prefigure

This term describes a relationship where an earlier event, object, or text serves as a precursor or a symbolic foreshadowing of a later development. It carries a sense of destiny or structural planning, suggesting that the later event was already latent or encoded in the earlier one.

In theological or literary analysis, it specifically refers to typology, where a person or event in an ancient text is seen as a prototype for a future revelation. This differs from simple prediction, as prefiguring involves a symbolic mirroring rather than a literal announcement.