“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.” Matthew 5:17

The whole Old Testament points to the long-awaited Savior. Its entire storyline awaited an ending, completed only in Jesus. In Matthew 5:17, Jesus said two things concerning “the Law and the Prophets”, His common phrase referring to all the Old Testament (i.e. Matthew 5:17; 7:12; 11:13; 22:40). First, He did not abolish or invalidate the Old Testament. Over ten percent of Jesus’ words in the New Testament were taken from the Old. He obeyed it perfectly through His sinless life. Second, and most importantly, He came to fulfill it. He flawlessly fulfilled all the Law and Prophets. It is now to be interpreted and followed through this redemptive lens. In His sinlessness, He alone could bring the Law and the Prophets to their full expression, completing their righteous requirements and God’s legal demands (Colossians 2:13-14).

Jesus is the complete fulfillment of the temple requirements and the sacrificial system. He said, “something greater than the temple is here” (Matthew 12:6). He is the ultimate High Priest and final sacrifice for our sins (Hebrews 7:26-27). “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law by becoming a curse for us” (Galatians 3:13). In the verses following Matthew 5:17, Jesus used murder and adultery as examples of how all sin is deeply rooted in every heart. Sin separates us from God and could never have been dealt with by external rule keeping or self-righteous comparison. Jesus revealed “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). He showed how everyone desperately needs the gracious gift of eternal life found exclusively through Him (Romans 6:23). “It is by grace that we have been saved through faith” (Ephesians 2:8). We must not throw out the Old Testament nor should we attempt to interpret or follow it apart from its fulfillment in Christ.

“For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit” (Romans 8:3).

Pray:

> That you would interpret the Old Testament through its fulfillment in Christ.

> That you would receive the grace of God offered only through Jesus.

> Thank God for doing what you could not through His Son Jesus.