Painting

It's what God does

Since the attempted assassination of President Trump, I’ve been pondering something. 

Everyone else is talking about the failures of the USSS - and these should be discussed. But others are thinking and talking about the miracle that President Trump is still alive and only slightly injured. And it was truly a miracle. 

A split second turn of his head meant the difference between a gruesome death and a bloody outer ear that can probably be repaired with plastic surgery - though I hope that the former president doesn’t go that route. A visibly damaged ear would send a powerful message to Trump’s enemies. He’d have to slightly alter his famous hairstyle, though, for it to be visible.

Anyway, none of that was the primary topic for my pondering - except for God. He’s always speaking and I wondered what He was trying to tell us through this horrifying set of events. This train of thought led me to the man who was murdered: Corey Comperatore.

Why did God allow that man to die?

When it came to me, I initially decided not to share it because there will always be those who misunderstand, often intentionally. But whenever I get a small amount of comprehension from the Man upstairs, He won’t leave me alone about it. 

That’s the nature of listening to the Holy Spirit. (Be advised, if a person ignores the Holy Spirit enough times, He’ll stop talking to that person. No thanks.)

So here it is.

Bible scholars and we who are students of the Bible are familiar with a certain term: typology.

Wikipedia (yes, I know) gives a good definition of concept of typology.

Typology in Christian theology and biblical exegesis is a doctrine or theory concerning the relationship of the Old Testament to the New Testament. Events, persons or statements in the Old Testament are seen as types prefiguring or superseded by antitypes, events or aspects of Christ or his revelation described in the New Testament. For example, Jonah may be seen as the type of Christ in that he emerged from the fish's belly and thus appeared to rise from death.

The Old Testament is rife with typologies of Christ, starting with the genealogy between Adam and Noah. 

• Adam = Man

• Seth = Appointed

• Enosh = Mortal

• Kenan = Sorrow;

• Mahalalel = The Blessed God

• Jared = Shall come down

• Enoch = Teaching

• Methuselah = His death shall bring

• Lamech = The Despairing

• Noah = Rest, or comfort

“Man [is] appointed mortal sorrow; the blessed God shall come down teaching [that] His death shall bring the despairing rest.” It’s a perfect description of the Messiah.

This blew my mind when it was first pointed out to me. I think that this was the first time I grasped that God was real, though I had called myself a Christian long before that.

And the typologies kept coming.

• Abraham instructed to sacrifice his son, but an angel stops him and provides a lamb

• The story of Joseph, son of Jacob

• The first Passover, when the angel of death kills the firstborn of houses not covered in the blood of the lamb

• Moses and the two rocks of living water

• The bronze serpent

• Rahab and the red cord

• Boaz marries a gentile bride, Ruth

• Jonah in the belly of the sea creature for three days

And there are many others. Some are probably more important, but these are off the top of my head.

Does God still provide typologies? I don’t know. But when I contrasted the dead and the living from last Saturday, I saw something.

Mr. Comperatore was 50 years old and married to his high school sweetheart. He had never lived anywhere other than his hometown, Buffalo, PA. And he was a retired firefighter.(Firefighters are nearly universally admired as saviors of life, limb and, sometimes, property.) And his daughter says that he was very serious about his relationship with Jesus the Christ and active in his local church.

When Mr Comperatore died, he was standing in front of the former president and he put his body between his wife, daughters and the bullets. Reportedly, his last words were “get down.” Who does that sound like?

President Trump is very different from the deceased man. Married three times, he has been all over the world, is notably foul and not known to be a Christian, rumors notwithstanding.

This sounds like a typology to me.

I do realize that there are those who will twist what I’m saying, and it is what it is. But I’m not saying that Mr Comperatore is Christ and I’m not saying that Mr. Trump is the devil. 

What I am saying is that the fate of the two men paints a picture - a typology - of  what God has done for us via the finished work of Christ. A man dies covering his family and stands in front of another more sinful man. Who does that sound like?

Am I crazy? Probably. 

But those of us who believe in eternal life can take comfort in this latest portrayal, if that’s what it is. 

I hope to meet Mr Comperatore at the Big Party. Mr Trump, too.

Thanks to Dr. Chuck Missler (1934-2018)