TYPES OF CHRIST IN THE OLD TESTAMENT
A
Bible Study - Commentary by Jim Melough
Copyright
2001 James Melough
ADAM
GENESIS CHAPTER
2
2:21.
“And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he
took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof;”
Having established that there
was no creature fit to be Adam’s companion and help, God proceeded to supply
the lack, and in the method used He has painted a symbolic miniature of
Calvary.
The deep death-like sleep that
fell upon Adam in the Garden of Eden typifies the sleep of death that fell
upon the last Adam (1 Cor 15:45), for concerning the place where Christ died,
it is written, “Now in the place where He was crucified there was a garden,”
Jn 19:41.
While Adam was in that
death-like sleep, God opened his side. It wasn’t until He was dead that
Christ’s side was opened, “But when they came to Jesus, and saw that He was
dead already, they brake not His legs; but one of the soldiers with a spear
pierced His side, and forthwith came there out blood and water,” Jn 19:33-34.
Only that blood can cleanse sin, and that water is a type of the written Word
which brings to man awareness of his need of that blood. That Word believed,
and that blood applied by faith, make men and women new creatures (as was
Eve), and members of that mystical body the Church which is the bride of the
last Adam.
2:22.
“And the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman, and
brought her unto the man.”
As with the first Adam, so
also with the Last. The head of the earthly creation must have a companion
similar to himself, and the Head of all creation must also have a
companion similar to Himself. During this dispensation or age of grace (from
Pentecost till the Rapture), every believer becomes a member of that mystical
body, the Church, the companion, the bride of Christ. And as Eve was
presented to Adam so will the Church - some by resurrection, some by
translation, 1 Cor 15:51-52, 1 Thes 4:16-17 - be presented to Christ at the
Rapture, to be His bride, His companion eternally. Her fitness to be that
companion is because, like Eve made in nature like Adam, all believers are
made in nature like Christ, for they possess His life, His nature, and are
clothed in His righteousness at the moment of conversion, as Paul assures us,
“Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular,” 1 Cor 12:27, “For
we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. For this cause
shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife,
and they two shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery; but I speak
concerning Christ and the church,” Eph 5:30-32.
It is interesting to note that
the word “made” in this verse is literally “builded,” a fact which continues
to emphasize the parallel between the making of the bride of the first Adam
and that of the last Adam. The Church is also being builded of living stones,
see 1 Pe 2:5, “Ye also, as lively (living) stones, are built up a spiritual
house, an holy priesthood....”
2:23.
“And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall
be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.”
This stresses not simply
similarity, but complete identification. She was in every aspect of her
nature like Adam. The believer enjoys similar identification with Christ, as
it is written, “For we are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His
bones,” Eph 5:30, and at the Rapture when the spiritual body replaces the
physical, the completeness of that affinity will be seen, for every believer
is predestinated to be conformed to the image of Christ, as it is written,
“For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the
image of his Son....” Ro 8:29.
Having had all other creatures
brought to him to be named, this new creature, the one perfectly suited to be
his companion, was also brought, and he named her, “Woman because she was
taken out of Man.” His own name became hers. On that day when the Church is
presented to Christ, every believer will have the name of Christ upon him, see
Re 3:12, “Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God ...
and I will write upon him the name of my God ... and I will write upon him my
new name.”
2:24.
“Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto
his wife: and they shall be one flesh.”
This final detail of the
divine miniature isn’t difficult to interpret. It pictures the indissoluble
bond that links the Redeemer and His redeemed.