Not to Destroy But to Fulfill

Not to Destroy But to Fulfill

“Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill.

Matthew 5:17

In the Sermon on the Mount Christ is setting forth the true interpretation of the Law of God to which the Jews were convinced they had been successfully adhering for centuries. As He did, much of what He said, because it was so thoroughly spiritual, sounded revolutionary to the ears of His hearers. Christ went out of His Way to articulate His Relationship with the Law of God. Our text today assists in that articulation. Christ says, ‘Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill.’ What He declares here is that He stands solidly behind the whole of the Old Testament revelation. What would become manifestly clearer as His ministry unfolded, was that He was the Fulfiller of the Law in precept and in penalty. He would also demonstrate that He was the Fulfillment of all of the Old Testament Prophecies. Hence, after His resurrection, He would, in speaking to the two disciples on the road to Emmaeus begin ‘at Moses and all the Prophets’ and ‘expound in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.’ In all His preaching and ministry Christ never varied from this overarching purpose. His complete fulfillment of the Law in precept and in penalty guarantees acceptance with God for all His people. His fulfillment of the prophecies provides the evidence of His Identity, and the foundation for preaching Him from every portion of Scripture, ‘I have not come to destroy but to fulfill.’

Our most Holy, Wise and Perfect Christ,
we praise You that You have fulfilled, in every way,
the Law and the Prophets.
All our hopes are in You, to do what we could never do ourselves.

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning