PLEASE READ THIS FIRST: Matthew 5:17-20
What do you sense the Lord saying to you in this passage?
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets.” (Matthew 5:17)
Jesus speaks to and works among the Jews as one trained to know their Bible.
But he does not just teach it, he reveals its true meaning, depth and purpose.
“I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.” (Matthew 5:17)
To fulfill does not just mean to obey them, but to bring them to their goal.
To be the thing that they were pointing to, to ‘fill them out’ in reality.
Jesus makes it clear that the goal of the Law and Prophets is love (Matthew 22:34-40).
The Law and Prophets point to love: “a shadow of the things that were to come.” (Colossians 2:17)
But Jesus fulfills, or lives it out perfectly: “the reality is found in Christ.” (Colossians 2:17)
Jesus, and Jesus alone, is the perfect fulfillment of righteousness – perfect love.
The Pharisees kept the Law, but their righteousness fell far short of what God desires.
The only way our obedience can reach God’s level of righteousness is by trusting in Jesus.
By trusting and following Jesus, God accepts our imperfect obedience as righteous.
Jesus, not the Law of Moses, is my standard and goal, only in him can I fulfill the Law.
I fall short of what the Law and Prophets point to, but Jesus lifts me up and helps me.
PRAYER
Lord, thank you for fulfilling the Law of Love for me, and for helping me fulfill the Law of Love in my own imperfect way. My love falls short, but with you it surpasses whatever I could do alone!
I know my righteousness is ever going to be good enough: “unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law” – for sure not on my own. Thank you for Jesus. God has got to expect perfection – it has to be all systems working in sync the way the creator designed it. Systems in our automobiles etc. fail when one component is not operating the way it should. Yet through God’s grace through Jesus – my failures are covered and I’m restored – I know especially when my cycle on earth is done! Help me to live in step with your will O God and express the gracious love you have for me and my fellow humankind!
As a small child would say, Jesus is the answer.
Christ working in me and through me, ten I am able to produce the fruit of the Spirit. Each day anew I need to dress myself in His armour so that I can live for Jesus and not for myself. I am not a law unto myself. As always Lord, lead me and guide me by Your Spirit.
1 God himself is present:
let us now adore him
and with awe appear before him.
God is in his temple,
all within keep silence,
humbly kneel in deepest rev’rence.
He alone on his throne
is our God and Savior;
praise his name forever!