In teaching children, we often firstly show them a picture and then give them a clear word. Without a picture it is difficult to explain things to them. But a clear picture makes things easy to understand. In His wisdom, before presenting the items of the New Testament, which are spiritual and abstract, God gave us a series of pictures in the Old Testament to show the real things that were to come. Sadly, however, throughout the centuries not many Christians, even Christian teachers, have paid adequate attention to all these pictures.
All Bible students agree that the experiences of the children of Israel are types. For example, the Passover was a type. In that feast, the children of Israel offered a lamb to God. When God saw the blood of the lamb sprinkled on the doorpost, He passed over them (Exo. 12:13). In 1 Corinthians 5:7 Paul said, “Christ our passover is sacrificed for us,” indicating the Passover was a prefigure of Christ. After celebrating the first Passover, the children of Israel crossed the Red Sea and entered into the wilderness. According to 1 Corinthians 10:1 and 2, the crossing of the Red Sea was a prefigure of New Testament baptism. During their years in the wilderness, the children of Israel were nourished by manna. All students of the Scriptures agree that manna was a type of Christ as food for God’s people (John 6:31-35). Furthermore, God commanded the children of Israel to erect the tabernacle and to offer certain offerings, including the burnt offering, the meal offering, the peace offering, the sin offering, and the trespass offering. All Bible students admit that these offerings are types of various aspects of Christ. Actually, the whole tabernacle, including all its fixtures, was a type of Christ. The altar, the laver, the showbread table, the lampstand, the incense altar, and the ark—all were types of Christ. After the children of Israel entered into the good land, they built the temple, which was not only a type of Christ, but also a type of the church.
The history of the children of Israel includes their dispersion. After the building of the temple, they were divided; and after they were divided, they were dispersed, being held in captivity seventy years. At the end of that period of captivity, God told them to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple. Although nearly all Christian teachers have applied the types of the Passover, the crossing of the Red Sea, the manna, and the tabernacle and its furniture to the New Testament reality, to my knowledge, hardly any have proceeded to apply the latter part of their history.
In Deuteronomy 12, 14, and 16, a number of critical points are covered. The first of these points is that God commanded the Israelites to worship Him in the place He had chosen (Deut. 12:5, 11). When I studied the book of Deuteronomy as a young man, I wondered why God forbade the children of Israel to worship in the place of their choice. They were not permitted to worship God or to enjoy the offerings they presented to God in any place they liked. No, they had to go to one unique place. The choice was God’s, not theirs. This requirement did not make sense to me. Surely God is omnipresent. He is everywhere, whether it be north, south, east, or west. Since God is omnipresent, why did He require His people to travel to just one place? As far as I was concerned, God was unreasonable in making this demand. If I had been God, I would not have required this. I would have said, “My people, as the great God, I am omnipresent. I am with you wherever you may be. No matter where you are on the face of the earth, you can worship Me.” But God’s way is not our way. He has His own wise way. In chapter twelve of Deuteronomy God seemed to be saying, “After you enter into the good land, take heed that you do not present your burnt offerings at any place you see. You have no right to do this. You must go to the place I have chosen. It is not a matter of your sight, but of My sight.” I wondered why He did not give His people liberty in this matter.
As we all know, God eventually chose Jerusalem. Those who lived near Jerusalem undoubtedly were happy to learn of this, and they might have said, “Hallelujah, we don’t need to travel very far.” However, those in the north, who had to travel a long way to Jerusalem, might have thought that God was unfair and demanding too much of them. Nevertheless, God seemed to say, “Children of Israel, you have no right to choose the place. The choice is mine. You must go to the place I have chosen.” This matter must have some significance in typology.
The Passover lamb typifies Christ, the crossing of the Red Sea typifies baptism, and the manna typifies Christ as our food. But what does God’s choice of Jerusalem typify? During the years I was in Christianity, I read many books, but not one book told me the significance of this point in typology. In Deuteronomy 12, 14, and 16 God said the words, “The place I shall choose,” fifteen times. Hence, it must be vitally significant. Yet, it has been neglected or overlooked throughout the centuries.