Foreshadowing in the Old Testament

In the Old Testament, there are a number of instances that foreshadow events occurring in the New Testament. In Numbers 21:5, the Israelites were lamenting about Moses, the food, water and being stuck in the desert. All at once, there were venomous snakes in the middle of the people, biting and striking at them. Moses again prayed to God for help and He instructed Moses to take a snake, put it on a pole and stand it up where the people could look at it. The people who did look at the snake were healed of the snake bite. This is foreshadowing of Christ on the cross at Calvary as stated in John 3:14 and Romans 6:23.

Manna, the food of the Israelites, is a type another foreshadow of Christ’s fate. Exodus 16:15 says they called it Manna as they did not know what it was until Moses told them that it was the bread God gave them. Jesus in the New Testament said He was the Bread of Life, referring to the eternal life one can have through Him.

In Genesis 22:2, we have the story of Abraham and Isaac, where God tells Abraham to go to the mountain and offer his only son as a sacrificial offering to Him. Verse four says on the third day Abraham saw a place. Verse six says he takes wood and puts it on his son to carry to the mountain. In Verse eight, he tells Isaac that God will provide a lamb for the sacrifice. Lastly, in Verse 13, a ram is seen caught in a thicket. A total of 2,000 years later, this foreshadows how Jesus, God’s only son, is put on a cross of wood, He dies and is buried, rises on the third day and He is later called the lamb of God.