Old Testament Types of Jesus

A Type is a picture or a shadow of a future fulfillment. The picture can be a thing, living or non-living, or a person. When we say that someone is a type of Christ, we are saying that there are certain aspects in the person's life that portray the life and ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ. However, we must remember that we are only focusing on the portion of the man's life that typifies Christ. We are not proposing that every facet of the person's life is a picture of our Savior. This is logical as all men have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, unlike our Lord Jesus, who is both holy and without blemish.

You can find a type of Jesus in every Book in the Bible. Even beginning with Genesis, we get some previews of what God is about to do in the earth to redeem mankind from a life of destruction. Some of the greatest truths in the Bible are found in the Old Testament types. In this message we consider four Old Testament types of Christ - one in Isaiah, one in Exodus, one in Numbers and one in Genesis.

The Rod out of the stem of Jesse

"There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots. The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord. His delight is in the fear of the Lord, and He shall not judge by the sight of His eyes, or decide by the hearing of His ears; but with righteousness He shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; He shall strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips He shall slay the wicked. Righteousness shall be the belt of His loins, and faithfulness the belt of His waist" (Isaiah 11:1 - 5, NKJV, emphasis added).

Jesus is called the Rod from the stem of Jesse. Why? Jesse was the father of David and Jesus come from the ancestry of David (read the Gospels of Matthew and Luke). God promised David a kingdom that would have no end (Isaiah 9:7; Luke 1:33). Jesus was called the Son of David (Matt. 21:9).

This prophecy (Striking the earth with the rod of His mouth) was fulfilled in Jesus who came to establish the Kingdom of God. Isaiah talked about God striking the earth with the Rod of His mouth. Jesus was the Word of God (John 1:1, 2) and the Word spoken out of His mouth would strike the earth.

Jesus became sin to swallow up sin

With the above in mind, let us go to Exodus, Chapter 7, and look at an Old Testament type of Jesus taking sin and doing away with it. Moses and Aaron approached Pharaoh to ask him to let Israel go.

The Lord said: "When Pharaoh speaks to you, saying, ' Show a miracle for yourself,' then you shall say to Aaron, 'Take your rod and cast it before Pharaoh, and let it become a serpent.'" (Exodus 7:9).

"So Moses and Aaron went in to Pharaoh, and they did so, just as the Lord commanded. And Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh and before his servants, and it become a serpent" (Exodus 7:10).

Now remember, the rod is a type of Jesus. When Aaron cast down the rod before Pharaoh, it turned into a serpent, which is representative of sin or evil. God had given Pharaoh and the Devil a preview of what was about to happen in the earth. But Satan wasn't smart enough to figure it out; neither was pharaoh.

Pharaoh then called for his magicians to cast down their rods and they turned into serpents also (Exodus 7:11). But Aaron's rod swallowed up their serpents. Aaron's rod turned into a king snake, and the king snake ate up other snakes.


The serpents speaks of sin and evil. Therefore, here is a type of Jesus becoming sin. He became sin that He might swallow up sin and do away with it.

This was the beginning of the plan of God to redeem mankind. God showed it to Pharaoh, the Devil, and the world. It was a preview of what was about to take place. But they couldn't figure out what in the world was going on.

A fiery serpent - a type of Jesus

Let us go to Numbers 21. It was recorded that the Lord commanded Mose to make a fiery serpent which was a type of Jesus.

"And the people spoke against God and against Moses: 'Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and our soul loathes this worthless bread.' So the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and many of the people of Israel died. Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, 'We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you; pray to the Lord that He take away the serpents from us.' So Moses prayed for the people. Then the Lord said to Moses, 'Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live.' So Moses made a bronze serpent, and put it on a pole; and so it was, if a serpent had bitten anyone, when he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived" (Numbers 21:5 - 9, emphasis added).

Here are some statements of truth:

1. The fiery serpent on the pole was a type of Jesus - Jesus, the Healer! Today medical doctors use the symbol of a serpent on a pole as a symbol of healing. That ought to tell us something. Jesus bore our sicknesses to bring healing to us (Matt. 8:17; Isaiah 53:4).

2. The pole is symbolic of the cross - a place of execution. The serpent on the pole is symbolic of Jesus becoming sin after the Sin Offering was made. It is also symbolic of divine judgment upon that old serpent, Satan.

3. Jesus said: "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up" (John 3:12).

Jesus also said: "And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to Myself" (John 12:32).

Jesus willingly gave Himself to the cross and to death. He became the Sin Offering. Once the Sin Offering was received, God made Him (Jesus) to become sin for us. He, Who knew no sin became sin. The sinless Son of God became as a serpent that He might swallow up all evil.

4. Jesus dealt a deth blow to Satan on the cross. Divine judgment rendered Satan harmless and ineffective against the new creation that was to come by Jesus' victorious resurrection.

If you will behold what happened when the sin offering was made and the fact that Jesus became a serpent upon the pole, it will change your life. Satan, that old serpent, cannot afflict you in any manner. If you will behold what happened on the cross, you will live (eternally) also! The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has mad you free from the law of sin and death (Romans 8:2).

5. Bronze (or brass) is symbolic of divine judgment. A brass serpent can't hurt you because it has no life. That's what Jesus came to do: "For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil" (1 John 3:8).

Serpent on the pole

The serpent on the pole has twofold meaning. It is what we would call: "The law of double reference." Jesus became the serpent, but the brass is symbolic of divine judgment. Divine judgment was poured out upon Jesus to destroy the power of the serpent (Satan). Since that has taken place, the serpent is powerless. Jesus destroyed his ability; his power is gone.

Paul said: "Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of the, triumphing over them in it" (Col. 2:15).

Jesus rendered Satan powerless

No one is afraid of a brass serpent because it is harmless; it can't bite anyone. Satan has been rendered powerless by the death-dealing blow of Jesus. The seed of the woman bruised his head. Divine judgment rendered that old serpent harmless and ineffective. If you behold what Jesus did, you will see that old serpent, the Devil, as a brass serpent, rendered harmless by divine judgment.

The writer of Hebrews said: "Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of the flesh and blood, He Himself likwise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage" (Hebrews 2:14, 15, emphasis added).

The word "destroy," translated from the Greek word "katargeo," means "rendered powerless or harmless or made void." Jesus rendered powerless or made void the Devil who had the power of death. Jesus also released or delivered us from the fear of death-dealing blow of Satan. In fact Christians should not fear death. We don't have to fear the brass serpent as he has been rendered harmless and ineffective by divine judgment.

Joseph, a type of Jesus (Genesis 37 - 48)

Joseph is and Old Testament type of Jesus. Even though his own family didn't believe in him, in the end they bowed to him.

Listed below is a comparison between the life of Joseph and the life of Jesus:

1. God gave Joseph revelation of things to come, but his family didn't receive it. His brothers cast him in a well and sold him into slavery in Egypt (Gen. 37:28). Jesus came to earth saying what His Father said, but His own people cast Him out (Luke 4:24). God put our iniquities on Him:

Isaiah said: "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all" (Isaiah 53:6).

2. Joseph ascended from the bottom of a well to a place of authority because the Spirit of God was with him:

"And Pharaoh said to his servants, 'Can we find such a one as this, a man (Joseph) in whom is the Spirit of God?' Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, 'Inasmuch as God has shown you all this, there is no one as discerning and wise as you" (Gen. 41:38, 39).

Jesus ascended from the pit of the damned to the right hand of the Father, far above all principality and power (Eph. 1:21).

Paul said: "Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, ....." (Phil. 2:9).

3. Joseph bought all the land in time of famine - "Then Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh; for every man of the Egyptians sold his field, because the famine was severe upon them. So the land became Pharaoh's" (Gen.47:20).

Jesus purchased all the world with His blood - "For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life" (John 3:16).

4. The brothers of Joseph delivered him up for evil, but God turned it for good to save all who would come to Him - "But as for you (his brothers), you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive" (Gen. 50:20).

Jesus was delivered up to death by evil men, but God used it to save all who would come to Him - "But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory, which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory" (1 Cor. 2:7, 8).

"For if by the one man's offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ" (Romans 5:17).

5. Joseph was punished for the things he did not do - "Then Joseph's master took him and put him into the prison, a place where the king's prisoners were confined. And he was there in the prison" (Gen. 39:20).

Jesus took punishment that belonged to us - "But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all" (Isaiah 53:5, 6).

6. Joseph became a slave that he might make Israel rich - "Then Midianite traders passed by; so the brothers pulled Joseph up and lifted him out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels of silver. and they took Joseph to Egypt" (Gen 37:28).

Jesus became poor so that you might be rich - "For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich" (2 Cor. 8:9).

7. All of Egypt bowed before Joseph. Egypt is a type of the world and sin. All sin bowed to Jesus.