 What does it mean when Jesus says, I did not come to destroy the law but to fulfill the law? I thought we weren't under the law anymore. Hey smart Christians, welcome back. There's a statement that Jesus makes in Matthew 5.17 that might cause a little bit of confusion, so I want to go ahead and break that down so we can see exactly what Jesus is saying. In Matthew 5.17 he states this statement, do not think that I've come to abolish the law or the prophets. I did not come to abolish the law but to fulfill. What's the point that Jesus is trying to get across here? Well remember, he's speaking to Jews. Whenever you see the law come up, you can rest assured that he's speaking to Jews. Whenever he's speaking about things such as the Sabbath, the Atonement, things like that, you will see it come up where he is speaking to or he's in the company of Jews. The same thing here. And so they understand what's being stated and make no mistake about it. He says, I didn't come to destroy it, but I came to fulfill it. Well, we need to understand what the law is about, what it's there to entail. The law that he's speaking of is the Mosaic law. It is a conditional law. It's an if, then. If you do this, then I'll do that. If you do the right things, then you'll be blessed. If you do the wrong things, if you sin, then you shall be punished. But there's one aspect of the Atonement of the law that is required because the most important thing for God in relation to his people is that they be in right standing with him so that he can have fellowship with him. Well, how could that be? The only way that can happen is they be atoned for, which is why we have the Day of Atonement. We have all these other offerings they would bring to the Lord because of their sin. They would also have Thanksgiving offerings and things like that just to say, Lord, I appreciate what you're doing. But the most important would be this Day of Atonement. Here we have them having a sacrificial offering where the blood of this offering is spread on or shed on the altar and God would accept it. But in the meantime, though, before that, you would also have this scapegoat, this lamb whose all the sins of the people would be confessed on the head of the scapegoat and taken out of the camp to not be in the presence of the Lord. Important. And it would be administered by a priest. This priest himself, though, because he's a man, would have to have his sins atoned for first before mediating. It's an important word, being the mediator between the people and God. He would enter the Holy of Holies and make Atonement for the people. But there's an important passage that we don't cover a lot that we ought to cover. I cover this passage pretty often here and I'll cover it again in case someone hasn't heard me cover this before. This is in Leviticus 1711. The Day of Atonement is covered in Leviticus 16. But in 1711, notice what it states, for the life of the flesh is in the blood, which is why he is making this blood as the payment for sin, the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make Atonement for your souls. For it is the blood by reason of the life that makes Atonement. But I want you to pay attention to what he's saying here. Again, we've covered this before. I want to cover again for those who haven't seen it, what he is saying in the Hebrew. He makes this statement here where he says, I have given, notice, the Hebrew term natatim, which is I have given. But then right before this, and Hebrew reads from right to left, he says wa ani, and I, I have given. So he's literally saying, I, I have given. Why? That doesn't make good sense in English, but in Hebrew it does, because he's saying, I myself am given. Now, what does that mean? Does it mean that he's supplying it himself? In this case, it does mean that he, God himself, is supplying the blood. The problem is, he doesn't have a body. But if we go to Hebrews 10-5, he says, sacrifices and offerings, you did not desire, but a body you have prepared for me. So we understand that the body is Jesus who is coming to do what? To fulfill the law, which is what he just said in Matthew 5, though they don't understand it, he is going to fulfill what the law requires. How do I know so well? In Romans 10, remember, Paul in Romans 10 is speaking about Israel, they have turned their backs by and large, even though initially the first people to be added to the church were Jews. But now, in regards to salvation, they have gone away, and so now you see the majority of people that are coming to faith in Christ at this time, when Paul is speaking, are Gentiles. But if we go there, he says, for Christ is the end of the law. Remember in Romans 9, 10 and 11, he's speaking about Israel coming to faith, and he says, for righteousness to everyone who believes it. Who's he speaking of? He's mainly speaking of the Jews. He says the end of the law, this word, Telos is the Greek word for to end, to complete, could be the perfect. So this is what he's saying. So Christ is going to end it. How? The way you end the law is by dying. How do we know so well? Because in the book of Hebrews, which is written to these Jewish believers, these Jewish believers are told an analogy is put out that they can understand, that when a covenant or a testament is given, that covenant or that testament doesn't take effect until the death of the testament torch. So let's go to Hebrews 9, 15. He says, for this reason, he is the mediator of a new covenant to these Jews so that since a death has taken place for the redemption of the transgressions that were committed under the first covenant, those who have been called the promise of the eternal inheritance. For where a covenant is, there must of necessity be the death of the one who made it. For a covenant is valid only when men are dead. For it is never enforced while the one who made it lives, therefore even the first covenant was not inaugurated without blood. So here's the point. The old covenant is done away with its fulfilled when at the death of Christ. So you have a new covenant inaugurated by blood and then one that is ended by blood. Jesus ends the old starts anew by his death on the cross. He fulfills the law when he keeps it perfectly, but it really means that he fulfilled it by completing it, by perfecting it, by putting an end to it by him dying. And so that's why this plan that the Father has to save his people, that's why Jesus could make a covenant on the cross. He can say therefore when you receive this our wine, he said it is finished. And remember this word to telestide, it's in the perfect tense, meaning it's a completed action in the past. Well, how is he saying that it is finished? It's a completed action in the past because he's referring back to the plan that God has all along that he would come and settle up the score, so to speak, that he would finish things up, that he would complete it. He would pay the debt which is what the law requires. So Jesus makes this statement referring back to when he first stated that he was going to do so in Leviticus. And so on the cross he makes this statement to telestide, which is also a word that's used in financial transaction to say the debt is paid in full. Nothing else is old. So the old covenant is done away with he ushers in this new and so in that regard, as he says to these Jews, the law has been fulfilled or will be fulfilled. This is how Jesus fulfills the law. And it is made beneficial, his death is made beneficial not to just the Jews but to anyone who places their faith in Christ. Amen.