TMDUB Bible Quiz • Study Foundation
Patterns, Shadows, Figures & Examples
Learn how Scripture itself establishes connections before moving into deeper studies such as Adam, Passover, the Wilderness, and the Tabernacle.
TEXT → SCRIPTURE COMPARISON → IDENTIFIED PATTERN → CAREFUL CONCLUSION
Learn the method before the pattern
This study distinguishes what Scripture explicitly identifies from what we merely observe.
EXPLICIT TEXT — the passage states the fact directly.
SCRIPTURE COMPARISON — a later passage deliberately connects earlier and later material.
PATTERN / SHADOW / FIGURE / EXAMPLE — Scripture itself names the relationship.
OBSERVED PARALLEL — a possible connection that must remain tentative unless Scripture establishes it.
Stage 1: PATTERN — GOD GIVES THE FORMA biblical pattern begins with something God establishes, not something we invent.
Stage 2: SHADOW — SOMETHING POINTING BEYOND ITSELFScripture can describe earlier systems as shadows of things to come.
Stage 3: FIGURE — AN EARLIER REALITY USED TO TEACH A LATER ONESome people and events are explicitly identified as figures.
Stage 4: EXAMPLES — EVENTS WRITTEN FOR OUR ADMONITIONEarlier events were recorded so later believers could learn, compare, and be warned.
Stage 5: METHOD — TEXT FIRST, PATTERN SECONDThe final guardrail is simple: do not make an observed similarity stronger than the text allows.
25 questions • 5 stages • evidence labels • Scripture feedback after every answer
“Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.” — 1 Thessalonians 5:21