Latest / Reformed Thinking / Types of Messiah | Jonathan Edwards

Transcript

Types of Messiah | Jonathan Edwards · Reformed Thinking

0:00
Imagine your doctor writes you a prescription.
0:02
OK, but instead of milligrams and medication names, he writes
0:06
down the precise number of palm trees at a desert Oasis.
0:10
Right, that would be concerning. And then he tells you to pay
0:13
very close attention to a worm eating a vine.
0:15
Yeah, you would think the man had completely lost his mind.
0:18
You would, But for ancient readers of the Hebrew
0:21
Scriptures, this was well, precisely how the most critical
0:26
instructions in the universe were delivered.
0:28
It is a completely different way of communicating.
0:30
It really is welcome to reform thinking.
0:32
I am your host, and today we are looking through a very specific
0:36
lens at texts that baffle modern minds.
0:39
Because when we sit down with an instruction manual today, or,
0:42
you know, a history textbook, we expect literal precision.
0:46
Right. A bolt is a bolt.
0:47
A date is a date. Yeah, the author includes a
0:50
detail for one reason alone, which is literal function.
0:53
But that is an entirely modern post enlightenment expectation,
0:56
isn't it? It is.
0:57
We crave this, this one to one ratio of word to literal
1:02
meaning. It feels clean, It feels binary
1:05
and safe. Yeah, we want reality
1:07
categorized and labeled. Right.
1:09
And entirely visible on the surface.
1:11
But applying that mindset to ancient Hebrew texts is, I mean,
1:16
it's like trying to measure the temperature of a room with a
1:18
tape measure. You are just using the wrong
1:20
tool for the environment. Precisely.
1:22
And that is the friction we are tackling today.
1:24
You step into the world of these ancient scriptures and that
1:28
modern instruction manual framework just shatters.
1:31
It really does. You read the accounts and you
1:33
have to start asking questions. Like why do we need the
1:35
landscaping inventory of a specific Oasis, right?
1:38
Or why document the exact waste attire of a desert prophet?
1:43
Or the architectural measurements of a bronze washing
1:46
basin. Yeah, all those tedious details.
1:48
So today our mission is to dig into the writings of Jonathan
1:52
Edwards. He was an 18th century
1:54
theologian and we are looking specifically at his notes on the
1:57
types of the Messiah. It is a fascinating subject.
2:00
We're going to uncover how ancient historical events, these
2:03
bizarre physical rituals, and the detailed biographies of key
2:07
figures were sovereignly orchestrated to foreshadow 1
2:10
central figure. And Jonathan Edwards is just a
2:13
fantastic guide for this. He really is.
2:15
You have to remember he lived during the height of the
2:17
Enlightenment, so he was surrounded by thinkers who were
2:21
increasingly viewing the universe as like a cold
2:25
mechanical clock. Right.
2:26
Very rational, very literal. Yeah, and Edwards pushed back
2:29
violently against that. He argued for a paradigm where
2:32
reality itself is divided into two distinct parts.
2:35
OK, a physical shadow and a spiritual substance.
2:39
So in his view, the material world, like all of human history
2:44
and physical objects, was engineered from the very
2:47
beginning to mirror a higher eternal reality.
2:50
Yes. But before we get into the
2:52
historical examples, let's ground that concept a bit.
2:55
Let's do it. Edwards actually starts his
2:56
argument by analyzing human psychology.
2:58
OK, how so? Well, he points out that human
3:01
beings have this built in delight for imitative arts.
3:04
Like poetry and fables? Right metaphorical language
3:07
theater. We do not just tolerate symbols,
3:09
we crave them. That is so true.
3:11
I mean, you see this with kids all the time.
3:13
Oh, absolutely, he notes. This disposition is obvious from
3:16
early childhood. Children naturally gravitate
3:19
towards symbolic play. Yeah, a child learns morality
3:22
much faster through a story about a talking lion than
3:26
through, you know, a philosophical lecture on virtue.
3:28
Precisely. And because human nature is
3:31
wired this way, communicating truth through physical symbols,
3:34
what Edwards calls types, is an incredibly effective method of
3:38
instruction. It bypasses the abstract
3:40
completely. It does.
3:41
It hits the senses. It conveys truth with a unique
3:44
blend of conviction and pleasure.
3:47
And it acts as a massive aid to human memory, too.
3:49
I mean, we remember a vivid, weird story much longer than a
3:53
list of moral propositions. And we really do.
3:55
So how does Edwards apply this psychology to the physical
3:58
universe? This is where he lays out his
4:00
grand thesis of the two worlds. This is the core of his entire
4:04
framework. Edwards divides the system of
4:06
created beings into two categories.
4:08
You have the typical world and the anti typical world.
4:10
OK, let's break those down. The typical world is our
4:13
physical universe. He describes it as inferior,
4:16
external and transitory. And the anti typical world.
4:19
That is the superior, spiritual, perfect and durable reality.
4:24
The material world is just a physical model of the moral and
4:28
spiritual world. I want to make sure we are not
4:30
getting lost in like 18th century academic language here.
4:35
If I am understanding this, the typical world is kind of like an
4:39
architect's crude cardboard model.
4:41
Oh, that is a great way to think about it.
4:43
Like it is made of cheap temporary materials, you would
4:46
never want to actually live inside the cardboard model.
4:48
Right. It wouldn't offer much
4:49
protection. Yeah, but the anti typical world
4:52
is the Finnish skyscraper, the one made of steel and glass.
4:56
The cardboard model only exists to give you a spatial
4:59
understanding of the real building that is coming.
5:02
That is an excellent analogy. The cardboard is entirely
5:05
subservient to the steel. The physical world exists to
5:08
teach us about the spiritual one.
5:10
I have to push back here though. OK, go ahead.
5:12
Is this just humans retrofitting meaning onto random events?
5:16
Like seeing shapes in the clouds.
5:18
Yeah, exactly. We look at a cloud and say, oh,
5:20
that looks like a lion, but the cloud is just water vapor
5:23
shifting in the wind. Are we taking ancient historical
5:27
events and retroactively deciding they look like the
5:31
Messiah just because we want them to?
5:33
That is the immediate skeptical response, and it is a completely
5:36
fair 1. It seems like the most logical
5:38
objection. It does, but Edwards argues from
5:41
the source material that this is not human beings reading meaning
5:44
into random events. This was a divine method
5:48
instituted from the beginning of creation.
5:50
So the physical world is the actual cloud, and the creator
5:53
shaped the vapor intentionally to look like the lion.
5:56
Yes, Edwards brings in some really fascinating historical
5:59
context to back this up, actually.
6:01
What kind of context? Well, he points out that ancient
6:03
wise men across different cultures and even the creators
6:06
of Egyptian hieroglyphics derive their use of sacred symbols from
6:10
an original tradition of divine inspiration.
6:12
But. He argues that the reason
6:14
ancient Eastern nations used enigmas and hieroglyphics to
6:18
represent their gods was an imitation of the true prophets.
6:21
Precisely delivering wisdom through allegorical and symbolic
6:26
representation was the gold standard in the ancient Near
6:29
East. Edwards anchors this in the
6:32
biblical text itself. He cites the book of Proverbs
6:35
where Solomon speaks of understanding the words of the
6:38
wise and their dark sayings. So the physical world was always
6:42
intended to function as a language.
6:43
Yes, and the Pagan cultures simply borrowed the grammar of
6:47
that language for their own pantheons.
6:49
OK, so we have talked about how God uses the passive natural
6:52
world, the cardboard model so to speak, to send a message.
6:57
If the physical world is a language, then historical events
7:00
are not just random dates on a timeline.
7:01
No, they're not. They are arranged by special
7:04
Providence to act as physical prophecies.
7:07
Let's dig into the story of Jacob and Esau to see how this
7:09
works in practice. OK, so the historical account
7:12
describes these twin brothers struggling in the womb, right?
7:16
And when they are born, Jacob's hand is physically grasping
7:19
Esau's heel. On a purely literal level, it is
7:22
just a stressful detail of a complicated birth.
7:25
But Edwards points out that this specific biology was ordered by
7:28
special Providence to prefigure a massive spiritual reality.
7:33
Which was what? Well, it typified the future
7:36
political struggle between the nations of Israel and Edom, but
7:39
beyond that, it foreshadowed the spiritual wrestling of God's
7:42
people. So Jacob taking the heel and
7:44
supplanting his older brother was a physical flesh and blood
7:47
prophecy. Yes, of the future triumph of
7:50
the righteous over their enemies.
7:52
And later in life, Jacob physically wrestled with a
7:55
divine figure in the desert until his hip is dislocated.
7:58
Right. Which types the intense,
8:00
agonizing spiritual wrestlings of believers prevailing failing
8:04
with God in prayer? The physical strain teaches the
8:07
spiritual posture. Spot on.
8:09
I'm fascinated by the story of Moses in this context too.
8:12
We all know the basic narrative. Yeah, a helpless infant is
8:15
placed in a papyrus basket in the Nile River to save him from
8:18
execution by the pharaoh. Right.
8:20
And he is drawn out of the water by Pharaoh's own daughter.
8:23
It is highly cinematic. Very cinematic, yes, but look at
8:26
the typical architecture underneath the story.
8:28
Moses, being wonderfully preserved in the midst of great
8:31
waters as a helpless infant, prefigures his his entire life's
8:35
calling. Because he was drawn out of the
8:37
literal water so that he could, decades later, draw the helpless
8:41
nation of Israel out of the great waters of Egyptian
8:44
affliction. Exactly in the poetic language
8:47
of the Hebrew Scriptures, being delivered from cruel enemies is
8:50
repeatedly described as being drawn out of many waters, or,
8:53
you know, saved from the floods. So the physical event of the
8:57
baby in the river was a micro model of the salvation of an
9:01
entire nation from the overwhelming flood of Egyptian
9:04
bondage. Yes, and the wording itself
9:06
gives it away. The name Moses literally means
9:08
drawn out. The history and the linguistics
9:11
are completely unified. That is mind blowing and it
9:14
makes sense of the desert wandering accounts too.
9:16
How so? Well, the Israelites are moving
9:18
through the Sinai Peninsula and they camp at an Oasis called
9:21
Elam. Oh.
9:22
Right. The text stops the narrative
9:24
completely to specify that there were 12 fountains of water and
9:27
70 palm trees there. Yeah, as a modern reader, I
9:30
always skimmed right past that. I do not care about the
9:33
landscaping, you know. Because you are reading it like
9:35
a textbook, not looking at a cardboard model.
9:38
Right, So what does the model mean?
9:39
The 12 fountains perfectly mirror the 12 patriarchs, the
9:42
original fathers of the tribes of Israel.
9:45
Oh, In ancient texts, the paternity or source of a family
9:48
is often called a fountain. And the 70 palm trees.
9:51
Those mirror the 70 elders of the congregation appointed to
9:55
lead the people. God's people are frequently
9:57
compared to trees, flourishing, providing shade, rooted by
10:01
water. So God orchestrated the literal
10:03
geography of that desert Oasis to reflect the organizational
10:07
structure of his people. Yes, the Oasis was a physical
10:11
mirror of the camp sitting right next to it.
10:13
Let's spend some time on a genuinely bizarre narrative from
10:17
the text. I want to talk about Jonah's
10:19
gourd. Yeah, OK.
10:19
This is a great one. Jonah is sitting outside the
10:22
city of Nineveh. He has just preached a message
10:25
of doom and he is waiting on a hill to see if God will drop
10:28
fire on the city. Right.
10:30
He wants to see them destroyed. Yeah, and God causes a plant, a
10:34
gourd to grow up over Jonah in a single night to provide shade
10:38
from the brutal Middle Eastern sun.
10:40
Jonah's thrilled. Airy thrilled.
10:41
Then at dawn, God sends a single worm to attack the root of the
10:45
plant and it Withers and dies in a day, and Jonah just loses his
10:50
mind with anger over this dead plant.
10:52
Edwards breaks down the symbolism of this entire
10:55
sequence with incredible precision.
10:57
Walk me through it. Start with the plant itself.
10:59
It is a feeble, tender, dependent vine.
11:02
It cannot stand on its own structure.
11:04
It has to climb. It's brings up suddenly looks
11:08
green and flourishing for a few hours and then dries up into
11:11
dust. Which represents.
11:12
This is a direct physical representation of the brief,
11:15
fragile life of man. As the Psalms described, man is
11:18
like grass that flourishes in the morning and is cut down in
11:21
the evening. Which brings us to the worm.
11:23
Why a worm? Why not a strong wind or a wild
11:26
animal tearing up the vine? Because the worm represents the
11:29
cause of man's death, it is a tiny, seemingly insignificant
11:32
thing. And notice its operational
11:35
tactic. It approaches underground,
11:37
completely unseen. Wow, that is dark.
11:40
Man does not know his time. Death approaches like a worm at
11:43
the root, out of sight, suddenly striking the vital core.
11:47
And Jonah is just sitting there, enjoying the temporary comfort
11:50
of this fragile life, entirely unaware of the unseen killer
11:54
working at the root. Right, and the logic trap God
11:57
sets here is brilliant. Because Jonah pitied the gourd.
12:01
Because it shielded him from the scorching heat.
12:03
Yes, God uses this physical scenario to corner Jonah in his
12:07
own hypocrisy. By asking why he lacked pity for
12:11
the hundreds of thousands of lives in Nineveh.
12:13
Precisely. God was shielding those people
12:16
from divine wrath, just as the plant shielded Jonah from the
12:18
sun. It is a masterful use of a
12:21
physical type to force a moral revelation.
12:24
It really is if you have ever had the rug pulled out from
12:26
under you. A job lost, a sudden illness, a
12:29
comfort removed without warning. It changes your perspective
12:32
entirely if you view it through this lens.
12:34
You stop asking just why did this happen to me?
12:36
Right, and start asking what broader reality is being
12:39
communicated through this loss. Every physical shift might be
12:42
speaking a spiritual language if you know how to listen.
12:45
So we have talked about how God uses the passive natural world
12:49
like an Oasis or a plant to send a message.
12:51
Yes, but it gets much weirder when he forces humans to become
12:56
the physical symbols themselves. Oh, absolutely.
12:58
Let's look at the prophets. They did not just stand on
13:01
platforms and give polished lectures.
13:02
No, they acted out the future in strange, highly public,
13:07
agonizing physical displays. They were commanded to embody
13:11
the message with their own flesh.
13:13
Isaiah is a prime example of this.
13:15
He is by direct divine appointment.
13:17
He walked completely naked and barefoot for three years.
13:20
Three years in an ancient Near Eastern culture where honor and
13:25
shame were everything, public nakedness was the ultimate
13:27
degradation. It was excruciating for him.
13:30
That is not just a quirky object lesson.
13:32
That is social suicide. It was, but he did it to signify
13:37
and physically prefigure the coming captivity of Egypt and
13:41
Ethiopia. He was a living, breathing
13:44
demonstration of how those nations would be LED away as
13:46
prisoners of war, stripped naked and ashamed by the Assyrians.
13:50
He became a walking symbol of absolute vulnerability and
13:53
judgement, and contrast that with Jeremiah.
13:56
He takes a linen girdle piece of undergarment and travels for
14:00
miles to the river Euphrates just to hide it in a hole in a
14:03
rock. Days later he walks all the way
14:06
back to retrieve it and it is completely ruined from the
14:09
moisture and dirt. And on another occasion, he
14:12
breaks an expensive Potter's vessel into pieces in front of
14:15
the city leaders. He literally constructs heavy
14:18
wooden yolks, the kind you put on oxen, and wears them on his
14:21
own neck, walking through the bustling city streets to
14:24
demonstrate the impending political bondage of the king of
14:28
Babylon. Ezekiel's actions might be the
14:30
most extreme on record, though. Yeah, let's talk about Ezekiel.
14:33
He is commanded to eat a scroll covered in writing.
14:37
He lies immobile on his side for over a year to represent the
14:40
length of the siege of Jerusalem over a year, and he shaves his
14:45
head and his beard with a sharp sword.
14:47
He burns 1/3 of the hair in a fire, chops 1/3 with a knife and
14:51
scatters the final third to the wind.
14:54
The physical toll of lying on your side for a year is hard to
14:56
fathom. Muscle atrophy.
14:58
Bed sores. But the emotional toll is even
15:00
worse. Yeah, I was totally thrown off
15:02
by the example of Ezekiel's wife.
15:04
It is a devastating passage. Ezekiel's wife, whom the text
15:07
calls the delight of his eyes, dies suddenly.
15:11
And God explicitly commands Ezekiel not to shed a single
15:14
tear, not to weep, and to show absolutely none of the
15:17
conventional cultural signs of mourning.
15:19
Right. He is forbidden from grieving
15:21
his own wife to represent a horrifying future reality.
15:25
Because the people of Jerusalem were going to be so consumed by
15:28
the coming slaughter and judgment that they would be
15:30
completely paralyzed. Yes, they would not even have
15:32
the capacity to mourn the destruction of their beloved
15:35
temple or their own families. Ezekiel's suppressed grief was a
15:39
mirror for a nation's impending shock.
15:41
Then you have Hosea, who is commanded to marry a woman known
15:44
for unfaithfulness, A wife of whoredom.
15:47
He has children with her, she leaves him for other lovers, and
15:50
he's commanded to go buy her back.
15:53
He physically acts out God's relationship with an unfaithful,
15:56
idolatrous nation. It's heavily visual.
15:59
My question is, how did observers in that era process
16:03
these actions? What do you mean?
16:04
Well, if I saw someone walking around my neighborhood wearing a
16:07
wooden yoke or shaving their head with a sword in the town
16:10
square, I've called the authorities.
16:12
Right, you'd be worried for them.
16:13
I would assume they were suffering a severe mental health
16:16
crisis. Was this just seen as madness by
16:18
their contemporaries? It was absolutely recognized as
16:21
a legitimate, albeit intense, language.
16:25
The source material explains that these actions were
16:27
understood culturally as parables or dark sayings.
16:31
OK, so the society expected divine instructions to be
16:34
delivered in symbols and emblems.
16:36
Yes, it was so common for genuine prophets to typify their
16:40
prophecies through physical action that the false prophets
16:43
actually copied the behavior. Oh right, the source mentions
16:46
false prophets putting on iron horns.
16:48
Exactly. The false prophets used physical
16:52
symbolic action like wearing horns to symbolize military
16:55
pushing and victory because they knew it was the expected medium
16:59
of divine revelation. So if you wanted the public to
17:02
believe you're a legitimate mouthpiece for the divine, you
17:05
had to act in this symbolic manner.
17:07
The physical action carried a weight of visceral certainty
17:10
that spoken words alone simply lacked.
17:13
Let's scale this up a bit. We are zooming out from
17:16
individual bizarre actions to massive civilization altering
17:21
events, OK Edwards argues that these historical mega events
17:26
functioned as blueprints or models for final salvation and
17:29
final judgement. The History of the Deluge The
17:32
global flood is presented as a macro model of the future
17:36
destruction of all wicked rebellion.
17:38
Because the ancient world was destroyed by a dreadful Tempest.
17:41
Right, and the source connects this to descriptions in Job and
17:43
the Psalms, where divine wrath is constantly compared to
17:47
overwhelming waters, waves and billows.
17:50
The waters of the flood did not just surround the wicked on the
17:52
outside, though. No, the texts describe the
17:54
waters coming into their very bowels.
17:56
It is an inescapable internal judgement.
17:59
But the flood is not just a model of wrath, it is a massive
18:01
model of salvation. You have the ark.
18:04
It represents the Messiah as the ultimate floating refuge from
18:08
the storm. The prophet Isaiah talks about a
18:10
man who will be a hiding place from the wind, a covert from The
18:14
Tempest. The Ark is the physical covert.
18:17
And the detail about the animals inside the ark is fascinating.
18:21
Think about the logistics. It is wild to think about.
18:24
You have clean and unclean animals, tame livestock and wild
18:27
predators. Tigers, wolves, bears, lions,
18:32
leopards, venomous serpents. It is a brilliant piece of
18:35
analysis by Edwards. The door of the Ark stands wide
18:39
open to all of them, regardless of their nature.
18:41
And once inside, they all dwell peaceably together under one
18:44
head. Noah.
18:44
Noah kindly receives them, provides their food, and these
18:47
wild beasts tamely submit to him.
18:49
And Edwards explains that this vividly represents something
18:52
specific. Yes, the gathering of the
18:54
Gentile nations into the community of faith during the
18:56
era of the Messiah. Because in the ancient Hebrew
18:58
mindset, these Pagan nations were considered unclean,
19:02
barbarous and hostile. Quite literally viewed as
19:05
venomous beasts by the Israelites.
19:07
So when Isaiah makes that famous prophecy that the wolf will
19:10
dwell with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the young
19:13
goat, and the lion will eat straw like the ox, he is not
19:17
just being poetic about agriculture.
19:19
No, he is echoing the historical reality of the Ark.
19:22
The gathering of the hostile Pagan nations, the Egyptians,
19:25
the Philistines, the Chaldeans, coming into a peaceful society
19:29
under 1 Savior. It is a stunning historical
19:31
parallel. The Ark was violently tossed on
19:34
the waves, ready to be overwhelmed, but it finally
19:37
rested on a high mountain, bringing its inhabitants safely
19:40
into a washed new world. Which mirrors the community of
19:44
believers being tossed with historical affliction but
19:46
brought to rest on a holy mountain in a new creation.
19:49
Let's look at another mega event, Egypt and the Red Sea.
19:53
In the ancient text, the pharaoh of Egypt is repeatedly
19:55
represented as a leviathan or a dragon, which are symbolic
19:59
monstrous terms for Satan. Right, And the destruction of
20:02
Pharaoh and his massive army in the waters of the Red Sea is an
20:05
enormous historical type of the final defeat of spiritual
20:08
darkness. The spontaneous joy and the
20:11
songs the Israelites sang on the shores of the sea prefigure the
20:15
joy of the redeemed. The physical act of dividing the
20:18
waters and making a dry highway through the deep is referenced
20:21
over and over by the later prophets.
20:23
It is treated as an ironclad guarantee of future spiritual
20:27
deliverance. And then we have the destruction
20:29
of Sodom and Gomorrah. Yeah, it is a heavy one.
20:32
The incineration of these cities is the ultimate historical type
20:35
of final punishment, specifically represented by
20:38
fire. The source notes several intense
20:41
parallels here. Notice the suddenness of the
20:43
event. Destruction fell early in the
20:45
morning, just as the sun arose pleasantly on the earth.
20:48
The inhabitants were completely at ease, immersed in luxury,
20:52
sloth and pleasure. It snap shut upon them like a
20:54
hidden snare. It brings to mind the proverbs
20:57
warning that whoever hardens their neck after being often
21:00
reproved will suddenly be broken beyond healing.
21:03
Yeah, the literal elements of the destruction, fire and
21:06
brimstone raining down from the sky are continually used in the
21:09
prophetic books to describe the final day of reckoning.
21:12
But Edwards points out an incredible, lingering physical
21:16
detail. What's that?
21:17
The actual geographical region where Sodom stood was left
21:21
entirely full of asphaltam and pitch.
21:23
In the translation Edwards used, it was called a Land of Burning
21:26
Pitch. He notes that this physical
21:29
reality, a desolate, sulfurous, unlivable wasteland, is a
21:33
physical representation of unquenchable eternal burning.
21:37
Wow. It was an everlasting desolation
21:39
where no creature could survive, acting as a perpetual physical
21:43
warning of eternal consequences. It is like a fractal pattern.
21:47
A fractal. Yeah, if you look at a small
21:49
part of a Fern leaf, the geometry matches the shape of
21:52
the entire Fern. A localized historical judgment
21:55
like Sodom or the drowning at the Red Sea is a micro version
21:58
of the macro reality of final judgment and final salvation.
22:02
I see the shape of the history matches the shape of the cosmos.
22:05
If fractal is the perfect analogy, the geometry of divine
22:07
Providence remains perfectly consistent, whether it is
22:10
applied to a single wicked city, an entire empire, or the entire
22:14
universe at the end of time. So we have talked about massive
22:17
events, now let's scale back down to individuals, OK?
22:21
Edwards argues that specific historical figures lived lives
22:25
that meticulously, almost shockingly, mirrored the future
22:29
Messiah. I want to spend some time on
22:31
Joseph because the parallels are overwhelming when you lay them
22:34
out sequentially. Joseph's biography reads like a
22:37
hyper specific blueprint. Start with his position in the
22:41
family. OK, Joseph was the uniquely
22:43
beloved son of his father, Jacob.
22:44
Right. And the prophecies constantly
22:47
represent the Messiah as the beloved Son of God.
22:49
Joseph was clothed with a beautiful multi colored garment
22:52
by his father. And the Messiah is described
22:54
poetically as being clothed with the garments of salvation.
22:58
But then the narrative turns incredibly dark.
22:59
He is hated by his brothers. Hated fiercely by the sons of
23:03
his own father, they conspire against him.
23:05
This mirrors how the Messiah, a son of Israel, was rejected and
23:09
conspired against by the generality of his own people.
23:12
Joseph's was literally sold into slavery for a few pieces of
23:15
silver. And the prophecy state
23:17
explicitly that the Messiah will be sold for a few pieces of
23:20
silver. In Egypt, Joseph was falsely
23:23
accused of a crime he did not commit and was thrown into a
23:26
dungeon alongside 2 actual criminals.
23:29
The Messiah was completely yet he was numbered with the
23:31
transgressors, crucified between two thieves, and brought down to
23:35
the pit of the grave. The descent is brutal, but the
23:38
humiliation is followed by supreme exaltation.
23:41
Joseph is suddenly raised out of the dungeon and exalted to be
23:44
second in command over the entire Egyptian empire.
23:47
He is made Lord of Pharaoh's house and ruler over all his
23:51
substance. Matching the theological claim
23:52
that the Messiah is exalted to the right hand of God, made
23:56
higher than all the kings of the earth.
23:57
And notice what happens upon Joseph's exaltation.
24:01
Pharaoh gives him a Gentile wife, Asanath, the daughter of
24:04
an Egyptian priest. The Messiah, upon his exaltation
24:08
and rejection by his brothers, brings the Gentile world into
24:11
espousals with himself. And Joseph's new Egyptian name,
24:14
Zaphanath Panaya, roughly translates to savior of the
24:18
world or revealer of secrets. He saves not only the brothers
24:21
who betrayed him, but the entire known gentile world from a
24:24
catastrophic famine. He provides them with the bread
24:27
of life. The biography is almost too
24:29
perfect. It is, but then you read about
24:31
someone like Samson. I genuinely struggle to see how
24:35
Samson fits this mold. He is a tough. 1 He is violent,
24:38
reckless, and driven by base desires.
24:41
How does a man visiting a harlot mirror a holy Messiah?
24:45
Samson is a challenging case because his character is deeply
24:48
flawed, but Edwards forces us to look past the moral failings of
24:51
the man to the structural beats of his life.
24:53
OK. Lay it out for me.
24:55
Even his name, Samson, means little son.
24:58
He is a small, shadowy, imperfect representation of the
25:01
great Son of Righteousness. The ugly parts of his story are
25:05
actually the most accurate types.
25:07
You mean his love for the harlot?
25:09
Yes, Samson loved a Philistine harlot, an enemy of his people,
25:13
and this specific love directly caused his suffering, his
25:16
betrayal, and his binding by his enemies.
25:18
How did that connect? Edwards connects this to the
25:21
Messiah's love for a sinful, unfaithful people.
25:24
The prophets like Hosea and Ezekiel constantly refer to
25:28
God's people as an unfaithful wife, a harlot who chases other
25:31
lovers. The Messiah's love for this
25:34
sinful, hostile people is precisely what exposes Him to
25:38
His enemies, leads to his betrayal, and results in his
25:41
binding and suffering. So Samson's physical weakness
25:45
for a terrible woman points to the Messiah's sacrificial love
25:49
for a terrible people. It reframes the ugliness
25:52
entirely. Doesn't.
25:52
It it really does, and the imagery of Samson at the city of
25:56
Gaza is stunning once you see it through this lens walk.
25:59
Me through that one. Samson is trapped inside the
26:01
hostile city at midnight. His enemies have surrounded the
26:04
walls. They think they have him locked
26:05
in the grave, essentially waiting for morning executing
26:09
right. But he rises in the middle of
26:10
the night, walks to the massive iron gates of the city, rips
26:14
them completely out of the ground, posts, bar and all, puts
26:18
them on his shoulders and carries them up to the top of
26:20
the hill. You can see the theology
26:22
practically bursting out of the history there.
26:24
Yeah, the Messiah, compass around by his enemies, descends
26:27
into the sleep of death and the thick darkness of the tomb.
26:31
But he rises in the dark, breaks the heavy bars of the grave,
26:34
utterly destroys the gates of death, and ascends to the
26:37
heights carrying the evidence of his victory.
26:39
Consider the story of King David, too.
26:41
His name literally signifies beloved, right?
26:45
He was God's elect king, chosen completely contrary to human
26:49
expectation when all his older, stronger, more impressive
26:53
brothers were passed over. He was the sweet psalmist who
26:56
led the congregation in joyful musical worship.
26:59
And the prophets associate the Messiah's era with a breaking
27:02
forth of unprecedented joyful singing and new songs, a total
27:06
reversal of mourning. Look at David's defining early
27:09
victory over Goliath. Goliath is not just a tall
27:12
soldier, he is a figure of huge Thatcher, immense strength,
27:15
impenetrable scaly armor, and towering pride.
27:19
He is a localized physical type of the devil whom Isaiah calls
27:22
Leviathan, the king over all the children of pride.
27:25
David, acting as the humble shepherd of his people, bruises
27:28
the head of this giant enemy with a single stone.
27:31
This prefigures the ancient promise that the seed of the
27:33
woman would bruise the head of the serpent.
27:35
Furthermore, David frequently acted as a mediator.
27:38
When the sword of divine justice was drawn against Jerusalem due
27:41
to sin, David physically stood between God and the people,
27:46
offering a sacrifice to keep off judgments.
27:48
He procured God's favor for them.
27:50
The Messiah is the ultimate mediator, given as a covenant to
27:54
the people. I was struck by the details
27:56
surrounding Joshua, too. Joshua is a great example.
27:59
His original name was Oshea, which just means Savior.
28:02
Moses, guided by the spirit, changes it to Jehoshua, meaning
28:06
Jehovah is salvation. And look at his function.
28:09
Joshua takes over leadership when Moses, who represents the
28:12
strict demands of the law, cannot bring the people into the
28:15
Promised Land. The law can lead you through the
28:17
wilderness, but it cannot give you rest.
28:21
Joshua leads the people through the miraculously parted waters
28:24
of the Jordan River and brings them into a land of rest,
28:26
flowing with milk and honey. What I gather from analyzing all
28:29
of these figures is that they are not flawless superheroes.
28:32
Not at all. We know David committed terrible
28:34
sins of murder and adultery. Samson was impulsive and
28:37
violent. Joshua made severe tactical
28:40
errors and was deceived by his enemies.
28:42
That distinction is crucial. They are not the substance.
28:45
They are the shadow. They are little saviors.
28:48
So their lives were sovereignly sculpted so that specific beats,
28:52
specific triumphs, and specific sufferings would anticipate the
28:55
great Savior. Yes, and the flaws in their
28:58
character are actually helpful. They point out to the ancient
29:01
reader that this man is only a type pointing forward to a
29:05
perfect anti type. You are not supposed to worship
29:08
David. You're supposed to look for the
29:09
son of David. Precisely this brings us to what
29:13
might be the most intricate and difficult part of Edwards's
29:16
argument. The ceremonial law and true
29:19
atonement. Right.
29:20
We have talked about how modern readers struggle with ancient
29:23
texts, and nothing is a bigger hurdle than the endless, tedious
29:26
chapters of rituals, bloody sacrifices and temple
29:29
measurements in the Book of Leviticus.
29:31
To a modern mind, it reads like an obsolete butcher's manual
29:34
mixed with a highly obsessive health code.
29:37
It really does. But Edwards argues that these
29:40
rituals were completely meaningless on their own.
29:42
In fact, he points out that the prophets repeatedly state that
29:45
God has no delight in the actual blood of bulls and goats.
29:48
The physical blood of an animal is worthless and vain in itself
29:52
for clearing a guilty conscience.
29:54
So why require millions of them to be slaughtered over
29:56
centuries? Because they were physical
29:59
standings for a true substitution, God instituted
30:02
them to train the minds of His people, generation after
30:06
generation, to understand the concept of penal substitutionary
30:10
atonement. The people needed to learn
30:12
viscerally that sin requires a severe, deadly cost, and that
30:17
this cost can be borne by a willing substitute.
30:20
Let's break down the mechanics of these sacrifices.
30:22
First, you have the governing principle of the innocent dying
30:25
for the guilty. The animals offered had to be
30:27
entirely without blemish. No spots, no broken bones, no
30:31
blindness, no disease. This physical purity was an
30:34
absolute requirement because it represented the moral and
30:36
spiritual purity of the coming Messiah.
30:39
He would be the true Lamb without blemish.
30:41
A flawed sacrifice cannot pay for a flawed person.
30:44
Then there's the ritual of the scapegoat.
30:46
On the Day of Atonement, the high priest would physically lay
30:48
his hands heavily on the head of a live goat, verbally confessing
30:52
all the sins, rebellions and iniquities of the people.
30:55
Then the goat was driven away by a designated man into the
30:58
desolate, uninhabitable wilderness.
31:01
It is a visual physical acting out of the transfer of guilt.
31:05
The goat bears the sins away into a land not inhabited, just
31:08
as Isaiah prophesied. The Messiah would bear our
31:11
griefs, carry our sorrows, and have the iniquity of us all laid
31:15
upon Him. The source mentions the specific
31:17
treatment of the inverts of the sacrifices.
31:19
Yeah, that part is intense. I always wondered why the text
31:22
gets so obsessively specific about the fat covering the
31:26
kidneys. The call above the liver and the
31:28
entrails being burned on the bronze altar seems so gruesome.
31:32
You have to understand ancient Hebrew psychology and anatomy.
31:35
In their thought, the N words, the bowels, the kidneys, and the
31:38
heart represent the soul. They are the seat of human
31:40
emotion, affection and life. When the fat of the N words was
31:44
placed on the altar and melted completely in the vehement,
31:47
intense fire, it was a physical representation of the Messiah's
31:51
soul being poured out like water under the heat of.
31:54
Divine wrath. The Psalms describe the
31:56
suffering Messiah saying, My heart is like wax, it is melted
31:59
in the midst of my bowels. The physical melting of the
32:02
animal score in the fire of the altar types the spiritual
32:06
consuming of the Messiah under the fire of divine justice.
32:10
I want to spend a lot of time on the Brazen Serpent because it is
32:13
one of the most psychologically jarring images in the entire
32:16
text. It is a wild story.
32:18
The Israelites are rebelling in the desert.
32:20
God sends venomous, fiery serpents among them.
32:24
People are being bitten, the venom is rushing through their
32:26
veins, and they are dying in agony.
32:28
Right. God tells Moses to craft a
32:31
serpent out of solid brass mounted high on a pole, and
32:35
anyone who looks at it will be instantly healed.
32:38
Think about how absurd that is. You're dying from snake venom
32:41
and the cure is to stare at a metal snake.
32:44
Why not a brazen lamb or a brazen dove?
32:47
Edwards unpacks the sheer genius of this paradox.
32:50
In this paradigm, venom represents sin.
32:53
It is the lethal, invisible poison running through the veins
32:56
of humanity, leading inevitably to death.
32:59
The people are dying from their own rebellion, so why is the
33:01
cure shaped exactly like the killer?
33:03
Because the brass serpent represents the Messiah willingly
33:06
taking on the form of a cursed Sinner.
33:08
It connects to the New Testament idea that he who knew no sin was
33:12
made to be sin for us. Yes, the prophet state that God
33:16
made the iniquities of us all to meet on him, that he was
33:19
numbered with the transgressors. The Messiah is set forth on the
33:23
cross in the form of a great Sinner to absorb the curse.
33:26
Looking at the brazen serpent represents looking to the
33:29
crucified Messiah. The brass itself is significant
33:32
too, isn't it? Yes, brass in the Scriptures
33:35
often symbolizes judgement as it can withstand fire.
33:38
The brazen serpent is a picture of sin being judged in the fire
33:41
of God's wrath. Moses commands the people to
33:44
look at the very image of their death to find their cure.
33:47
It is a stunning psychological reversal.
33:49
Beyond the bloody sacrifices, there are also sensory types
33:53
embedded in the ceremonial law. The rituals engage every.
33:57
You have the burning of incense which produces a thick, sweet
34:01
smell throughout the temple. God does not literally have a
34:03
nose that is pacified by the smell of burning spices, but the
34:07
sweet aroma represents acceptable, pleasing prayers
34:09
rising to the heavens. You have the specific garments
34:12
of the priesthood. The priests were required to
34:14
wear pure white linen garments, which are a constant visual
34:18
representation of spotless righteousness and moral purity.
34:22
Stains were completely forbidden.
34:24
And the anointing oil, it was not just any oil.
34:27
No. It was a specially compounded,
34:29
highly fragrant oil that was illegal for commoners to
34:32
replicate. Prophets, priests and kings were
34:35
anointed with it. This physical oil poured heavily
34:39
and running down their heads and garments, represented the
34:42
invisible spiritual anointing and equipping of the Holy
34:45
Spirit. Let's step back and look at the
34:47
economic logic behind all of this, OK?
34:50
God is not literally pacified by the smell of burning animal fat
34:53
or wheat grain or incense. The physical sensory experience
34:58
points to a spiritual transaction that actually
35:00
satisfies divine justice. Think about it like a promissory
35:03
note and I owe you exactly If I owe a bank $10 million, handing
35:07
the bank manager a piece of notebook paper that says I owe
35:10
you $10 million does not actually pay the debt.
35:13
The paper is inherently worthless.
35:15
It only has value because it points to a future reality where
35:18
the actual hard funds will be transferred to settle the
35:21
account. The animal sacrifices were
35:23
millions of promissory notes handed over generation after
35:26
generation, daily, weekly, yearly.
35:29
They did not actually pay the spiritual debt, but they pointed
35:32
with absolute, unyielding certainty to the one who would
35:35
finally clear the Ledger. That is an excellent economic
35:39
conceptualization. Edwards notes that if the
35:42
sacrifice does not truly pay the debt, it acts as a standing,
35:45
perpetual representation of the true atonement.
35:48
God deliberately called these shadows by the name of the
35:50
substance. He called the animal sacrifice
35:52
an atonement in the text to cement in the minds of the
35:55
people that a true substantial atonement was required and was
35:59
coming. The shadow guaranteed the
36:01
substance. We have covered incredible
36:03
ground today. We really have.
36:05
To summarize, we have seen how massive historical events like
36:08
the Flood and the Exodus, the bizarre physical parables acted
36:11
out by the prophets, the detailed biographies of kings
36:14
like David and judges like Samson, and the bloody sensory
36:18
rituals of the ceremonial law were all sovereignly
36:21
orchestrated. They were not random,
36:23
disconnected ancient occurrences.
36:25
They were a vast interconnected system designed to point to 1
36:29
central figure, the Messiah. When you pick up these ancient
36:32
Hebrew texts, I encourage you to slow down and look closely at
36:35
the physical details. Do not skip over the lists of
36:38
measurements, the strange geographical notations, or the
36:41
weird biological anomalies. Every river, every tree, every
36:45
piece of brass, and every twist of history has intense,
36:49
deliberate intent behind it. The physical world of the text
36:52
is a shadow cast by a massive spiritual substance.
36:56
Earlier we talked about how specific words and physical
36:59
actions send a message, but what about the things the text
37:02
refuses to say? What about the intentional gaps?
37:05
I want to introduce a final provocative thought for you to
37:07
Mull over long after this deep dive.
37:10
In even negative details, things purposefully left out of the
37:13
narrative can act as symbols. It is a brilliant literary
37:16
technique. Consider the enigmatic figure of
37:19
Melchizedek, the mysterious king of Salem and priest of the Most
37:22
High God, who briefly meets Abraham in the book of Genesis.
37:26
The text intentionally omits any mention of his parents, his
37:29
genealogy, his birth or his death.
37:32
In an ancient book that is notoriously obsessed with
37:35
detailed genealogies, who begot whom, how many years they lived,
37:39
where they died, this silence is absolutely deafening.
37:43
But Edwards argues this omission was designed by the Spirit to
37:46
make Melchizedek A structural shadow of an eternal priest.
37:50
Because the text gives him no recorded beginning of days or
37:54
end of life, he stands on the page as a type of an eternal
37:57
priesthood. What if the silence of a text
38:00
speaks just as loudly as the words themselves?
38:03
When you read an ancient text and that X-ray machine of modern
38:06
literal precision seems broken, bring to mind that you're
38:09
looking at a completely different kind of architecture.
38:12
You are looking at a world where the physical is engineered to
38:14
teach you about the spiritual. Keep your eyes open for the
38:17
shadows because they will always lead you back to the substance.
38:20
Thanks for joining us on the Deep Dive.