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How Genesis Prophesied Jesus’s Defeat of Satan
Prophecies as Predictions
Prophecies and types are related to each other. How?
Let us begin with prophecy. In the Bible, the prophets speak the Word of God—they say whatever God gives them to say. One component of the contents of prophetic speech is prediction. Old Testament prophecies include predictions concerning the coming of the Messiah. He is the great descendant of David who will accomplish the salvation of his people. One of the famous prophecies is found in Isaiah 9:6:
For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon his shoulder,
and his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
This promise is fulfilled in Jesus Christ (Luke 1:32–33).
Types as Predictions
In addition to predictions, the Old Testament points forward to Jesus Christ in other ways. One of these ways is the use of types. A type is a symbol pointing forward to a fulfillment. One example is the tabernacle of Moses. The tabernacle symbolizes that God dwells with his people (Ex. 25:8). The final dwelling of God with his people is in Christ: "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us" (John 1:14).
Prophecies and types both point forward to Christ, but they do it in two distinct ways. Prophecies do it by directly predicting and promising the coming of Christ. Types do it by symbolizing Christ. So types are like indirect predictions. They function on two distinct levels. The level of the symbol is the level of a concrete object, such as the tabernacle. The level of the meaning consists in what the symbol symbolizes. The tabernacle symbolizes the principle of God dwelling with his people.
Biblical Typology
Vern S. Poythress
In Biblical Typology, scholar Vern S. Poythress teaches readers how to find and interpret types in the Old Testament that point to Christ, the church, and the consummation to deepen their understanding of the Bible and the wisdom of God.
Prophecies and Types Together
Prophecies and types, though distinct, function together. The message of the prophecies overlaps and harmonizes with the message of the types. But in addition, some prophecies unfold their meaning over time partly by means of types. What does this mean?
A good illustration is the prophecy in Genesis 3:15: “I will put enmity between you [the serpent who deceived Adam and Eve, a manifestation of Satan] and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” This is a predictive prophecy. It is the earliest prediction of the coming of the Messiah. The Messiah is “her offspring,” who “shall bruise your head.” He will defeat the serpent. The defeat will be total, as the mention of the “head” indicates. This defeat takes place in the crucifixion and the resurrection of Christ, as Hebrews 2:14–15 indicates:
Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself [Christ] likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.
So Christ is the predicted offspring who fulfills the prophecy in Genesis 3:15.
Types Supporting Prophecies
The subsequent history in the Old Testament repeatedly looks forward to this climactic defeat of Satan. It also contains instances of preliminary defeat of the forces of evil. The offspring of the woman traces through the line of Seth, in contrast to the line of Cain (Genesis 4:1–5:32). Noah is one stage in this offspring. Noah, by obeying God’s command, stands apart from the wickedness of the rest of humanity. Abraham is another stage. And then Isaac and Jacob. None of these patriarchs is sinlessly perfect. But they all, by their faith, represent instances of preliminary defeats of the lies of Satan. Moses, in his defeat of Pharaoh, and Joshua, in his defeat of the Canaanites, accomplish preliminary defeats of the enemies of God. So do the judges in the book of Judges. David defeats Goliath (1 Sam. 17), the head of the Philistines who blasphemes against the God of Israel (1 Sam. 17:43). All these men function as types of the coming Messiah. They symbolize on an earthly level the final spiritual conflict between Christ and Satan. So they are types that reinforce the prophecy in Genesis 3:15.
Christ is the predicted offspring who fulfills the prophecy in Genesis 3:15.
Prophecies Supporting Types
The Old Testament also contains instances where short-range prophecies describe future events that are themselves types. For example, Deuteronomy 17:14–20 contains provisions for future kings who will reign over Israel. It points forward to 1–2 Samuel, where Saul and then David are appointed as kings. The kings are types pointing forward to Christ, who is the great King who reigns forever over his people. This principle holds even with respect to the failures and sins of the kings. Their sins show the need for a perfect, sinless King in the future. So Deuteronomy 17:14–20 is a prediction that is fulfilled in types, namely the Israelite kings, who in turn point forward by means of typological symbolism to the Messiah.
Prophecies Using Types
In addition, Old Testament prophecies sometimes use types as an integral part of their symbolic communication. An example is found in Zechariah 4:1–2, where God gives Zechariah a vision of a lampstand. The lampstand here has a meaning that builds on the meaning of the lampstand in the tabernacle, as described in Exodus 25:31–40. Both lampstands signify that God is the source of light for his people. They are fulfilled in Christ, who is the light of the world (John 8:12). In the New Testament, the churches are also symbolized as lampstands, because they give light to the world by being filled with the light of Christ (Rev. 1:12, 20; see Matt. 5:14–16). In Zechariah, prophecy and type function together, because a type is one piece within the prophetic communication.
Conclusion
In sum, both prophetic predictions and types point forward to fulfillment in Christ and his salvation. They do so in distinct ways. Prophecies can take the form of direct prediction, while types are symbols that predict indirectly. But in some cases they combine, in more than one way. (1) A direct prophetic prediction of Christ can have preliminary fulfillments on the level of type (as with Gen. 3:15). (2) An Old Testament predict can itself predict a type as its fulfillment (as with Deut. 17:14–20 predicting future Israelite kings). (3) Prophecies can include within them the use of typological symbolism (as with the lampstand in Zech. 4). We read the Old Testament more deeply as we recognize a variety of reinforcing ways in which God stirs up his people to hope for the coming of Christ.
Vern S. Poythress is the author of Biblical Typology: How the Old Testament Points to Christ, His Church, and the Consummation.
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