On Typology

KEY VERSE:

Then came the word of the Lord unto Samuel, saying, It repenteth me that I have set up Saul to be king: for he is turned back from following me, and hath not performed my commandments. And it grieved Samuel; and he cried unto the Lord all night. (1 Sam 15:10-11)

  There are many “types” in the Bible. Israel may be a “type” of Heaven, but the writer believes as do the Jews, that Israel is Heaven in that Jerusalem is the “foundation of peace” to which the City of God – New Jerusalem –  will come down. Furthermore, the Foundation Stone is under the Dome of the Rock, and hence Jerusalem is the foundation of the world, namely the Garden of Eden. God promised the Hebrews that he would “bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey.” One must read with care; “good land” means a specific land: God created the paradise of the Garden and it was “very good” (Gen 1:31), and Danite spies were send to the land of Ephraim in Israel of which they reported:

Ask counsel, we pray thee, of God, that we may know whether our way which we go shall be prosperous. And the priest said unto them, Go in peace: before the Lord is your way wherein ye go. We have seen the land, and, behold, it is very good: and are ye still? be not slothful to go, and to enter to possess the land. When ye go, ye shall come unto a people secure, and to a large land: for God hath given it into your hands; a place where there is no want of any thing that is in the earth. (Jud 18:5-6,9-10)

  The Garden of Eden to that time has been the only place where there had not been any wants of anything. The land of Israel had the same attribute; “prosperity” is what God promised in the Abrahamic Covenant, but there were two types of prosperity: (1) The land of Israel and (2) a promise of a Savior. Implied is the Kingdom of David is the Kingdom of God! Indeed, as “the son of David” Jesus was heir to the kingdom of David, and later it is discovered that the real “Promise Land” is Heaven. Israel was promised as a paradise “where there is no want of any thing that is in the earth.” The only place that could be is New Jerusalem when the City of God comes down (Rev 21).

The purpose in explaining the intense typology of Israel is to understand the importance of that land. It is much more than acreage, but the origin of the universe, and the beginning of eternity. It’s where it all started and where it will never end! In the Old Testament, when physical things are spoken of, the reader must think of spiritual things. That is “biblical typology.”

  The key verse above is God’s words about King Saul. It may not be obvious, but King Saul was of two types: (1) a type of Satan who desired an earthly and spiritual kingdom, and (2) a type of Judas who preceded Christ. As a type of Satan, King Saul was foreshadowed by the Serpent, and will be mirrored by the Antichrist (Beast) at the end of days. It is to be noted that King David is a type of Jesus, with Jesus even described as “son of David.” When King Saul’s name appears in scripture, readers should think of the Devil Satan, and when King David appears, think on the King of the Jews – Jesus. (Typology does not infer exactness for David was a sinner but Jesus not.)

  Of whom was David thinking when he wrote Psalm 109? Theologians believe that the psalm is prophetic of Judas who would betray Jesus. That may be true, but David was revealing both Satan and King Saul as well since both were his adversaries! Now read a portion of that Psalm:

For my love they are my adversaries: but I give myself unto prayer.

And they have rewarded me evil for good, and hatred for my love.

Set thou a wicked man over him: and let Satan stand at his right hand.

When he shall be judged, let him be condemned: and let his prayer become sin.

Let his days be few; and let another take his office. (Psalm 109:4-8)

  David seems to be visualizing Christ’s role in that Christ is love. We don’t like to think on it, but Jesus even loved Judas, Adolph Hitler, and even Lucifer. They were all created to love Jesus, but they all had their own notions.  Their attitudes all changed. Judas may have been a nice guy when Jesus picked him, Lucifer was an angel, and Hitler at one time was an innocent child. Lucifer became Satan and Judas and Hitler became instruments of Satan. King Saul did as well. David’s psalm was about David’s and Jesus’s adversaries. Who might they be? King Saul and Satan were David’s, and Judas and Satan were Jesus’s.

  From the psalm, Jesus’s adversary would be Judas whom Satan entered (Luke 22:3: John 13:27). That only applies directly to three personages in the Bible: (1) The Serpent, (2) Judas, and (3) the Beast – or the Antichrist. However, King Saul is a type of Lucifer or Satan. Most claim that “Satan” is the title which Lucifer assumed as pretender to God’s throne. Examine the following passage from the lips of Jesus:

And the seventy returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name. And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. (Luke 10:17-18)

  Jesus identified Lucifer as Satan. He said that Satan was that Satan was “as lightening fall from heaven.” Compare that to Lucifer’s only identification in the Bible:

How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!

For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:

I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.

Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit. (Isa 14:12-15)

  As can be seen, Lucifer, in the first verse therein was described as “fallen from heaven.” Jesus confirmed that Lucifer and Satan are the same angel. Obviously, as was God’s custom, Lucifer’s name changed with a change in attitude. In this case angel Lucifer was transformed into prince Satan who was a pretender to God’s throne. Anyone who is against Christ denies that Satan and Lucifer are the same being!

  The word “Satan” means “adversary.” David, in Psalm 109, was writing of Lucifer, the beastly Serpent, Judas, King Saul, and the Beast – the Antichrist. Not to mince words, they were all described as “devils:”

Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour (1 Pet 5:8)

  David remained vigilant against Saul because God did not want Saul to be destroyed at that time. Likewise, God does not want Satan destroyed yet because his purpose has not been completed. Saul was setting the stage for David’s reign just as Satan stages Christ’s reign.

  Saul was a destroyer. Just as Lucifer was allowed to fall from the heavens to challenge God and mankind, Saul had a purpose as well. Saul was to challenge David’s anointing.

  Saul’s kingdom was the physical land of promise, but David was to become king over the promised land of Israel, and the promised land of Heaven through his descendant Jesus. David was a king after God’s own heart (1 Sam 13:14) and Saul was a king who was after power and whose sole purpose was to retain kingship. Saul’s attitude was not like David’s nor was it like Jesus’s. Saul had the attitude of Satan, and David allowed that Satan sat at Saul’s right hand in Psalm 109.

  We should know that Jesus sits at the right hand of God. David was implying that Saul was endeavoring to be a type of Christ. That attitude is the attitude of the Antichrist who we know is some future Judas-type who has Satan within him. The Antichrist, like the Serpent, will be the Beast.

Satan was then and is now “prince of the power of the air” (Ephes 2:2) or pretender to kingship of the Earth. Saul was king of the land, but by assuming the role of the prophet Samuel, he presumed to be the king of heaven as well.

  You see, that is why it is necessary to understand that Israel is a type of Heaven. God was disappointed in Saul because he took on the role not assigned to Benjaminites. The role of priests were Levites, not his tribe the Benjamanites. On the other hand, David heeded God, whereas Saul listened to witches, demons (impersonating Samuel), and himself!

  David became a servant (Psalm 51). Saul killed himself, and assumed the role belonging only to God. David would not do that to himself nor Saul!  Does that sound familiar? It should… Judas hanged himself from a tree which was typology of Jesus’s crucifixion from a “tree” (Acts 5:30). How about Saul? Did he also die on a tree? No… his typology is somewhat different; his body was pierced with a sword. He assumed the role of God and caused his own death. (Note that the enemy who claimed to have killed Saul was lying to protect his own skin.) Who else was pierced in the side at death? Jesus’s flesh was pierced by Roman swords. Jesus did not play God, although he Is God! It was the Jewish leaders who played God with Jesus’s death.

  It is also important to understand that taking a life is play-acting as gods. When people murder others, they are ending the life of a living soul. What if that soul is not born again? Then the murderer is sending living souls to eternal death in Hell. That judgment is for God, not pretenders to godhood.

David was anointed by God. Saul, as Lucifer when his attitude changed, lost his anointment. The Satan inspired Saul to kill the anointed one, David. Does that also sound familiar? Satan’s, as Jesus’s adversary, sole existence is to kill God. He thought he did on the cross, but it was merely Flesh that died. Like David’s escape from Saul many times, Jesus escaped Satan as he gave up the Ghost (Mark 15:37).

  Why did God inspire men to write about David and his adversary Saul? Because that relationship would be useful in understanding the seriousness of the Adversary’s war against Jesus. Somehow God got the message across to the Old Testament patriarchs and prophets through typology. Somehow when they thought of Saul, they visualized Satan, and when they thought of David, their vision was of another anointed one somewhat later. Yes, the Messiah Jesus is the anointed one as was David.

  Was Saul ever truly anointed to be king? With his foreknowledge God knew who would be king. David was always the anointed one, but Saul was allowed to reign for a while. That’s analogous to Lucifer reigning for a time before Jesus steps in to defeat “King Saul” – the Devil – in the end.

Have you heard this type of commentary before? I bet not! Perhaps you have been preached and taught cream-puff doctrine! Of course, I can be wrong, but test what I write by scripture.