Christ & the Law

So far in this sermon Jesus has described the character of kingdom people and identified them as the salt and light of the world. The majority of the sermon will now be centered on. He will use His time to correct errors and misconceptions that had developed in interpreting it. The Law was highly esteemed among the Jewish people. Before Jesus begins dealing with it He lets the people know that He has not come to do away with it. These verses tell us specifically the relationship between Christ and the Law.

v.17 It was the opinion of the religious establishment that Jesus did not believe, nor did He teach the Law. The religious leaders tried to prove before the people that He did not. They even went so far as to set a trap for a woman to be caught in adultery so that they could put Him on the spot concerning the Law. In John 8:5 they said, “Now Moses in the Law commanded us, that such should be stoned; but what sayest Thou?”

Their hope was that Jesus would contradict the Law. Surprisingly, He did not. In stead He put them on the spot and challenged the one without sin to cast the first stone. Of course, they were all ashamed and departed without fulfilling the Law of Moses themselves.

The term “law” is used in different ways in the Bible.

* The Ten Commandments.

* The Pentateuch (first five books of the Old Testament).

* The entire Old Testament.

The Law of God applied to Israel in several ways.

*There was the moral Law of God. This can be summarized in the Ten Commandments. It taught Israel they were to be a holy people. God requires moral perfection, and the Ten Commandments reveal actions God identified as sinful.

*There was the ceremonial law. This consisted of the sacrificial system, holy days, feasts, etc. that the nation was to observe.

* There was the judicial law. This law told Israel how to govern itself. Everything from how they dressed to how they dealt with disputes was covered in this. This law made a distinction between Israel and the world. The Jews were God’s chosen people and this Law made that obvious.

The “prophets” refers to the prophetical writings given to Israel as they were inspired by the Spirit of God. The prophets were continually warning the Jews of the consequences of breaking the Law of God. They were called and commissioned by God to preach and write to the people of Israel concerning their disobedience to God’s Law.

Christ says that He has not come to destroy the law or the prophets. In fact, He says He has come to fulfill both of them. How does He do this?

He fulfills the moral law of God because He was perfectly obedient to the Law of God. The Bible is clear about the perfection of Christ.

*Christ challenged the religious leaders in John 8:46 to find one sin in His life.

*The thief on the cross in Luke 23:41 declared “This man hath done nothing amiss.”

*Paul said in 2 Cor. 5:21 “For He hath made Him to be sin for us who knew no sin..”

*Hebrews 4:15 says Jesus was “in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.”

*1 Peter 2:22 speaking of Christ declared “Who did no sin neither was guile found in His mouth.”

He fulfills the ceremonial law of God because all of the sacrifices, holy days and feasts were simply shadows of Him. They all pointed toward Christ.

The sacrifices were shadows of the Lamb of God that would take away the sins of the world. The very fact that sacrifices were made on a continual basis proved that sin was not being dealt with (Heb. 10:1-4). When Christ died on the cross the sacrifice was taken care of forever (Heb. 9:11-12).

The holy days (or Sabbath days) were fulfilled in Christ as well. Christ’s work on the cross allows us to enter into His rest (Heb. 4:9-10).

The feasts all pointed toward Christ as well.

* The Passover pointed to Christ as our Passover Lamb. Through His sacrifice the death angel must pass over us (Lev. 23:5, 1 Cor. 5:7).

* The feast of Unleavened Bread points to the holiness of Christ (Lev.23:6, 1 Peter 2:22).

* The feast of first fruits celebrated the beginning of harvest. It points toward Jesus as the firstfruits of those raised from the dead (Lev. 23:10, 1 Cor. 15:20).

*The feast of Weeks (Pentecost) celebrated harvest and points toward the great harvest of souls Jesus will reap as a result of His atoning work (Lev. 23:16, Matt. 13:41).

*The feast of Trumpets was memorialized by a blowing of trumpets and celebrated by entering into rest. This points toward the great Day when the trumpet will sound and the church will enter into eternal rest (Lev. 23:24, 1 Thess. 4:16-17).

*The Day of atonement was the one day a year the High Priest entered into the holy of Holies to make sacrifice for the people sins. Christ, our High Priest has done this for us (Lev. 23:27, Heb. 9:11-12).

* The Feast of Tabernacles memorialized Israel’s desert wandering. During this time, they remembered the presence of the Lord was there to dwell with and lead them. John 1:14 says Jesus “dwelt (tabernacled) among us”. As a result of Him dwelling with us we have the privilege of dwelling with Him for all of eternity ( Lev. 23:34, Rev. 21:3).

Jesus shows us that the entire ceremonial Law merely pointed to Him. It is fully comprehended and appreciated only as we see it in that way.

Jesus fulfills the judicial Law through His church. Israel was to be recognized by the watching world as different. Of course, Israel failed to be what God called her to be and God extended grace to the Gentile world. The church is now called to govern itself in a way different than the world does (1 Peter 2:9-17).

Christ perfectly fulfills the Law. As well, He fulfills the prophets. The OT is full of prophetic references to Christ. They begin in Genesis and end in Malachi. We certainly don’t have time to expound on them all. Let’s look at some examples of the prophet’s references to Him.

* Isaiah 53

* Daniel 9:25

* Micah 5:2

The prophets were looking for a Messiah who would come and redeem Israel. When Christ came, He was the fulfillment of their hopes. After His resurrection Jesus explained to some of His disciples on the road to Emmaus how He fulfilled the entire Old Testament (Luke 24:27, 44). In fact, Jesus tells us that if we do not believe in Him, we prove that we do not believe the Bible (John 5:46). The Law and the prophets can not be understood, appreciated, or even believed if we do not see Christ as the fulfillment. Truly, He has fulfilled them.

v. 18 This verse begins with the phrase “Verily I say unto you”. Jesus often uses this phrase. It means that what Jesus is about to say is extremely important. It is a way of emphasizing His point. It would cause His hearers to perk up their ears and get ready to receive a very important truth. “Verily” means “trustworthy”. Therefore, the truth the disciples are about to receive is a statement they can trust.

The Word of God will endure

“Till heaven and earth pass” is a reference to the end of this world. There is coming a great day of judgment. On this day both the heavens and the earth will pass away. The “heavens” should be understood as the area that contains our planets, constellations, clouds, etc. One day this world will see some very real “global warming” (2 Peter 3:7, 10, Psalm 102:25-26, Rev. 6:13-14). Jesus said in Matthew 24:25 “Heaven and earth shall pass away but my words shall not pass away.”

Jesus point is that the Word of God is surer than even the earth we live on and the heavens we gaze into. Who could destroy the earth or the heavens? Man could try and destroy the earth and/or the planets with all of his missiles and ingenuity. He may partly succeed, he may not. For him to do so however would be extremely foolish. In destroying the heavens and the earth he would also be destroying himself. On the other hand, God is powerful enough to destroy the heavens and the earth, and He will do it!

Man is not interested in destroying the heavens and the earth. Man is interested in destroying the Word of God and preserving the heavens and the earth. Man would love to live forever in this world without the law of God. God will not permit that. He will destroy the earth but He will preserve His Word!

Some people want to change the Word of God. They believe the Bible is an evolving book. We must adapt the Bible to our culture and day is their thinking. Sin should not be considered as so ugly and man as so bad. What they fail to realize is that the Word of God is inspired and therefore relevant to every culture and people group at any time in history.

Some people want to choose parts of the Word of God. They are okay with the Sermon on the Mount and most of the Gospels. They’re not sure about the miracles and they certainly don’t want to read any of those stories about the judgment and wrath of God. What they fail to understand is that the Bible is either completely inspired or completely uninspired. We cannot choose certain parts as truth and reject other parts. To do that is neither reasonable nor responsible.

Some people want to chunk the Word of God. They don’t believe a single word of the Bible. They would love to see it thrown out the window. They want to remove it from our schools, our government, our towns, and ultimately our lives. Ironically, these are the same ones oftentimes that want to save the planet!! What they fail to understand is that the Word of God cannot be chunked. It’s like a boomerang. We can try to throw it away, but its truth always comes back.

The Word of God will endure long after the heavens and earth have passed. Humanity should embrace it and live their lives by its great truths.

The Word of God is inspired.

Jesus reference to the Word of God would be understood by His hearers as the completed Old Testament. Of course, when we hear His words we understand them to encompass the New Testament as well. In this verse Jesus shows His belief in the inspiration of Scripture down to the very letter.

“Jot” is the word “iota”. It is the tenth letter of the Hebrew alphabet. It was also the smallest of the letters. It would look like an apostrophe looks to us.

“Tittle” is a word that means “the stroke of a pen”. It would be the difference between an “E” and an “F” in English.

“Law” refers to the entirety of the Scripture. Jesus sets forth the glorious truth that every stroke of the pen in the Word of God was given under inspiration of the Holy Spirit . Let’s consider the place that Scripture had in Jesus life while He was on this earth.

He relied on Scripture. When Jesus was tempted in the wilderness the devil tried to get Him to use His Divine power to overcome (Matthew 4:1-11). Instead of turning bread into stone or calling on angels to catch His body, He chose to use Scripture to overcome temptation. He fought the devil with the Word of God. Each time He was confronted with temptation He quoted a portion of Scripture. In doing us He taught us that the Scripture is trustworthy and that when we are faced with temptation it is the sword that will saly the world, the flesh and the devil!

He read Scripture. Luke 4:18-19 records a day that Jesus read the Scriptures in the synagogue on the Sabbath. After He closed the book He announced that He was the fulfillment of those Scriptures (Luke 4:21). In doing this Jesus shows us the importance of the Word of God in our worship services as well as its inspiration. The word of God is validated by the prophecies that come to pass in Him. The fact that Jesus knew Scripture so well suggests that He did read it in private and Luke shows us that He read it in public as well. Certainly a man as intelligent and concerned about people as Jesus was would not waste His time reading a book that was not true.

He referred others to Scripture. In John 5:39 Jesus told the religious leaders “Search the Scriptures...” His intention was for them to study the word so that they would be convinced that He is the Son of God. If Jesus did not believe the Bible was inspired it would be extremely irresponsible of Him to compel others to spend time searching them.

He rebuked people for not knowing Scripture. He told the liberal Sadducees “Ye do err, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God” (Matt. 22:29). The Sadducees did not believe in the inspiration of the Bible. They didn’t believe in angels or resurrection as well. They asked Him a silly question about who a woman that had been married seven times would be married to in heaven. He rebuked them for their ignorance and gave them a quick lesson in eschatology (22:30). If Jesus did not believe in inspiration, He would have been a hypocrite for rebuking people for not knowing the Word of God. Why should someone know something that is not true?

He revealed Scripture. After His resurrection, Jesus met with some of His disciples on the Emmaus road. The disciples were confused about Jesus death and not aware that He had risen. Jesus hid His identity from them and started a conversation with them. Luke 24:27 says “And beginning at Moses and all the prophets He expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.” Jesus revealed to those disciples how He fulfilled the Law and the Prophets. He taught great truths that had been only partly understood for many years. What a conversation that must have been! The fact that Jesus revealed the Scriptures proves that He believed they were inspired.

Jesus believed in the inspiration of the Bible. With that being said we must conclude one of three things:

1) Jesus was not omniscient. He did not know everything; therefore He did not know that there were errors in the Bible.

2) Jesus was a liar. That is, He purposely deceived people into believing the Bible.

3) Jesus was telling the truth and the Bible is inspired. That is obviously my view. It is not only the view of Jesus, it is the view of the Old and New Testament itself (Psalm 19:7, 2 Peter 1:21, 2 Tim. 3:16)

The Word of God will be fulfilled

There are prophecies that are yet to come to pass. Jesus tells us here that they will “all” be fulfilled. When we consider how accurate the Word was concerning the first coming of Christ as well as historical events, such as the rise and fall of nations as described in the prophets, we can be sure that was is yet to come will surely come to pass as well. We are waiting on the return of Christ and the judgment of the world. All of humanity should prepare themselves because it will certainly come to pass. The Word of God will be fulfilled.