As part of my master’s in theology classes, I’ve been studying the Old Testament and salvation history, which is God’s plan for our salvation.

Typology

The Sacrifice of Isaac by Domenichino via Wikimedia Commons

One of the things I loved about Catholicism as a new Catholic was its explanation of the New Testament through the lens of the Old Testament. This is a concept called “typology,” which simply means that many things in the Old Testament are “types” or prefigurements of things in the New. And the New is the complete fulfillment of the Old.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains that typology…

“…discerns in God’s works of the Old Covenant prefigurations of what he accomplished in the fullness of time in the person of his incarnate Son.” (CCC, 128)

Another way I like to describe typology is using Jesus as the “key” that unlocks the meaning of the Old Testament. The Old Testament only truly makes sense in light of Jesus. This is how stories like Abraham’s sacrifice of Isaac finally made sense to me: as a prefigurement of God’s ACTUAL sacrificing of His only son.

The use of typology dates back to the early Church Fathers, including to Origen of Alexandria, who was really a master of typology, seeing signs and prefigurements throughout almost all of the Old Testament.

Understanding Jewish History, Culture and Customs to Understand God’s Plan of Salvation

As you study the Old Testament, it’s important to learn about the Jewish culture and customs of the time to see how the things these people began before Jesus are fulfilled in Jesus and even in our own day.

Without this knowledge, you miss key portions of what the Old Testament and God’s plan for salvation are all about.

Author Brant Pitre has done an amazing job of outlining these customs and the Jewish culture in very understandable and fascinating books like “Jesus and the Jewish Roots of the Eucharist” and “Jesus and the Jewish Roots of Mary” (please note these are Amazon affiliate links; I appreciate you using my links to support this endeavor :)). You can also find some of Pitre’s lectures on the topic on Formed.org if your parish subscribes to this awesome service.

The Eucharist Prefigured in the Old Testament

I recently had the pleasure of attending a talk by Father Mike Schmitz live here in Indianapolis where he talked about the Eucharist (the Eucharist is what Catholics consume during communion and what we believe to be the actual body and blood of Jesus Christ, not a symbol).

He explained how in John Chapter 6, Jesus tells us that this is one of the ways He will give himself to us, and by turning away from this teaching, we are not accepting what Jesus wanted for us and Jesus as He fully revealed Himself. He also talked about how the Eucharist is Jesus’ physical presence with us and how He is giving his body to us in this way.

While reflecting on this afterward, I had a lightbulb moment. Just as nearly everything in the Old Testament is prefigurement of something in the New, so God’s presence in the Old Testament likely has a New Testament fulfillment.

In the Old Testament, God “dwelled” or “pitched His tent” among the people in a variety of ways. (Note: This is the same word John uses in John 1:14 when he says the Word, Jesus, “made his dwelling among us”). The ways God dwelled among the people was first in the Ark of the Covenant, then in the Tabernacle and finally in the Temple.

During the Babylonian exile, God’s presence left the Temple never to return in the Old Testament. We’ll come back to this…

God’s Presence and The Eucharist

Protestants who do not believe in the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist will often say God is always with us anyway. After all, Jesus says…

“Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” (Matthew 18:20)

And no doubt God IS always with us, as He was always with the Jewish people even when His presence left the temple. But there is a qualitative difference between that spiritual presence and the physical presence of God.

This physical presence manifested itself in the Ark, the tabernacle and the Temple, such that if anyone so much as touched the Ark, they were struck dead. And only the priest could enter the Holy of Holies where God dwelled and even then, only once a year.

While many have found “types” of the Eucharist in things like the manna God provided the Israelites in the desert and the Bread of the Presence, which was also found in the Temple, I think God’s presence dwelling in the Ark, the Tabernacle and the Temple is also an Old Testament prefigurement of the PHYSICAL presence of God in our midst.

First and foremost, Jesus himself is the fulfillment of God’s presence in the Old Testament. God’s presence RETURNS in Mary (who is herself a fulfillment of the Ark of the Covenant, described as the NEW Ark of the Covenant, and which Luke deliberately points to through various words and events to describe her) as Jesus. He literally “made his tent” among us, taking on flesh and walking with us in person.

But Jesus, too, ultimately had to depart from our midst, but He wanted to still remain physically present with us, to “dwell” with us “…until the end of the age” as He promises in Matthew 28:20.

I believe the Eucharist is that physical fulfillment of God’s presence in our time, from the time Jesus ascended into heaven. Not only is He with us spiritually but physically should we go to seek Him out.

To me, this lends further support to Jesus’ real presence in the Eucharist. It simply has to be when you follow the line of logic, considering the Old and New Testament connections, not to mention His emphatic statements declaring as much that turned off many followers in John Chapter 6.

Jesus, fully present to us in the Eucharist, pray for us.

The more I learn about my faith, the more I realize how key it is to understand the Bible and how very little I actually did understand it. Until I became a Catholic, I did not realize the parallels between the Old and the New Testament (something smart people call “typology” :-)) and how the New is the fulfillment of the Old and how the New is largely prefigured in the old.

For example, one of my biggest stumbling blocks of the Bible is the story Abraham willing to sacrifice Isaac. I just could not understand how a loving God would ask someone to do that. But this story really only makes sense in light of Jesus. Isaac is the pre-figurement of Jesus. God will sacrifice his only son on wood (the cross) just as Isaac was to be sacrificed on wood. You pretty much have to put on “Jesus” glasses, if you will :), in order to fully view the Old Testament.

The Bible has simply opened up for me in ways I could never have imagined, including validating the teachings of the Catholic Church today, since coming to this realization. One of the most amazing books on the faith I have found to date (second only to Matthew Kelly’s “Rediscover Catholicism”) is John Bergsma’s New Testament Basics for Catholics (Ave Maria Press, 2016). I wish this book had a more compelling title because it is SO much more than that. It is an explanation of the New Testament (in light of the Old) that is absolutely jaw-dropping — a must read for anyone who really wants to understand their faith in light of the Bible.

I have found that flat out the New Testament can be entirely misunderstood when not properly read with an understanding of the Old Testament and of the Jewish customs, words and ways of life in those times. You cannot accurately or fully comprehend what Jesus is trying to teach us without this reference point. So much gets lost — and misinterpreted! With this knowledge, not only does the Bible make sense, it’s life-altering.

Bergsma systematically goes through the Gospel of Matthew, Luke and John, Acts of the Apostles, St. Paul’s Letter to the Romans and the Book of Revelation, but he does so in conversational language that anyone can follow.

If you’ve been Catholic for a while, you’ve heard the typology of certain things like the Abraham/Isaac story above, but Bergsma provides you with so many more, many I never realized that totally blew me away. Some examples:

• The parallel of David dancing in front of the Ark of the Covenant and John the Baptist “dancing” in his mother’s womb in front of Mary, the new Ark of the Covenant
• How the items, according to Hebrews, that were contained in the Ark of the Covenant (manna, Aaron’s rod and the Ten Commandments) all look forward to Jesus: the Eucharist, priest, law-giver
• The manna in the dessert, put on display for the people to see; how we adore (sit in the presence of) Jesus, body and blood, soul and divinity in the Eucharist
• The sacrament of Confirmation, which originates in Acts of the Apostles when Peter and John must come down and lay hands on the people to fully receive the Holy Spirit, even after they were baptized.
• How the Wedding Feast at Cana identifies Jesus and Mary as the New Adam and the New Eve
• I could go on and on and on… 🙂

Throughout the book, Bergsma, who is a convert from Protestantism, goes through his former beliefs as a Protestant Minister and explains why he was wrong. It’s incredibly helpful for someone coming to the church from a Protestant background.

As far as I’m concerned, this book should be purchased and handed out to every Catholic at every church in the world and be required reading for all RCIA candidates. I’m convinced this would end much confusion over so many elements of the faith and bring people to a much greater understand of the Bible and their mission to become saints on earth.

Bergsma also has a book that goes more in-depth into the Old Testament, giving you the big picture of salvation history, in Bible Basics for Catholics. It’s also fun because he uses stick figure drawings to take you through the Old Testament and each covenant.