HOW JESUS FULFILLED THE LAW.

“I am not come to destroy” (the law and the prophets) “but to fulfil. Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law till all be fulfilled” (Matt. v. 17, 18).

The above solemn words of our Lord Jesus Christ, being part of His Sermon on the Mount (as related by Matthew), appear to open an interesting field of inquiry into an important portion of Divine Truth as set forth in Holy Scripture.

In what manner did our Lord so fulfil the law given by Moses that one jot or one tittle should in no wise pass unfulfilled? Was it when He went to the Baptist, and received baptism, because it became Him to fulfil all righteousness? (Matt. iii. 15). Was it when He sent the ten lepers whom He would heal to show themselves to the priests (agreeably to Lev. xiv. 2; Luke xvii. 14); or in another similar case, when He said, “Go, show thyself to the priest, and offer those things which Moses commanded for a testimony unto them”? (Mark i. 44; Luke v. 14).

Was it by attending the appointed feasts at Jerusalem, and generally in other cases, recorded or not recorded, in which He conformed, and was subject to the ritual which had been before appointed? Or are we not to understand the words in a much deeper sense than His personal submission to the Law?—that of fulfilling, perfecting, and giving a living reality to all its foreshadowing types, in themselves dead and profitless; to seal, assure, and make good all its promises to the obedient subjects of that Law; all its threatenings to the disobedient; to open up to mankind that rich inheritance prepared alike for the men of that day and for us, foreshadowed by the land of promise flowing with milk and honey; to perfect that which was lacking in those offerings of atonement which in themselves could never take away sins (Heb. x. 4)?

The ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ is revealed to us under the two characters of an Apostle and High Priest (Heb. iii. 1).

1st. As an Apostle, to declare and teach the principles of that Divine Truth, which distinguished the New Covenant of life and salvation from the covenant of bondage to ordinances then about to be abolished, which had been designed as introductory to it; and to ordain and qualify His Apostles to declare its principles more fully after His death and resurrection.For obvious reasons the New Covenant could not be fully published until the offering of Christ had fulfilled the Scriptures relating to Him; and when the resurrection had declared Him to be the Son of God with power.

Although our Lord had often pointed out to His Apostles that in His life and actions He was fulfilling the Scriptures, it is clear they did not fully understand their import until after the Holy Ghost had descended on them on the Day of Pentecost, and opened up to their minds, with a vivid remembrance, and clear sunshine of heavenly light, all that Jesus had said and done, giving to them that wonderful power and energy which they afterwards exhibited, as well as those miraculous gifts of the Spirit which were necessary to confirm their doctrine to others. Thus we read that we ought to give a more earnest heed to the things “which began to be spoken by the Lord, and were confirmed to us by them that heard Him; God also bearing them witness, with signs and wonders, and divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to His own will” (Heb. ii. 3, 4).

Our Lord had, on several occasions, as before observed, taken care to instruct His disciples in the Scriptures which related to Himself; but He did so more explicitly after His resurrection; beginning at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded to the two on their way to Emmaus the “things concerning Himself, in all the Scriptures” (Luke xxiv. 27). And when they had returned to Jerusalem, and had related to the eleven (and others with them) what had happened in the way, He stood in their midst, and confirmed their testimony, saying, “These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the law of Moses, and in the Prophets, and in the Psalms [6] concerning Me. Then opened He their understanding, that they might understand the Scriptures, and said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day” (Luke xxiv. 44–46).

When Jesus sent out His twelve disciples to preach, He said to them,—“He that receiveth you receiveth Me, and he that receiveth Me receiveth Him that sent Me” (Matt. x. 40), so that in receiving the Apostles’ doctrine and teaching, we receive Christ’s teaching. Also the same principle is set forth in John xiii. 20, “He that receiveth whomsoever I send receiveth Me; and he that receiveth Me receiveth Him that sent Me.”

2nd. As a High Priest our Lord is introduced in the most solemn words of prophecy:—“The Lord hath sworn and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec” (Ps. cx. 4, quoted in Heb. vii. 21).

This most solemn form of utterance is seldom used in Scripture. It occurs also when God sware to Abraham, that in his seed all the nations of the earth should be blessed (Gen. xxii. 16–18):—To the rebellious Israelites, that they should not enter into His rest (Deut. i. 34, 35):—To Moses, that he should not go into Canaan (Deut. iv. 21):—To David, that his seed should endure for ever, and his throne unto all generations (Ps. lxxxix. 3, 4).

It is treated in Heb. vii. 20–22 as exhibiting the superior authority and character of Christ as a High Priest, in comparison with the priesthood of Levi: “For those priests were made without an oath; but this with an oath; . . . and by so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament.” And again, in ver. 28: “For the Law maketh men high priests which have infirmity; but the word of the oath, which was since the Law, maketh the Son, who is consecrated for evermore.”

It is also treated (Heb. vi. 16–19) as expressing the absolutely unalterable counsel of God: “Men verily swear by the greater, and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife; wherein God, willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath; that by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us.” That hope which is as an anchor to the soul, both sure and steadfast.

The office of an apostle (or special messenger, or messenger with special tidings), viewed separately, has nothing of the priest; but the offices of teacher of the law, mediator, and priest were combined in the Levitical priesthood; and they were perfectly blended in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ. Nevertheless the doctrine of the priesthood of Christ could not be much developed or declared until the abolition of the priests of Levi by the termination of that first covenant, when Jesus declared, “It is finished,” and “gave up the ghost,” and “the veil of the Temple was rent in twain”—indicating that the approach to the Divine Presence was opened to all.

During the patriarchal ages, the head of the family or house appears to have combined in himself the patriarch and priest. Noah, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, offered sacrifices as well as Abel, though the recorded instances are few, and only on very remarkable occasions; such as the coming out of the ark, the call of Abram, the sacrifice of Isaac, the covenant to Jacob. But we read that it was the constant practice of Job; for, after giving an account of the burnt-offerings offered for each of his sons after their days of feasting, it is added, “thus did Job continually” (Job i. 5); and such was no doubt the practice of other patriarchs.

At the close of Job’s temptation, the Lord said to His three friends that they should take seven bullocks and seven rams, and go to Job, and offer up burnt-offerings, and Job would pray for them, “for him will I accept” (Job xlii. 8).

Of the patriarchal religion we are told but little. The Apostle Paul says, in Rom. v. 14, “Death reigned from Adam to Moses”; in Rom. i. 20, that “God’s eternal power and Godhead were clearly seen in the works of creation,” so that they were without excuse; and in Rom. ii. 14, 15, that though without law they had a conscience bearing witness to the law written in their hearts, accusing or excusing their thoughts.In the earliest days, the power of God manifested in the works of creation spoke to men more clearly than it may now speak to heathen nations who know not God.

They spoke to Adam and Eve of the God whom they knew, and had had intimate acquaintance with. The glory of Eden and the events of their life there, with their disastrous fall and expulsion, must have made an indelible impression on their minds. Knowing their Creator they would have no disposition to worship the sun, moon, or stars, as His works. It would be contrary to all the subsequent history of the dealings of God with His creatures to suppose our first parents were driven out and left to their own devices as to the means of reconciliation with Him; and though we are not expressly told that sacrifice was offered by Adam, many think that the first instruction in utilising skins for clothing, referred to the skins of animals offered in sacrifice. [12]

At probably no very distant period from the Fall (described as, “In process of time,” or “in the end of days”), we find Abel offering the firstling of his flock, an acceptable sacrifice to God; the same that was commanded by the law of Moses.

When we take into account the length of Adam’s life and that of his sons, there is no difficulty in concluding that those indelible impressions would be handed down to his posterity, with the history of the Lord’s dealings with him, and what had been revealed to him as the means of propitiation, or being reconciled to Him.

That there was a revelation before the Flood is evident, for Abel offered an acceptable sacrifice, but Cain’s was not accepted; while the words addressed by the Lord to Cain, “If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well sin lieth at the door” (Gen. iv. 7), clearly indicate that Cain knew what was pleasing or displeasing to Him. Enoch and Noah also walked with God so faithfully that the one was translated, and the other, by his act of faith, condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is of faith; very clearly showing that faith, rather than works, was in those days the basis of salvation.

When we consider the terms in which the sacrifice of Christ is set forth in the New Testament, as “The Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (Rev. xiii. 8); “Preordained before the foundation of the world” (1 Pet. i. 20; Rom. xvi. 25; Eph; iii. 9, 11; Col. i. 26; 2 Tim. i. 9; Titus i. 2; Matt. xxv. 34); it would seem impossible to doubt that the great principle of human redemption or reconciliation, set forth by so many types under the Law, and by the one Great Offering of the Gospel, should not have had its initiative in the earlier means of grace and pardon of the patriarchal times.

When the children of Israel came out of Egypt, a complete system of priesthood was established by Divine command in Aaron and his sons, assisted in the general labours of the Tabernacle service by the remainder of the tribe of Levi. The exhibitions of Divine power and majesty which accompanied the giving of the Law from Mount Sinai were of a character to produce the deepest and most lasting impression on those who witnessed them. And as those institutions have a very important bearing on the Gospel of Christ, it is important to review them, as briefly as possible; and more especially as this portion of Scripture is often not so much studied as it might be with advantage by some of those who, taking a high view of the essential spirituality of the Gospel, are the less disposed to look into the basis of that spiritual religion, which was laid in the Mosaic law.