“Jesus Fulfilled the Law…Now What?”

Devotional – Wednesday, May 4, 2022

“…unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:20, NLT)

God gave his Law to humanity in order that we could have a relationship with him—our Holy God. Even though sin had entered the world through humanity’s disobedience to our Creator, anyone who could perfectly obey his Law would still be able to have a relationship with him. But we blew it…bad! And he knew that we would, but he wanted us to know it too. A relationship with God is impossible for sinful humanity; our corrupt state prevents us from being in relationship with One who is so pure. Perfect fulfillment of the Law is the only means by which we can enjoy unhindered communion with our Creator, as he intended. But God knew we wouldn’t be able to fulfill the Law, so sent One who could on our behalf—Jesus.

As human beings, we are now permitted a relationship with God if we choose the way that Jesus has made for us. His fulfillment of the Law opened up a new way for humanity to draw near to our perfect God. But that does not mean he abolished the Law. The Law remains fully intact. And while we still remain unable to fulfill it ourselves, Jesus’ fulfillment is counted to our credit when we commit ourselves to him. The writer of Hebrews tells us that we can confidently approach the throne of God (Hebrews 4:16), but this is only for those who have accepted Jesus’ work on our behalf. When God looks at us, he sees us through the filter of his Son’s blood…which removes all traces of sin from our lives.

We are no longer held captive to the consequences for breaking the Law, but the Law itself remains the way to have a relationship with God—either by perfectly fulfilling its requirements ourselves (which we can’t) or aligning ourselves with Jesus who already has.

Pastor Jane