How did God prepare mankind to receive the Savior?
God prepared mankind through gradual revelations, prophecies, and types. Prophecies are utterances of men who, moved by the Holy Spirit, discerned spiritual truth concerning events and peoples, foretelling what was to come, warning of judgments provoked by disobedience, and announcing blessings promised by God (2Pe 1:21; Amo 3:7; see Q019, Q025). Types are events, objects, institutions, and persons which point beyond themselves to a greater reality, foreshadowing the fulfillment of God’s dispensation in Jesus Christ: the Passover lamb (Exo 12; 1Co 5:7; see Q328, Q540), the bronze serpent lifted up in the wilderness (Num 21:9; Joh 3:14; see Q118, Q517), the prophet Jonah in the belly of the sea creature (Jon 2; Mat 12:40; see Q220), and Melchizedek the priest-king (Gen 14; Heb 7). As St Melito of Sardis, one of the earliest witnesses to this reading, proclaims: the mystery of the Lord was “prefigured long ago” in the people of Israel, as an artist first prepares a model of the work to come (St Melito of Sardis, On Pascha, 36–38).
