Text: Matthew 5: 17- 20
Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the
prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.
For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass,
one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law,
till all be fulfilled.
Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least
commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called
the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall
do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the
kingdom of heaven.
For I say unto you, That except your righteousness
shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and
Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of
heaven.
We have in days past, discussed the beatitudes which deal with the Christian's character. Salt and light, this is the Christian's Influence. The next series of the Lord‘s teachings deal with the Christian's Righteousness. The above text talks about the fulfilment of the law. Christ came to fulhl the law. This is very important because it deals with the Old Testament and New Testament; i.e. the Law and Christianity. Jesus says “I have come not to abolish the Law, but to fulfil it”. This actually means to bring out what the Law is really saying and bring to being what was prophesied. Jesus made the Law complete. Jesus fulhlled the ethical and moral teachings of God. Jesus' purpose was to show the full depth of meaning of the Law. God didn't give an impossible law, it was possible to keep, but man's sinful nature made it looks impossible.
Pharisees lived to keep the law and knew it off by heart. The Pharisees' righteousness was just like a veneer on the surface. Whereas the Christian's righteousness should be deeper; from the heart. The 0.12 law had great principles that the Jews were to apply to their lives. But to the later generation of the Jews, these great principles were not enough. They said the law was divine; therefore they argued that out of the law, it must be possible to deduce a rule and a regulation for every situation in life. These became religious legalism of petty rules and regulations. So to the strict orthodox Jew in the time of Jesus, religion was serving God by keeping thousands of legalistic rules and regulations. Jesus took this wisdom of men and corrected it. Jesus wouldn't accept the artificial righteousness of the religious leaders. Their righteousness was only an external masquerade. Their religion was a dead ritual, not a living relationship. It made them proud, not humble. It led to bondage, not freedom. Jesus fulfilled the law in every area of His life. We could say that Jesus did not destroy the Law by hghting it, He destroyed it by fulfilling it. Warren Weir gives an illustration of this when he says: “If I had an acorn, I could destroy it in two ways I can put it on a rock & smash it to bits with a hammer, or I can plant it in the ground & let it fulfil itself by becoming an oak tree"