What does Tribe teach about types and shadows?

At Tribe, the teaching on types and shadows starts with the conviction that the Bible itself invented the literary technique that Hollywood later borrowed: earlier figures and events are shaped by God to point forward to Jesus. Brian used the story of Joseph's reunion with his brothers in Genesis 45 to demonstrate this, inviting the congregation to call out the connections themselves rather than simply handing them a list. Joseph's obedience, his forgiveness of the brothers who wronged him, his weeping, his rise from servitude to authority, and his becoming sustenance for the people who had harmed him all surfaced as parallels to the life and work of Jesus.

Brian pressed hardest on verse five of Genesis 45, where Joseph tells his brothers not to be angry with themselves because God sent him ahead of them. He traced the Hebrew root of the word translated 'preserve' to the root of the word Mashiach, and noted that Joseph's Egyptian name carries the meaning of savior. Joseph is not just a good man who happened to forgive; he is a proto-Jesus, a figure whose whole story is bent toward the Messiah. Brian says, 'It was not you who sent me here but God.' That line, he argued, is Joseph speaking the logic of grace: the credit belongs to God, not to the brothers and not even to Joseph himself. Salvation is by grace, not works, so that no one can boast.

The teaching also pressed toward the reach of that grace. Brian says, 'There is nothing in this life, in this world that we will ever go through that Jesus is not the forerunner.' Joseph went ahead into slavery, suffering, and obscurity before being raised to a place where he could save the very people who had wronged him. That pattern, Brian taught, is the shape of what Jesus does for everyone who comes to Him.

Taught from Genesis 45:1-8 · Ephesians 2:8-9 · Zechariah 12:10 · Romans 6:23 · Romans 2:4