The Indescribable Gift!

Friday, March 14, 2008
This is what Jesus said concerning His relationship with the Law and the Prophets: “Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill” (Matthew 5:17). On the surface, this seems simple enough: Jesus came, not to abolish the Law and the Prophets, but to fulfill the Law and the Prophets. What could be complicated about that? Nothing, IF you understand what He meant by “fulfill”.
In this perspective, I am not too concerned about the “prophet” part of what Jesus is saying; instead, I am calling your attention to what He is saying about the Law—the Law of Moses, to be exact. You know, the Ten Commandments (by the way, can you list them?)!
In order to understand what Jesus meant by His fulfilling the Law, we first must know God’s purpose for the Law, and in my opinion, the Scriptures are clear: (1) To give us knowledge of sin (Romans 3:20b); (2) to define sin (Romans 3: 7); (3) to give sin power (Romans 7:8b; 1 Corinthians 15:56); (4) to arouse sinful passions (Romans 7:5); (5) to show us sin’s exceeding sinfulness (Romans 7:11); and finally (6) to be a school-master to lead us to Jesus, who is our righteousness (Galatians 3:24). Did you notice what is obviously absent in my list? It is absent because God never intended for the Law to make us righteous. Strangely, this is what Paul said: “And the Law came in that the transgressions might increase; . . .” (Romans 5:20). In other words, the best the Law can do is to stir-up disobedience by giving sin it power and to, thereby, drive us in utter desperation to Jesus, who is our righteousness.
If you will notice, Jesus raised the standard of obedience much higher than the one raised by the Ten Commandments. A quick look back to Matthew 5 will give evidence to this: “You have heard that the ancients were told, ‘You shall not commit murder’ and ‘Whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court’ but I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; . . .” (vs. 21-22a; emphasis, mine); “You have heard that it was said, ’You shall not commit adultery’; but I say to you, that everyone who looks on a woman to lust for her has committed adultery with her already in his heart” (vs. 27-28; emphasis, mine). Notice that He repeats this four more times in this 5th chapter of Matthew and, then, ends the chapter with this: “Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (vs. 48). Are you getting the picture? Jesus came to give to us by His perfect obedience what we could never earn by our futile attempts at perfection, in in doing so, He fulfilled the Law, it purpose and its requirement!
Although most do not seem to know it, I think this is why we celebrate Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Resurrection Morn!
You think about it and, as you think, cease striving to earn His indescribable gift!



PS: I might add this: if you are so foolish, as to think that you have (through your own efforts) reached God’s standard of perfection, then you are of all people most foolish!