In this message we shall consider further Christ’s person in the fulfillment of the types and figures of the Old Testament.
Isaac, the son of Abraham, is a type of Christ (Gen. 17:21; Matt. 1:1). Isaac was Abraham’s son. A son is one who comes out of the father and who inherits all that the father is and has. This was Isaac’s history. He was out of the father, and he inherited everything of the father. Isaac inherited all things from his father (Gen. 24:36; 25:5). It was by grace, not by effort, that Isaac became the heir of the father’s riches. He was not required to do anything in order to inherit these riches, and he did not do anything for the inheritance. It was absolutely and unconditionally of grace that Isaac inherited all of his father’s riches. In this Isaac is a type of Christ. The Lord Jesus, as the Son of God, came out of the Father (John 16:28) and inherited all that the Father is and has (John 16:15).
In addition to inheriting the riches of his father, Isaac secured a choice bride, Rebekah (Gen. 24:61-67). He gained her without doing anything. As he was meditating in the field, Rebekah was brought to him. Isaac was not a doing person; he was an enjoying person. His father and his servant did everything to secure a bride for him. Isaac did not even go to Rebekah; Rebekah came to him. Rebekah, the wife of Isaac, is a type of the church. As the real Isaac, Christ has inherited all that the Father is and has, and He has obtained the church, the real Rebekah (Eph. 5:31-32).
Christ also fulfills the type of the lamb provided by God. In Genesis 22:8 Abraham prophesied that God would provide a lamb for a burnt offering. Genesis 22:13 and 14 say, “Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son. And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah-jireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the Lord it shall be seen.” In the Bible horns signify fighting power. Christ has fighting power, but His “horns” were caught by a “thicket,” which signifies humanity. We are the thicket, and Christ, the Lamb of God, was “caught” in us and could not escape. As the Lamb of God, Christ was willing to have His horns caught by humanity so that He might be offered as our Substitute.
According to Genesis 22, the lamb that replaced Isaac was provided by Jehovah-jireh. This title has two meanings: Jehovah will provide and Jehovah will see. Here we have both provision and vision. Within the Lord’s provision we have vision. What provision and what vision we have at the cross!
The ram provided by God in Genesis 22 typifies Christ as our Substitute. As the ram was killed in place of Isaac, so the Lamb of God suffered crucifixion for us. The ram killed for Isaac typifies Christ, the Lamb of God, who was crucified for us. We should have gone to the cross, but God replaced us with the Lamb as our Substitute (1 Pet. 3:18).
In 1 Peter 1:19-20 we have the fulfillment of the type of the ram provided by God. Verse 19 refers to Christ as “a lamb without blemish and without spot.” We can see from the typology in the Old Testament that the animal sacrifices were to be without blemish and without spot. For example, a sheep that was to be offered as a sin offering had to be without blemish, without mixture; it also had to be without spot, without any wound. The sheep offered as a sin offering was spotless and perfect.
Among all the human beings who have lived on earth only the Lord Jesus is without blemish and without spot. Actually the words “without blemish and without spot” in 1 Peter 1:19 are Old Testament terms used with respect to sacrifices offered to God. This verse indicates that Christ is the real sacrifice to be our sin offering and trespass offering. He was offered for the redemption of the sins of God’s people. As the Lamb without blemish and without spot, He shed His precious blood to redeem us.
First Peter 1:20 goes on to say that Christ, the Lamb provided by God, “was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but was manifested in the last times for your sake.” Christ was foreordained, prepared, by God to be His redeeming Lamb (John 1:29) for His elect according to His foreknowledge before the foundation of the world. This was done according to God’s eternal purpose and plan; it did not happen accidentally. Hence, in the eternal view of God, from the foundation of the world, that is, since the fall of man as a part of the world, Christ was slain (Rev. 13:8).