Day 319: Fulfillment of the Law

"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

 Can I say this again?

I. Love. Jesus.

We're in the middle on the Sermon on the Mount in our Bible study. It's not easy to study that sermon because it's pretty hard-hitting to say the least! But one of my favorite things to look for when reading any of the gospels is how Jesus presents himself to the people. 

I used to wonder why the religious leaders of the day wanted to kill Jesus. He was healing people, and wasn't that a good thing? To me, it seemed perfectly normal for him to preach what he was preaching because I believe he is the Son of God. Why would you want to kill someone who spoke truth? 

I don't wonder that anymore. By God's grace, I understand a little more about where these leaders were coming from, and what exactly Jesus was saying.

I love his statement in the verse above. He came to fulfill all that was written in the Prophets and the Law. Basically, he's claiming that he is the embodiment of all that the Jews studied and believed. Everything was written pointing to him! If I didn't believe that was true, I would probably want him gone too. It's really no wonder to me at all, that things worked out the way they did. (Besides it being ordained by God, but I digress!)

To make this statement even more impressive is that it's in a sermon in which Jesus explains to the people what the Law was really telling them. He was piercing through the legalism and letter of the Law to get to the heart (literally) of the Law. (Not even the Pharisees could listen and not know that they too had sinned.)

 Anyway, thing number umpteen-million that amazes me about Jesus: He is the fulfillment of the Law. 

Jesus, thank you for being the fulfillment of the Law and for all that means to me.