And as they departed, Jesus began to say unto the multitudes concerning John, What went ye out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken with the wind?

Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist: notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.

For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John.

For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, He hath a devil.

And said unto his servants, This is John the Baptist; he is risen from the dead; and therefore mighty works do show forth themselves in him.

For Herod had laid hold on John, and bound him, and put him in prison for Herodias' sake, his brother Philip's wife.

For John said unto him, It is not lawful for thee to have her.

And she, being before instructed of her mother, said, Give me here John Baptist's head in a charger.

And he sent, and beheaded John in the prison.

22:8 a lamb. Though Abraham was fully prepared to slay Isaac, he evidently comprehended the ultimate meaning of the divinely-ordained principle of substitutionary sacrifice, practiced ever since God shed the blood of the first sacrificial lamb to provide a covering for Adam and Eve. He knew that, one day, the “Lamb of God” must be offered by God to “take away the sin of the world” (John 1:29) and thus to make possible the fulfillment of all His eternal promises.

22:2 whom thou lovest. It is providentially significant that this is the first occurrence of the word “love” in the Bible, referring as it does to the love of a father for his son. The New Testament makes it clear that this story of Abraham and Isaac is not only true historically but is also a type of the heavenly Father and His only begotten Son, depicting the coming sacrifice on Mount Calvary. In a beautiful design (no doubt Spirit-inspired), it is appropriate that the first use of “love in each of the three synoptic gospels (Matthew 3:17; Mark 1:11; Luke 3:22) shows the Father calling out from heaven that “this is my beloved Son,” at the baptism of Jesus (which, of course, also speaks of death and resurrection). In the Gospel of John, on the other hand, where the word “love” occurs more than in any other book of the Bible, its first occurrence is at John 3:16: “God so loved the world” that He, like Abraham, was willing to sacrifice His beloved Son.

24:4 my country. Abraham had learned the hard way that the heir of the promises should not leave the promised land. Nevertheless, a suitable wife through whom the promised seed could be born and trained could not be found among the people then in the land. Consequently, the father must send a trusted servant to find a suitable bride for his son, far away and among a small remnant who still served the true God. A typological parallel with the heavenly Father sending the Holy Spirit to claim a bride for His Son seems well warranted in this case (note John 14:26; 16:13,14; II Corinthians 11:2; Acts 15:14; etc.).

24:67 he loved her. Although the New Testament does not specifically say that Isaac and Rebekah constitute a “type” of Christ and His Church, the numerous parallels are more than coincidental, and do follow naturally from the clear identification of Isaac himself as a type of Christ (note Galatians 3:16; Hebrews 11:17-19). In the symbolic parallel, the servant dispatched by Abraham to seek a bride for his son becomes the Holy Spirit, sent by the Heavenly Father to find and bring the heavenly Bride, the Church, to His Son (John 14:26; 16:13,14; Acts 15:14). After she accepts the invitation, the Spirit, like Abraham’s servant, guides the Bride through the wilderness to join the Bridegroom when he comes out to meet her at the end of the journey. There are numerous detailed parallels one can discern as the passage is studied in depth.

28:12 reached to heaven. This was a theophany, the first of about eight Jacob would experience. It happened in the form of a remarkable dream. Jacob was assured of God’s intense interest and of his own key role in God’s plan. The great ladder with ascending and descending angels, bridging the gulf between earth and heaven, symbolized Christ Himself (John 1:51; 3:13; Ephesians 4:8-10), as well of assuring Jacob of his own access to God through prayer and obedience.

32:24 wrestled a man. This “man” was actually an angel (Hosea 12:4)–in fact, the angel, the preincarnate Christ, for Jacob recognized that he had seen God face to face (Genesis 32:30), and this is impossible except through Christ (John 1:18). The intensity of Jacob’s prayer, as he “wrestled” in his intercession (the word Jabbok means “wrestler,” the river being named for the unique event that occurred there), was such that God actually deigned to appear to him in human form as an antagonist over whom he must prevail for the blessing. As he had held on to Esau’s heel at birth, so he now held on to God, so earnest was his desire for God’s purpose to be accomplished in and through him.

48:22 Amorite. This incident is not referred to elsewhere in the account of Jacob’s life, but that doesn’t mean it did not happen. A reasonable explanation might be that an Amorite neighbor of Jacob’s had attacked him, but that Jacob defeated and slew his attacker, thereby acquiring possession of his land. This particular portion he wanted to reserve for Joseph’s inheritance in addition to the ultimate twelve-fold division of the land. It is likely that this is “the parcel of ground” referred to in John 4:5.

12:4 too little for the lamb. Note that the lamb was never too little for the household. The lamb, of course, is a foreshadow of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God (John 1:29) our Passover (I Corinthians 5:7) without blemish, sacrificed for us (I Peter 1:19).

16:15 It is manna. This is the altogether miraculous “bread from heaven” (John 6:31) provided for the millions of Israelites in the wilderness for forty years, always sufficient, never too much, never on the Sabbath. Skeptics have tried to identify it with various naturally occurring substances of the desert, but none can meet the specifications set forth in Scripture. Its supernatural provision was taken by Christ Himself as a type of His own coming down from heaven to give “life unto the world” (John 6:33). The quail (Exodus 16:13) were natural enough, but the timing and quantity of their coming constituted a providential miracle.

17:6 rock in Horeb. This is the first mention of “rock” in Scripture, and it is significantly taken by Paul as a type of Christ (see adjacent note). Just as Moses smote the rock with his rod of judgment (Exodus 17:5), so Christ had to be “smitten of God” (Isaiah 53:4) before He could invite men to “come unto me, and drink” (John 7:37).