January 09, 2025 | Be God's Family
Jesus Came to Fulfill the Law and the Prophets
Scripture: Matthew 5:17-20(NIV)
17 “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. 18 For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. 19 Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.
Devotional
This year our theme is “Be God’s Family.” We are exploring how non-Jewish followers of Jesus have been grafted into the family tree of God’s chosen people. The New Testament does not eliminate the need for the Old Testament. Rather, the New is the fulfillment of the Old.
Jesus said He didn’t come to abolish the Law (the first five books of the O.T.) or the Prophets (the last seventeen), but to fulfill them. After His resurrection, He proclaimed, “Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms” (Luke 24:44). The entire Old Testament points to and is fulfilled by Jesus!
Think about it. Jesus is God and was with the Father at the creation of the universe. When Adam and Eve were deceived by Satan, Jesus knew that He would one day defeat that Serpent by His death on the cross. When God showed Abraham the vision of the blood path, Jesus was saying that He alone could walk the Via Dolorosa. When the Lord gave Moses the Law, Jesus understood that He would come to earth and be the only person to ever completely obey it, making Him the perfect sacrifice for our own failure to do so. When God spoke through Ezekiel, Isaiah, Jeremiah and the rest of the prophets, Jesus proclaimed that He would actually do what they were trying to get others to do.
Here is a little exercise. What is one of your favorite passages from the Old Testament? Take a moment to retell it in your own words. Then, try to figure out how Jesus is the fulfillment of that story.
What does all this say about the identity of Jesus and the identity of followers of Jesus?
Poem
O, How I Love Your Law!
Psalm 119: 97-104
O, how I love Your law!
How sweet to me its precepts!
Day and night It feeds my meditations!
It salts my faith with steadfastness!
It lights my every cell!
Its constancy fulfilling every promise!
Each letter, word, enduring!
Its offering—great wisdom!
O, how I love Your law!
Make me Your testimony!
Make me Your witness sweet!
Write steadfastness upon my heart!
Salt each word with Your truth!
May I shine brightly on Your hill
Because Your Light’s in me!
May many see and feast on You!
O, how I love Your law!
