Each name was indicative of some aspect of the feast and the spiritual type and shadow which relates to our New testament Spiritual lives.

1. Sukkot: The Hebrew word for a temporary shelter was Suka. This was translated both tabernacles and booths in the Bible. Sukkoth was the Jewish name for the feast. It referenced the temporary bush shelters the Jews would live in for the week. These booths were to remind the Israelites of their temporary wilderness wanderings before moving permanently into the promised land. We should understand the word to picture a rough, temporary shelter, rather than any type of permanent structure. “That your generations may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in booths (sukas), when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.” Leviticus 23:43

2. The Feast of Tabernacles or Booths: As noted above the name is derived from the word for the temporary shelters. The Israelites were instructed to move out of their regular dwellings each year during this feast. They were to construct makeshift shelters to live in for eight days. The idea was for them to remember their history and how God dealt with the nation, performing signs and wonders when creating a new, free nation from former slaves. The booths were made of leafy branches and were not to be adorned or sealed, but rough shelters only. The roofs were thatched for shade, but the family had to be able to see the stars through it at night. It could only have two-and one-half walls and only one wall could be an existing structure,

3. The Feast of Ingathering: (See Exodus 23:16. Note the reference to the Feast of First Fruits, and Exodus 34:22 where you will note the reference to The Feast of Pentecost.) Calling this feast the Feast of Ingathering referred to the last and greatest harvest of the year. It indicated the spiritual harvest that would come at the end of the age.

As a reminder, the Feast of First Fruits (at Passover) referred to the barley harvest. Pentecost ― also called the Feast of Weeks because they counted seven weeks from First Fruits ― was the wheat harvest.

Ingathering celebrated the rest of the harvest season including the corn, wine, and all the fall fruits and vegetables.230

The significance of the booths and the four plants it is decorated with.

The booths themselves signified the temporary nature of things and the promise of permanent home in the future.

230 The student should note that scriptural references to the corn, wine and oil are prophetically referring to the Feast of Ingathering. For a few of many examples see Joel 1:10 and 2:19. The book of Joe should be read with a prophetic understanding associated with The Feast of Tabernacles or Ingathering.

77 | P a g e

The God Code: Types and Shadows in the Old Testament Dr. Steve Highlander 1. The journey through the wilderness that would end with entering the promised land.

2. The temporary trials of the wilderness as opposed to the permanent blessing of the promised land. (See Paul’s application of this principle in Romans 8:18: “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.”)

3. The temporary nature of the mortal flesh-life as opposed to the permanent nature the eternal soul and spirit life. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Jesuit Priest, philosopher and paleontologist, said, “We are not human beings having a spiritual experience; we are spiritual beings having a human experience.” Understanding that human life is temporary and spiritual life is eternal will change your view of life.

The Israelites were commanded to gather four types of plants to decorate their booths. These were tied together in what was called a lulav and used for the pronouncement of the blessings. They were later hung up as decorations in the booths. 231

The Sabbaths in Relation to the Feast

The seven days of Tabernacles started with a High Sabbath on the fifteenth (15) day of the months and ended on the twenty-first day. The eight day, called the Octave (meaning 8th) was also a High Sabbath day. This was in addition to the weekly Sabbath. As noted earlier on the study, a week-long feast indicated a process rather than an event. Both the Feast of Unleavened Bread and the Feast of Tabernacles started and ended with a Sabbath indicating that it took faith to start and complete the spiritual process that was being typified in the celebration. The New Testament spiritual fulfillment of this principle is found in Hebrews 12:2 “…looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith….”, and Philippines 1:6, “…being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.” We cannot initiate nor complete the spiritual work God is doing in our lives, it is accomplished by faith in God’s power to work in and through us.

It should be noted that the first three feasts were grouped into one celebration.

It started with a single day — Passover, which was not a High Sabbath. The Feast of Unleavened Bread was celebrated for seven days and started and ended with a Sabbath. First Fruits was celebrated on the First day of the week.

231 The Israelites understood everything in the Old Testament to have significance or meaning to our life and relationship with God. Throughout the centuries the Rabbis strove to understand the coded messages and life applications in scriptural instruction. Basically, they interpreted the Bible through a method of types and shadows, and to ignore these things is to mis a vital interpretation of the Bible. There are several different interpretations of what these four plants represented, but it is outside the scope of our study. The interested student can simply do an online search for Sukkot (and the other six feasts) to find a lot of interesting information that we do not have time to explore.

78 | P a g e

The God Code: Types and Shadows in the Old Testament Dr. Steve Highlander The celebration had eight days and three Sabbaths. As we end with the Feast pf tabernacles, the seven-day feast comes first with Tabernacles and then the eighth day is celebrated. Likewise, tabernacles had Three Sabbath days.

Unique Features of the Feast

There are several unique features of this last feast that should make the student stop and consider what coded message God was trying to reveal to us.

The Jewish Rabbis understood the Feast of Tabernacles too have two significant purposes.

1) One purpose was to remember their wilderness travels and the blessing of the best harvest of the year.

2) The other purpose was uniquely oriented toward the nations. They believed that God would bless the nations through Israel.

While they failed at their mandate to be a light to the nations, the Feast of Tabernacles had several unique rituals that indicated the promise of God to fulfill His promise to save the Gentile nations and bless them through the faith of Abraham.232

The Sacrifices Numbers 29:12-38

Each day of the seven-day feast the Israelites were commanded to offer a unique sacrifice. The first day they were to offer thirteen bulls, two rams fourteen lambs, and one goat. From Leviticus we discover the meanings of the various types of animal sacrifices. The Bulls were for burnt offerings and indicated total consecration. The rams were for the consecration of the priesthood, the lambs were general sacrifices indicative of Passover, the Thank Offering and the Peace Offering. The goat was a sin offering. There was a single goat, because there is only one offering for sin ― Jesus.

You can see the message coded into the seven-day sacrifice. The unique thing was the number of bulls being sacrifices on each consecutive day. On the first day they sacrificed thirteen (with the other sacrifices). The second day they were to sacrifice twelve bulls (with the other sacrifices included). Each day the number of bulls went down by one until the seventh day when they offered seven bulls.

233Two things should be noted here:

1) There was a total of seventy bulls offered over seven days. You should note the use of the number seven again. Seventy bulls sacrificed over seven days, at the seventh feast, in the seventh month. Once again, we see the combination of sevens, indicating the completion and 232 See Romans chapter 4 and Galatians Chapter 3 for Paul’s revelation of this.

233

79 | P a g e

The God Code: Types and Shadows in the Old Testament Dr. Steve Highlander perfection of God’s plans and purposes. The prophetic message should be clear. We need to ask, what was being completed and perfected? In Genesis chapter ten the Bible lists seventy Gentile nations. The Rabbis understood the seventy bulls of consecration to be the perfect and complete offering for each of the seventy nations representing the entire Gentile world. This type and shadow find its fulfillment in the perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ for the whole world. It typifies John 3:16,

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.”

2) The number of bulls decreased from the first day to the seventh day.

The number thirteen in the Bible indicates rebellion. The feast starts with a sacrifice for the rebellious nations (thirteen bulls) and finally concludes with the sacrifice of perfection (seven bulls) representing, both the perfect sacrifice of Jesus, and the perfection of all the people of God by the sanctification of the Spirit.234

The message of the Feast of Tabernacles is clear: God gave a perfect sacrifice for the perfection of those who come to Him through Jesus Christ. Tabernacles then has to do with the completion of God’s plan on earth to perfect a people through the sanctification of the Spirit.

We find this principle explained in Paul’s understanding of the Mystery of God found in Colossians 1:26-28: “The mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints. To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.”

The book of Revelation also deals with the completion and fulfillment of this mystery. “…but in the days of the sounding of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, the mystery of God would be finished, as He declared to His servants the prophets.”235 Note two things here. This mystery (Christ in you ―

as applied to the Gentiles per Paul) would be finished or completed in the days (plural) when the seventh angel is preparing to sound. The term “days”

indicates a time period rather than an event. And it is finished just prior to the sounding of the seventh trumpet.

The Eighth Day

234 See Hebrews 12:22-23; Matthew 5:48; John 15:23; Galatians 3:3; Ephesians 4:13; Hebrews 9:9 and elsewhere.

235 The Book of the Revelation 10:7

80 | P a g e

The God Code: Types and Shadows in the Old Testament Dr. Steve Highlander God instructed the Israelites to keep an extra day after the initial seven-day feast. According to Jewish tradition this was called “the Last, the Great Day of the Feast.”236

While seven represents the perfection and completion of a cycle, the number eight represents the new beginnings. It was the first day of a new week. It was also on the eighth day (the day after the weekly seventh-day Sabbath) that Jesus rose from the dead. This indicating that the old plan was over the new plan was starting.

It was on this day that the disciples became the first people in history to be born again and receive the indwelling Holy Spirit.237

One other tie-in should be noted. Israelite babies were circumcised on the eighth day, indicating their inclusion on God’s covenantal blessings.

The Water Pouring Ceremony

The Eighth day had some unique features, but the one we want to focus on for this study is the Water Pouring Ceremony. On the eighth day of the Feast a priest, with a group of worshippers, would go to the Pool of Siloam and fill a golden pitcher with water. Upon their return to the temple the priest would raise his hand and the people in the temple area would fall silent. The priest would pour the pitcher of water out at the base of the altar. The Rabbis believed this was a prophetic picture of God’s promise to pour out His Spirit on all flesh (prophesied in Joel 2:28 and fulfilled in Acts 2:17). We find the fulfillment of this ancient ritual in John 7:37-39.

”On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.”

It is believed that Jesus chose this moment ― as the priest raised His hand to pour the water and the temple fell silent ― to cry out prophetic instructions on the fulfillment of this ceremony.

Prophetic references to the pouring out of water can also be found in both the Old and New Testaments.

“Ho! Everyone who thirsts, Come to the waters; And you who have no money, Come, buy and eat. Yes, come, buy wine and milk Without money and without price. Why do you spend money for what is not bread, And your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what 236 John 7:37

237 John 20:19-21

81 | P a g e

The God Code: Types and Shadows in the Old Testament Dr. Steve Highlander is good, And let your soul delight itself in abundance. Incline your ear, and come to Me. Hear, and your soul shall live; And I will make an everlasting covenant with you—The sure mercies of David. Indeed I have given him as a witness to the people, A leader and commander for the people. Surely you shall call a nation you do not know, And nations who do not know you shall run to you, Because of the Lord your God, And the Holy One of Israel: For He has glorified you.”238

As you can see, this prophecy was a direct reference to Jesus’ action in the temple during the water pouring ceremony. You should note three things in this passage.

1. It is a prophecy about Jesus as the Messiah.

2. It talks about the water and the glorification of Jesus in regard to the outpouring of the Spirit ― which is specifically pointed out by John as he explained what Jesus was saying.

3. It says God would call a nation He did not know, and that the nations of the world would run to Him. 239 This is a direct reference to the “world”

or Gentile nations.

4. “The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say,

“Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price.”240

The Huge Candlesticks in the Temple Courtyard

During the Feast of Tabernacles there was a ceremony called the Illumination of the Temple. Four huge candlesticks (each one about seventy-five feet or twenty three meters tall) were placed in the Court of the Women, and lit each night during the Feast of Tabernacles. The wicks were made from the old linen garments of the priests. It is said the window openings of the Temple were cut so they were narrow on the inside and wider on the outside. This was supposedly to allow the light to shine out of the temple to the whole world. The Jews of Jesus’ day understood this to mean that Jerusalem was shining the light of God from the temple to the entire world. Of course, Jesus was the “Light of the World,”241 and he passed that distinction to the Church when He said,

“City set on a hill cannot be hidden,” in conjunction with, “You are the light of 238 Isaiah 55:1-5

239 Hebrew: goy; generally translated nation, heathen, people or Gentiles, It specifically refers to a non-Jewish people. Although the first word “nation” is singular it should not be thought of as a single, geo-political nation, but rather as a people group (plural) and that people group were non-Jews ― or the Gentiles as a whole. “For God so loved the world.…” The second time it is plural and refers to various nations that would hear and respond to God out of the world.

Not all nations would.

240 Revelation 22:17

241 John 1:4-9

82 | P a g e

The God Code: Types and Shadows in the Old Testament Dr. Steve Highlander the world.”242 The individual Christian243 and the Church corporately244 are now the “temple of God” that is shining the light to the world. The significance of four candlestick could be the four gospel narratives that shined the light of Jesus to the world. This also ties in with the four-faced creatures who also represent the four-fold sonship of Jesus Christ. Jesus was the Son God, the son of man (Adam), the son of Abraham and the son of David.

The Feast Celebrated After the Harvest, not Before

While much more could be said about particular aspects of the Feast of Tabernacles, one last peculiar feature needs to be considered. With the first two feasts (First Fruits and Pentecost) no one could eat of the harvest until the particular feast day was properly celebrated and the rituals prescribed for the day were performed. At First Fruits, it was the offering of the Wave Sheaf. At Pentecost it was the offering of the Wave Loaves.

As mentioned in earlier in their respective sections The Feast of First Fruits was about salvation. Spiritually speaking, no one could be saved until Jesus fulfilled the type and shadow by His resurrection from the dead. We are told in Romans 10:9 that we must “believe in our heart an confess with our mouths that God raised Jesus from the dead,” in order be saved. In John 20 we find the story of the disciples being born again on the night of the resurrection. Before Jesus rose from the dead no one could be born again. After Jesus rose from the dead, anyone could be saved.

We see the same principle at Pentecost. Jesus had to be glorified before the outpouring of the Holy Spirit could be given. Once “the Day of Pentecost had fully come,” and the spirit was poured out, anyone who believes can be baptized in the Holy Spirit.

However, we are told at the Feast of Tabernacles that the harvest came first.

The Feast was a celebration of the completed harvest. This change of order should cause us to stop and consider why. We need to understand the God Code built into the types and shadows of the feast.

It should be obvious by now that the Feast of Tabernacles is celebrating the ingathering of the Gentile nations into the plans and purposes of God. God’s intent was to combine the Jewish and Gentiles nations into a totally new and unique people. To this fact the scriptures testify.

“For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so 242 Matthew 5:14

243 John 2:21; I Corinthians 6:19

244 1 Peter 2:4-5 “…you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”

83 | P a g e

The God Code: Types and Shadows in the Old Testament Dr. Steve Highlander as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near. For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.”245

Some have tried to maintain a clear distinction between Jew and Gentile.

However, in Christ, there is none.

“For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.”246

Prophetically the Feast of Tabernacles celebrates two aspects of the great ingathering:

1. The harvest of souls ― both Jew and Gentile ― under the New covenant, starting with Pentecost and finishing with the second coming of Jesus Christ. The great harvest is gathered into the Church throughout the last two thousand years.

2. The great end-time harvest of souls, at the end of the world, just prior to Christ’s second coming. There are two aspects this end-time harvest.

First, world missions’ organizations are estimating that 24,000 people per day around the world are converting to Christianity. It is also estimated that six million Muslims a year (eleven per minute) are converting to Christianity. Truly, the End-time harvest is happening, and much fruit is being brought into the Kingdom of God in these days. The second things to consider is that John saw in the Revelation of Jesus Christ that multitudes would be saved during the Great Tribulation.

“After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, saying, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!….So he said to me, “These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.”247

245 Ephesians 2:14-18

246 Galatians 3:26-29

247 The Book of the Revelation 7:9-14

84 | P a g e

The God Code: Types and Shadows in the Old Testament Dr. Steve Highlander

“Then I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and on the cloud sat One like the Son of Man, having on His head a golden crown, and in His hand a sharp sickle. And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to Him who sat on the cloud, “Thrust in Your sickle and reap, for the time has come for You to reap, for the harvest of the earth is ripe.” So, He who sat on the cloud thrust in His sickle on the earth, and the earth was reaped.”248

No matter how you look at it, more souls are coming into the Kingdom of God in our day than at any other time in Church History. The Church (especially in the west) should be careful about saying that nothing spiritually is happening in the world, because there clearly is a significant move of God’s Spirit around the world.249

Spiritual Fulfillment of the Feast of Tabernacles

Because the feast is celebrated after the harvest it has led some to interpret the last three feasts as taking place in heaven ― the rapture of the Church (the Feast of Trumpets), sinlessness in heaven (Yom Kippur), and the great celebration of rejoicing of eternity (Feast of Tabernacles). However, the types and shadows contained in the Feast of Tabernacles don’t fit will with an interpretation of heaven, because it is all about the harvest on earth. It is the ingathering of the church.

It is not a good thing to be dogmatic about something that hasn’t happened yet. Throughout the years many people and movements have make charts and set dates for end-time events. These almost always have to be changed.

The safest conclusion is that the Feast of Tabernacles has both a spiritual and physical fulfillment on earth and in the lives of believing Gentiles and the nation of Israel. It foreshadows a time of great joy because of the great harvest of souls that have been saved through the ages and are being saved in the last days

248 The Book of the revelation 14:14-16

249 It is the personal opinion of the author that the greatest harvest of all time is still ahead of us. This is keeping with the message of the types and shadows contained in the Feast of Tabernacles.

85 | P a g e

The God Code: Types and Shadows in the Old Testament Dr. Steve Highlander Conclusions

When John the Baptist started His ministry, he had one message. It was the same message that Jesus started His ministry with.

“Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand…. prepare the way of the Lord.”250

Preachers typically preach ― and people generally believe ― that repentance means to be sorry for sin or to quit sinning, however that is not what the people of John’s day heard him (or Jesus) say. The word repent literally means to rethink or think again. It means to change the way you are thinking.

Let’s translate John’s words with our new understanding.

Think again! Change the way you are thinking because the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.

John and Jesus were announcing a new thing. The old way of thinking would not bring the people into the new ― and final expression of the Kingdom of God.

Some did repent (change their thinking) and some did not. The rallying cry of those who did change their thinking was “Jesus is Lord!” The battle cry of those who did not was, “crucify Him!”

Today, we have many and varied expressions of church. Many of those models of church does not reflect the true New Testament Church we see in the Bible.

Similar to conditions of Israel in Jesus’ day, Tradition, man-made positions, political power and other fleshly factors have entrenched themselves in what we call “church.” John and Jesus heralded a clarion call to rethink their religious system and indeed their entire approach to God in preparation for the New Covenant that God was initiating.

While we are still operating under that same New Covenant (we are not suggesting a new, New Covenant), the church needs to re-examine how far we have drifted from the original moorings of the first Century Church we see operating in the Bible. The basic premise of this course is that 2000 years of church history, doctrine and practice has warped the church into something Peter, James, John and Paul would not recognize.

The original message of the Gospel needs to be proclaimed again loud and clear: Change the way you approach God’s Word, because the fulfillment of the Kingdom is at hand.” Maintaining an Old Testament fulfillment and application of types and shadows will never bring the church into the New Testament spiritual realities. Those who want to insist on maintaining the Old Covenant ―

on equal terms with the New Testament are not unlike the Pharisees and Sadducees of Jesus’ day. This is one major reason why the liturgical and traditional churches are so powerless and irrelevant today.

250 Matthew 3:1-3

86 | P a g e

The God Code: Types and Shadows in the Old Testament Dr. Steve Highlander The opposite response to this legalistic interpretation of the Bible is liberalism.

Rejecting the old dead interpretation, some have rejected the Word of God in whole or part and developed a theology devoid of any biblical moorings. To them the Bible is simply a book written by men long ago and its message is open to opinion and debate. Take the parts you like and ignore the parts you don’t.

There is a third ― and more accurate ― interpretation. The life-giving impartation of the Spirit. Jesus said, “The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.”251 Paul said, “The letter (of the law) kills, but the Spirit gives life.”252

It should be clear to the student by now that God placed coded messages into the people, places, rituals and events of the Old Testament. There is much more that could be studied, and the student is encouraged to dig deeper into the other types and shadows which were not covered. Perhaps sometime in the future this course will be expanded to include this additional material.

The Bible student and teacher must desire revelation ― not simply information.

Our goal is transformation ― not conformation. The reality is, revelation will bring transformation and information will only produce conformation. It is only through the Spirit of God that the Bible can be accurately interpreted. The danger for the Bible student/teacher is to make up one’s own interpretation.

We must remain dedicated to hermeneutical principle that the Bible interprets the Bible.

There have been at least two great interpretive errors over the course of church history. Some have rejected any literal interpretation and have tried to find only allegorical significance in the Biblical text. Others have rejected any allegorical interpretation and strictly require the Bible to be interpreted literally. We need to avoid both of these positions. It is clear that the Bible itself indicates that there are spiritual interpretations and applications of literal passages.

The key thing to understand is that all of the physical, Old Testament types and shadows pointed to true spiritual fulfilment in Jesus Christ and His Body ― the Church. Repeatedly we have learned that that the types and shadows are mere copies of the reality. The serious Bible students must shift their thinking from continuing a literal application of Old Testament things and embrace the genuine spiritual fulfillment found in Christ, through the Holy Spirit.

The Spirit of God will both interpret and anoint a genuine spiritual understanding of the Word of God.

Be blessed as you seek revelation and transformation ― both in yourself and others ― through the Word and Spirit.

Appendix 1 – The Jewish Calendar and the Feasts of the Lord 251 John 6:63

252 2 Corinthians 3:6

87 | P a g e

The God Code: Types and Shadows in the Old Testament Dr. Steve Highlander Our Modern Calendar - Gregorian Calendar

Jan

Feb March April May

June July

Aug

Sept Oct

Nov

Dec

The Jewish Civil Calendar used today

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

1*

2

3

The Jewish Ceremonial Calendar used for the Feasts of the Lord 10

11

12 1***

2

3

4

5

6

7**

8

9

Passover 14th

1st Feast of Trumpets

Unleavened Bread 15th-21st

50 Days

Pentecost

10th Day of Atonement

First Fruits 17th

15th-22nd Feast of tabernacles

*Jewish Civil New Year

**Feast of Trumpets

***The first month of the Jewish Ceremonial Year

As discussed in the course manual, Section 3 covering the Feasts of the Lord, the Israelites operate on two calendars:

1. A Civil calendar for their social and government purposes 2. A Ceremonial Calendar for their religious ceremonial purposes The two calendars were exactly six months off of each other. In other words the first day of the first month of the civil year (Jewish New Year or Rosh Hashanah in Hebrew) was also the first day of the seventh month (Feast of Trumpets) of the religious ceremonial year.

God instituted this calendar change in Exodus 12:1 when he gave them the Passover in preparation for leaving Egypt.

The prophetic purpose of the calendar change was indicating that God had two places operating simultaneously in Israel. Their was a physical Kingdom, but there was also a Spiritual Kingdom. On occasion – every six months – the calendars coincided, indicating the physical and spiritual plans coming together.

Today God still has a plan for the nation of Israel, however He also has a spiritual plan for the church. These two plans come together on occasion.

88 | P a g e

The God Code: Types and Shadows in the Old Testament Dr. Steve Highlander 89 | P a g e

Table of Contents

Course Description .................................................................................

Section 1: Introduction to Types and Shadows .............................................. 4

The Issue of interpretation ........................................................................

Some Definitions ...................................................................................

Scriptural Examples ................................................................................

The Old and New Covenants ...................................................................... 10

Biblical Numerology ................................................................................

Colors and Metals ..................................................................................

Section 2: Types and Shadows and their Fulfilment in Christ ..................... 18

Scriptural Types and Shadows .................................................................. 21

Old Testament People and Stories Who Typified Christ .......................... 33

Section 3: The Feasts of the Lord .................................................................

An Overview of the Feasts ..........................................................................

The Conclusion of the First Four Feasts ................................................... 67

The Fall Feasts ― Future Fulfillment ......................................................... 68

The Day of Atonement (Yom Kipur) ........................................................... 72

The Feast of Tabernacles or Sukkot ......................................................... 76

Conclusions ........................................................................................