17 “Do not presume that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets;
Jesus’ audience were Jewish disciples who had been taught by the Pharisees about the law. In their mind, keeping the requirements of the law, as interpreted by the Pharisees was what being righteous was all about.
Jesus, needed to teach them about how God’s view of keeping the law differed from what they’d been taught by the Pharisees. Jesus has to correct them, but in such a way that people understand that He was not teaching against the Law of Moses, and what God had revealed to the prophets.
Jesus tells us that the entire Old Testament is relevant to us as Citizens of Heaven to help us understand our life in Christ. (Gal 3:23-4)
I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill.
So, in pointing us back both to the Law and the Prophets, Jesus emphasizes their importance, and points to Himself as the fulfillment of both the Law and the Prophecies concerning the Messiah.
Jesus fulfills the law
Jesus fulfilled the Law in at least two ways: as a teacher and by living it out. He taught people to obey the Law. In Mathew 22:35-40 the Pharisees gather themselves against Jesus, testing Him, 35 And one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him: 36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37 And He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the great and foremost commandment. 39 The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 Upon these two commandments hang the whole Law and the Prophets.”
And of course, Jesus gave a perfect example of obeying the law. In John 8:45, Jesus described the slavery to sin that people are living under, and their unwillingness to believe the truth that God had sent Him to set men free saying, 45 But because I say the truth, you do not believe Me. 46 Which one of you convicts Me of sin? If I speak truth, why do you not believe Me? In living a perfect life, Jesus fulfilled the moral requirements of the law. 1 Peter 2:21-22 says 21 For you have been called for this purpose, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you would follow in His steps, 22 He who committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in His mouth;
And, of course, in His sacrificial death, Jesus fulfilled the ceremonial laws. In fact, Hebrews 10:1 tells us that the sacrifices ceremonies, feasts and other elements of the Old Covenant were only a shadow of the good things to come and not the form of those things itself—not the realities themselves
The New Covenant completes the Law
And it’s a Covenant established by faith in Jesus. We are justified apart from the works of the law, but not in nullification of the law. When Paul describes this in Romans 3:21-22a saying 21 But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, 22 but it is the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe . We are justified by the grace of God through faith in Jesus, but as Paul reminds us in Romans 3:31 Do we then nullify the Law through faith? May it never be! On the contrary, we establish the Law. The law is established the law could only convict us of sin, but the law of grace sets us free. (Rom 6:14-15).
And it’s not a freedom to sin, or to walk according to the flesh, and do our own thing. It’s a freedom NOT to sin, and to walk the path that God has for us INSTEAD of our own path. It’s requirements EXCEED the law, but along with those requirements come the power of the Holy Spirit to help us overcome sin in our walk with Christ.
Jesus fulfills the Prophecies concerning the Messiah
And because Jesus is pointing the way toward the New Covenant that He is going to establish in His blood, here at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, we see Him already telling everyone that He had come to fulfill what the prophets had spoken about Him. And so, when Jesus, after His resurrection meets His disciples in Galilee and explains to them what God had done saying in Luke 24:44 44 Now He said to them, “These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all the things that are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” 45 Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, 46 and He said to them, “So it is written, that the Christ would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day,. Jesus explained that they had witnessed God directing everything that they had seen in Jesus’ life, and how God had caused, through what seemed mostly like ordinary, everyday life, situations, long walks through Galilee, teaching and preaching ministry, actions taken in obedience, reactions from others, words spoken in truth, and weaved all of these things into the fulfillment of His prophets words through the obedience of His son. They finally began to understand what they’d been seeing for the last 3 years as Jesus’ disciples.
18 For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke of a letter shall pass from the Law, until all is accomplished!
Truly God has preserved His word. And so, we can bear witness of Jesus’ words in Mathew 5:18
And then, after we have been reminded of the importance of transmitting the Word of God accurately,
19 Therefore, whoever nullifies one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
We don’t keep the law of circumcision, but Paul reminds us in Romans 2:29b tells us 29 … and circumcision is of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter; and his praise is not from people, but from God. Which means that we that we cut off our desires of the flesh that we may be sanctified in heart, set apart for service. So it is a deeper requirement. We no longer sacrifice animals at the temple seeing their blood spill for our sins, but realize that the Old Testament law, as Hebrews 10:1 tells us [For] the Law, since it has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the form of those things itself, can never, by the same sacrifices which they offer continually every year, make those who approach perfect. And so, we as Christians don’t look to the blood of bulls and goats to take away our sins, but we look to Jesus’ precious shed blood on the cross that takes away our sins. And, just as the Old Testament believers were reminded of the blood that was required every time that they took an animal to be sacrificed, we are reminded of Jesus’ sacrifice every time that we take communion. And so, when we read the Old Testament, we think about what God is trying to tell us from what He recorded in His word. And then we also look at the Old Testament and see how it illuminates our understanding of Jesus. As we let His word show us how God intended for us to live, and affect how we act, think and speak, we, as James says in 1:22-23 22 But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not just hearers who deceive themselves. We apply it to our lives.