In this opening study of “Unfolding Calvary,” we begin a journey through the Scriptures to watch the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ progressively unfold as the centerpiece of God’s wisdom in redemption. We begin at Calvary itself, where the Son of God was crucified.  We look at the cross.  We look at it again.  We look backward.  We look forward.  And finally, we end with the glory of God's manifold wisdom in Christ crucified.  This opening study is designed to preview what is to come as we observe God progressively unfold His manifold wisdom on the stage of inspired revelation from Genesis to Glory.  Get ready to see Calvary Unfolded and to be exhorted by God's Spirit to glory in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ!

In this second study of “Unfolding Calvary,” we begin our consideration of the first major angle of God’s sevenfold revelation of the cross: Calvary Typified—the Shadow. Before examining specific Old Testament types, we first establish what a biblical type actually is by looking at the Scriptures’ own language of shadows, figures, patterns, and examples. We look at the law, where its sacrifices and ordinances are called “a shadow of good things to come.” We look at the Passover, Israel’s wilderness experiences, and Adam, each of which God designed to point forward to the greater reality revealed in Christ. And as we put these passages together, we discover that biblical types are real, divinely designed, prefigurative, partial, fulfilled, and ultimately Christ-centered. The shadow was never meant to leave us looking at the shadow—it was designed to point us to the substance. And so, as we begin to trace these shadows across the Old Testament, get ready to see Calvary Typified as the light of completed revelation brings the substance of the shadow into view!

In this third study of “Unfolding Calvary,” we begin our consideration of the first substantive shadow under Calvary Typified by examining the coats of skins God provided for Adam and Eve in Genesis 3:21. We first trace the entrance of sin, shame, and nakedness through Adam’s disobedience, and then consider man’s immediate attempt to cover his condition with fig leaves—a picture of the insufficiency of human works and religion to deal with sin before the all-seeing God. In contrast, Genesis 3:21 reveals God Himself moving toward guilty man to provide a covering, pointing forward to the greater provision of Calvary, where the innocent Christ died for the guilty. The coats of skins thus typify the righteousness and salvation that God supplies through Christ, reminding us that our own righteousness can never cover our shame or save us from judgment. The shadow points us to the substance: Jesus Christ, who bore our sins, paid sin’s demanded price, and became our righteousness. This is Calvary Typified in the Shadow of the Coats of Skins!

In this fourth study of “Unfolding Calvary,” we continue our consideration of Calvary Typified by turning our attention to one of the clearest and most powerful shadows of Christ’s substitutionary work in all the Old Testament—the offering of Isaac in Genesis 22. We first consider the great trial of Abraham as God requires his beloved, only son of promise, and then observe Abraham’s faith that God was able even to raise Isaac from the dead if necessary to fulfill His own promise. As Abraham and Isaac ascend Mount Moriah, we see a remarkable picture unfold: the father who spares not his beloved son, the son who willingly bears the wood of his own sacrifice and submits himself to the will of his father, and the ram caught in the thicket and offered in the son’s stead—a striking picture of the substitutionary sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Abraham’s declaration that “God will provide himself a lamb” points forward to the Lamb of God who came to take away the sin of the world, and Jehovah-jireh testifies that God Himself would provide the sacrifice necessary for sinners. The shadow points us to the substance: Jesus Christ, the beloved and only begotten Son, who was delivered over to death, bore the cross, submitted Himself unto death, and died in the place of the guilty. This is Calvary Typified in the Shadow of the Offering of Isaac!