Types of Calvary

Luke

Types of Calvary

October 12th, 1969 @ 7:30 PM

Luke 24

Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them. And they found the stone rolled away from the sepulchre. And they entered in, and found not the body of the Lord Jesus. And it came to pass, as they were much perplexed thereabout, behold, two men stood by them in shining garments: And as they were afraid, and bowed down their faces to the earth, they said unto them, Why seek ye the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen: remember how he spake unto you when he was yet in Galilee, Saying, The Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again. And they remembered his words, And returned from the sepulchre, and told all these things unto the eleven, and to all the rest. It was Mary Magdalene, and Joanna, and Mary the mother of James, and other women that were with them, which told these things unto the apostles. And their words seemed to them as idle tales, and they believed them not. Then arose Peter, and ran unto the sepulchre; and stooping down, he beheld the linen clothes laid by themselves, and departed, wondering in himself at that which was come to pass. And, behold, two of them went that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem about threescore furlongs. And they talked together of all these things which had happened. And it came to pass, that, while they communed together and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near, and went with them. But their eyes were holden that they should not know him. And he said unto them, What manner of communications are these that ye have one to another, as ye walk, and are sad? And the one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answering said unto him, Art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem, and hast not known the things which are come to pass there in these days? And he said unto them, What things? And they said unto him, Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people: And how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death, and have crucified him. But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel: and beside all this, to day is the third day since these things were done. Yea, and certain women also of our company made us astonished, which were early at the sepulchre; And when they found not his body, they came, saying, that they had also seen a vision of angels, which said that he was alive. And certain of them which were with us went to the sepulchre, and found it even so as the women had said: but him they saw not. Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken: Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory? And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. And they drew nigh unto the village, whither they went: and he made as though he would have gone further. But they constrained him, saying, Abide with us: for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent. And he went in to tarry with them. And it came to pass, as he sat at meat with them, he took bread, and blessed it, and brake, and gave to them. And their eyes were opened, and they knew him; and he vanished out of their sight. And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures? And they rose up the same hour, and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven gathered together, and them that were with them, Saying, The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon. And they told what things were done in the way, and how he was known of them in breaking of bread. And as they thus spake, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. But they were terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a spirit. And he said unto them, Why are ye troubled? and why do thoughts arise in your hearts? Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have. And when he had thus spoken, he shewed them his hands and his feet. And while they yet believed not for joy, and wondered, he said unto them, Have ye here any meat? And they gave him a piece of a broiled fish, and of an honeycomb. And he took it, and did eat before them. And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me. Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures, And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And ye are witnesses of these things. And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high. And he led them out as far as to Bethany, and he lifted up his hands, and blessed them. And it came to pass, while he blessed them, he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven. And they worshiped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy: And were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God. Amen.
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TYPES OF CALVARY

Dr. W. A. Criswell

Luke 24

10-12-69     7:30 p.m.

 

 

On the radio you are sharing the services of the First Baptist Church in Dallas, and this is the pastor bringing the message entitled Types of Calvary.  It is the background brought to mind from the twenty-fourth chapter of Luke, and we turn to that chapter together, and especially delivered tonight because of our memorial of the Lord’s Supper.  So turn with me to Luke chapter 24, and we shall read verses 25 through 27 [Luke 24:25-27].  All of us with our Bibles, reading out loud Luke 24:25, 26, and 27.  Now all of us together:

 

Then He said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken:

Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into His glory?

And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.

[Luke 24:25-27]

 

Now, we are going to skip to verses 44 and 45.  Now, reading verses 44 and 45:

 

And He said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the Law of Moses, and in the Prophets, and in the Psalms, concerning Me.

Then opened He their understanding, that they might understand the Scriptures.

[Luke 24:44-45]

 

The marvelous unfolding of the Word of God that Jesus laid before those two disciples on the way to Emmaus [Luke 24:25-27], and then in the latter part of the chapter, the verses that you read, as the Lord before the eleven apostles opened their understanding, that they might understand the Scriptures [Luke 24:44-45].  And it expressly says that “Beginning at Moses and all the Prophets” [Luke 24: 27] and then in the second part that you read, taking the three categories into which the Old Testament is divided: the Law, the Prophets, the hagiographa, the holy writings; taking all of these things, the Lord showed in them all the things concerning Himself [Luke 24:44].  Now that meant that what we read here in the Old Testament, these things are adumbrations, they are types, they are pictures, they are outlines, they are presentations of the great truth that God would have us learn in Christ Jesus.

For a long time, and I’m afraid that these things escape us—for a long time, upon a day, I preached from the Old Testament the types of our Lord.  One of the most profitable and spiritually rewarding of all of the studies by which one could open his heart to the truth of the Word of God, the types of the Lord in the Old Testament.  And you understand what I mean by that.  This is a type: “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; That whosoever looks to Him, look and live, that whosoever believes in Him, trusts Him, should not perish, but have eternal life” [John 3:14-15].  That is a type.  Why should God have told Moses to take a serpent of brass, cast it in brass, and lift it up in the midst of the camp, and it should be that if one was dying, having been bitten by that little tenuous serpent, that he would live if he would look? [Numbers 21:8-9].  Well, God was teaching; He was training, He was getting us ready for the great spiritual truth of our salvation in Christ Jesus.  Why should the Lord say, and here’s another type—why should the Lord say to Israel,

 

Tonight, the angel of death will visit all the homes in the land of Egypt.  But it shall be that if there is a home that will take the blood of a lamb and sprinkle it in the form of a cross on the lintels and the door posts on either side, that when the angel of death visits Egypt tonight, when he sees the blood he will pass over you.

[from Exodus 12:23]

 

And to those who were under the blood there was life and salvation and not death and judgment.  That is a type.  God did that to teach us what Christ means to us.  The whole sacrificial system was that we might learn the nomenclature of heaven, that we might understand when God speaks.  What is an altar?  What is a sacrifice?  What is a propitiatory?  What is atonement?  All of these things were pictures, and the Lord was teaching us what it was when the fulfillment, the anti-type, when Christ came into the world.

Now we’d be here by the hours, and profitably so, were we to do tonight what the Lord did with those two disciples on the way to Emmaus, “And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself” [Luke 24:27].  And these are the things written of our Lord in the Law of Moses, in the Prophets, and in the hagia, in the Writings, “concerning Me; and He opened their understanding that they might understand the Scriptures” [Luke 24:44-45]

So tonight, I’m doing this: I am taking the first type and the last type, which types prefigure, adumbrate, lay open to view the great spiritual truth of the atoning grace of God in Christ Jesus.  The first type and the last type used in the Bible here in the Old Testament, that in the New Testament a picture of the glorious truth of the love and grace of our Lord in Jesus.

Now the first type: this is the first one in the Bible.  “And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and He took one of his ribs” [Genesis 2:21]—where’s Dr. Waltke?  That’s the beatinest translation, and I have done my best to find out why.  And I haven’t been able to find out for forty years.  Now Dr. Waltke, I want you to find out, because you know everything.  I want you to find out why they translated tsalah, “rib.”  Nowhere else in the Word of God is it “rib.”  It is “side”; and it’s just a common word.  It’s used over and over and over and over again in the Hebrew Bible.  The side of the house, the side of the ark, the side of the table; yet they translate it “rib” here.  So they call a female woman a “rib.”  Oh, I don’t understand some of these things.  God never took one of his ribs; that’s just—and I want you to tell me why they translated it that way— no!  It’s the side, “And God took out of the side,” next to his heart, “and closed up the flesh in stead thereof; and the side,” what He took next to the heart of Adam, “and the side which the Lord God had taken from man, banah, “built.” Like you’d build a temple, “built He a woman and brought her unto the man” [Genesis 2:21-22].  And Adam said, “This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Ishah, because she was taken out of ish—She shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man” [Genesis 2:23]

“Therefore,” God said, “Therefore shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh” [Genesis 2:24].  This is the first type in the Old Testament.

Now I turn back to the New Testament discussion of that type.  In the fifth chapter of the Book of Ephesians, when Paul speaks of the church, “Christ loved the church, and gave Himself for it” [Ephesians 5:25].  In the thirtieth verse he will say, “For we are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones” [Ephesians 5:30].  Remember the type?  “And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh” [Genesis 2:23].  Now, the fulfillment: we are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones [Ephesians 5:30].  In Genesis, “Therefore shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh” [Genesis 2:24].  In the Ephesians 5:31, “For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh.  This is a great mustērion: but I speak concerning Christ and the church” [Ephesians 5:32].  Paul says, “But I speak concerning Christ and the church.”  That is, this is a type of what God is teaching us in the relationship between Christ and His church.

Now let me say it in my words.  “As the woman, as Eve, was taken out of the heart—and I am not overly extending the anatomical feature of it when I say that as Eve, as the first bride, as the first wife—was taken out of the heart of Adam, taken from his side, so the church is taken, is born, out of the riven side of our Lord.  We are born in His tears, in His agony, in His cross, in His suffering, in His blood, and in His death.  The type, Eve—the wife, the bride—taken out of the side, out of the heart of Adam; so the church; born in the death and blood and riven side of our Lord.”  That is the first type in the Bible.  And I think, as our Lord opened to those disciples the Scriptures showing Himself in these holy pages [Luke 24:27, 45], I think that is one of the things that He spake of, because Paul wrote it down here in the fifth chapter of the Book of Ephesians [Ephesians 5:25-32].

Now the last type in the New Testament, the last one:

 

And Jesus, when He had cried with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost, yielded up His spirit. 

And, behold, and behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom.

[Matthew 27:50-51]

 

And how meticulously does God stay true to His types.  Not from the bottom to the top, as though men had torn it apart, which is the way men would tear it, from the bottom to the top, seizing it on either side if they could—though Josephus says that horses could not have destroyed, have rent that thick and heavy and woven veil—but it was from the top to the bottom, up there where God’s hand rent it, tore it asunder from the top to the bottom.  “Behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom: and the earth did quake, and the rocks were rent” [Matthew 27:51], the last type in this Old Testament [Genesis 2:21-24].

Now I come back and read, “And the Lord God said to Moses, And thou shalt rear up the tabernacle according to the fashion thereof, which was showed thee in the mount” [Exodus 26:30], just exactly as God says to do it.  I often say that’s the way God’s people ought to be: just exactly as God says it. 

Like our baptismal service: I did not invent that, this church did not invent that, but John the Baptist said that he got it from God [John 1:33].  And when ultimately and finally we came to know what it meant, it means the burial, and the resurrection of our Lord; our death with Him, and our resurrection to a new life in Christ [Romans 6:3-5].  It is a glorious picture, a promise, a harbinger, and a type of our ultimate victorious resurrection.

 

And you are to do it, says God, exactly as I have shown thee, the pattern on the mount.  And thou shalt make a veil of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen of cunning work: with cherubim shall ye make it:

And thou shalt bring it and place it and hang it upon four pillars of shittim wood overlaid with gold: 

their hoops shall be of gold, upon the four sockets of silver. 

And thou shalt hang up the veil under the taches, under the clasps, that thou mayest bring in thither within the veil the ark of the Testimony: and the veil shall divide unto you between the holy place and the Most Holy place.

[Exodus 26:30-33]

 

Now this is God’s pattern that He showed Moses from heaven.  Now the use of the type in the Book of Hebrews:

 

Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the Holiest by the blood of Jesus,

By a new and living way, which He hath consecrated for us, through the veil; that is to say, His flesh:

And having an High Priest over the house of God,

Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith . . .

[Hebrews 10:19-22]

 

Now the author of Hebrews uses that veil, according to the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and the teaching of the Master, he uses that veil as a type; and this is the last type used in the Bible.

The veil is a type: that is, now here I’m going to say it now in my words—it is a type of the flesh of our Lord, the incarnation of our Lord [Hebrews 10:20].  The glory of the presence of God was veiled with the flesh of Jesus Christ.  He was deity, He was God, and He was God incarnate, veiled in flesh” [John 1:14].  Once in a while you would see the glory of God shining through, as on the top of the Mount of Transfiguration.  For just a while, even through the veil of His flesh, the glory of God shone through, and they saw Him [Matthew 17:1-2].  Oh, no wonder Simon Peter, “Let us stay here!” [Matthew 17:4].  It was a glory of glories, seeing God in the flesh.  But for the most part it was veiled, and His flesh covered the deity, the glory, the shining iridescence, the presence of God.  And if you looked upon Him, you would have seen a man, like other man, made like unto His brethren [Hebrews 2:17].  But He was God in the flesh [John 1:14], and the flesh veiled His deity [Colossians 2:9].

Now it is in the tearing of the veil that we have access into the very presence of the Almighty [Hebrews 10:19-20].  As long as the veil is there, as long as Christ is in the flesh, as long as our Lord does not die, we are shut out from God.  But it is in the tearing of the veil, it is in the rending of the veil that we have access into the presence of God [Hebrews 10:20].  Had—and this is what it means—had the Lord remained in the days of His flesh all of the years and the years, had He continued going through all the cities of Israel doing good to this present day, we would still be in our sins.  It is not by His holy, and beautiful, and heavenly, and celestial, and righteous, and perfect life that we are saved; but it is by His stripes that we are healed [Isaiah 53:5].  However beautiful and perfect and holy the life of Christ may have been, however the veil may have been of purple, and scarlet, and blue with inwrought, inwoven cherubim in the fine twined linen, as long as that veil is there, it shuts us out from God.  But when the veil is torn we have access into the Holy of Holies [Matthew 27:50-51].  So it is with our blessed Lord: it is in His death, it is in the rending of the veil that we have boldness, the author says, to enter into the Holiest by the blood, by the death, by the sacrifice of Jesus [Hebrews 10:19].  “Let us then draw near with a true heart, in full assurance of faith” [Hebrews 10:22].  Jesus has opened the way in His death, in the rending of the veil; He has made an entrance for us into glory [Hebrews 10:19-20].  That’s the type.

Now the author of Hebrews uses it in one other way, and this is one of the most precious of all of the interpretations of a type that you could find in God’s Book.  He is speaking here of God’s promises to us, and he is using Abraham, as I did this morning.  When God said to Abraham, “You will have a son out of your loins, and out of the womb of Sarah; and in his seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed” [Genesis 15:4, 22:18].  And Abraham couldn’t understand, for he was a hundred years old, and his wife was ninety years old [Genesis 17:17].  Using that now, the faithfulness of God, the author writes,

 

Wherein God, willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath:

That by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, we who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us.

[Hebrews 6:17-18]

 

Now look at it: he’s going to take that type,

Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the veil;

Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, who is a High Priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.

[Hebrews 6:19-20]

 

The type: when that veil was torn apart, was rent asunder [Matthew 27:51], our forerunner, our Lord Jesus, entered in [Hebrews 6:20].  It was in His death that He became glorified and immortalized, and entered into glory [Luke 24:26].  And our hope in Jesus, the anchor of the soul [Hebrews 6:19], enters also after the Lord Jesus into the veil, beyond the veil, through the veil, for the Lord made a way for us, and we follow after into glory [Hebrews 10:20].

Oh, what God hath done for us!  And how He has taught us these blessed and precious assurances.  And the meaning of His death, God pictured it so that when Christ died [Matthew 27:32-50] we might understand what it meant, what God was doing [1 Corinthians 15:3]; the grace [Ephesians 2:8] and love [John 3:16] and provision for the saving of our souls, and the gathering of His chosen, redeemed people [1 Peter 1:18-19] into that upper and better world that is yet to come.

Now we’re going to sing our song of appeal.  And while we sing it, somebody you, giving himself to Jesus [Romans 10:8-13], would you come and stand by me?  A family you, putting your life in the fellowship of this dear church [Hebrews 10:24-25], a couple you, deciding for our Lord tonight, as the Spirit shall lead, placing your life and your home in the circle of our dear church,  as God shall say the word and press the appeal to your heart, come tonight, do it tonight.  Say, “Yes,” to the Lord tonight, and come.  On the first note of the first stanza, step out into that aisle or down one of these stairwells and come and stand by the pastor.  “Pastor, I give you my hand, I’ve given my heart to the Lord.”  Or, “We’re putting our lives in the fellowship of this precious church.” 

Let the Spirit speak to your heart, and you answer with your life [Romans 10:8-13].  Make the decision now, wherever you are.  Make the decision now, then when you stand up, stand up coming.  “Wife, let’s go.  Dear family, let’s go.”  Or one somebody you as God bids you, come.  Answer, do it now, make it now, while we stand and while we sing.

 

TYPES OF
CALVARY

Dr. W.
A. Criswell

Luke 24:25-27,
44-45

10-12-69

I.          Introduction

A.  Old Testament presents
truth of Christ

B.
There are many types of the Lord in the Old Testament (John 3:14, Exodus 12:23)

 

II.         The first type

A.  Woman taken out of the
side of man (Genesis 2:21-24)

B.  New Testament
discussion of that type (Ephesians 5:25, 30-31)

C.  As
Eve was taken out of side of Adam, the church is taken out of the riven side of
our Lord

 

III.        The last type

A.  The rending of the
veil (Matthew 27:50-51)

B.  God’s pattern (Exodus 26:31-34)

      1.  A type of the
incarnation of our Lord (Hebrews 10:19-22)

      2.  The rending of
the veil a type of the death of Christ

a. The veil itself does
not bring us to God

b. The rending of the
veil opened the way to God

3.  Entering within the
veil (Hebrews 6:17-20)

a. Jesus our forerunner