What’s the Shape of a Promise?

Our name of God for week 18 is Ish, Hebrew for Husband. Serendipitously, I came up with this graphic.

No, the double entendre wasn’t intentional, but it’s a great way to illustrate a biblical type. As James Hamilton puts it, a promise-shaped pattern.

We’ve talked about types before.

Did Abraham realize that the ram caught in the thicket was a foreshadowing of  the Passover lamb, sacrificed for our sins, which was ultimately fulfilled in Jesus’s death and resurrection? No. But we have the bread crumb trail to recognize it now.

When the death angel spared the Israelites in Egypt because they’d put blood on their lintels, did they know it was a foreshadowing of Jesus’s sacrifice on our behalf? No. But we can see it in hindsight.

When the Israelites looked at the image of the snake on a pole, could they have envisioned Jesus becoming sin and dying in their place? No. But God gave clues so believers could recognize the fulfillment when it happened.

When Abraham gave tithes to Melchizedek, could he understand that our Savior, King Jesus, would be a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek? No. And we haven’t seen that yet, either. We know by faith that he is, and we have both the type and the explanation, thanks to the author of Hebrews.

We’ll know him when we see him, but we won’t behold the fulfillment this side of heaven.

Which brings us to Husband(ish.) Yahweh calls himself Israel’s husband. The church is the bride of Christ. Those are types. Promise-shaped patterns that give us an idea of what to expect.

The picture on the right illustrates the absurdity of trying to wrap our brains around all that awaits us. I used the AI prompt, “the marriage supper of the Lamb in heaven.” Go ahead and chuckle.  We know what marriage looks like on earth, and we’ll recognize it in heaven. We’ll be able to Monday morning quarterback for eternity once we get there. But we won’t fully understand it till then. And that’s okay. A little mystery adds spice to life.