“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them” (Matthew 5:17).

Since it is written – Dear children, this is the last hour (1 John 2:18), it becomes important for us to keep in mind that we don’t have much time to reach the lost before the end of this Age of Grace. So the more familiar we become with the one true and living God as revealed in the Bible, and the way He will guide us to reach people in our mission field of pagan postmodern America the better for all. With this in mind, I suggest we try all the harder to develop into Christ’s ambassadors and to be proper spokesmen for the historic orthodox Christian faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. In our text the Master says – Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law and the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. This is a great verse to show people that God does not change and to help all those who have the following misconception: “The so-called tribal God of Israel in the Old Testament was harsh and war-like.” But, they’ll go on to tell you, Jesus somehow changes all that. You see now “God is all about love.”

Can you see just how subtle and deceptive the enemy is? Of course God is love (see–1 John 4:8); the truth is, He always has been. However Satan always places some lies within the Truth–a little leaven–and then mixes it all up, just as one might blend all the various ingredients of bread together. And then when this mixture is baked, the dough rises making one loaf from those ingredients. This is what the Devil has always done to God’s Word, and to what our Lord tells us about the way mankind is to live. He takes various parts of what God has said and then fiendishly blends them together with a few lies to confuse people. The result here in America is the postmodern disdain for the subject of truth period in the absurd philosophy of relativism. The enemy has sown so much confusion while the Church slept that millions of people don’t think there’s any way to know the truth. That’s odd, because Jesus said – “I Am the Truth.”

Now what is going on here in Matthew 5:17 is this, the Master is clearly telling us that He didn’t come to change anything. Since He is God Himself in human flesh, He couldn’t. Remember – I the LORD do not change (Malachi 3:6). And it is written – Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever (Hebrews 13:8). We first need people to understand what Christ Jesus means by the Law and the Prophets. This is a reference to the Old Testament Scriptures and not just to the Law of Moses itself. In His time there were three sections of the Hebrew Scriptures – “the Law,” “the Prophets,” and “the Writings.” Oftentimes in Christ’s day when someone would say “the Prophets” they would also be including the Writings as well.

So what the Master is telling us here is – Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law and the Prophets; – [our Old Testament Scriptures] – I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. After all, we must remember the Bible is history, or His-story. The Scriptures are to point us to Jesus Christ of Nazareth–the Messiah–Who is the LORD God Almighty Himself come into His Own creation as a man. You see this more clearly when you take the time study the doctrine of the Messiah in the Old Testament. Because remember, when we see people in the New Testament–like Paul–in the synagogue preaching Jesus as the Christ, the “Lord,” they are actually doing so from the Old Testament. And how many of us could do that should the Lord put a person who is of Jewish decent in front of us. It’s just a little something for you to think about and to chew on.

A Bible Study With Christ Himself

You might recall from Luke’s Gospel that following His Resurrection Jesus came to a couple of disciples who were walking along the road to Emmaus. Our Lord talks with these two for a bit, and then He begins a Bible study with them. O wouldn’t you have liked to have been there for that one! Luke 24:27 – And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, He explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning Himself. Let me point out a couple of things here. And beginning with Moses – [this is “the Law”], next there’s – and all the Prophets. By Luke telling us that Christ used all the Prophets we know for sure that this is a reference to both “the Prophets” and “the Writings”. Here God the Holy Spirit is letting us know that Jesus was using all of the Holy Scriptures that right now make up our Old Testament.

Today we would use the phrase “from Genesis to Revelation” when we refer to “all” the Scriptures, but it is clear that Christ had not come to abolish – [the Holy Scriptures] – but to fulfill them. And this is confirmed in Luke 24:44 when Jesus – said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you. Everything must be fulfilled that is written about Me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms. This brings us back around to our text and the truth that Jesus didn’t change anything about God the Father, for He Himself is God the Son. Let us also not forget that God the Holy Spirit reminds us the Master said – Anyone who has seen Me has seen [God] the Father (John 14:9). And what our Lord is telling us about His mission is He had come to fulfill everything that has been written in Holy Scripture about Him. Jesus Christ of Nazareth came to bring the written Word of God to life, because He is the living Word of God (see–John 1:1,14,18). Do you see how all this works?

In these skeptical times in which we find ourselves it is vital for us to get people to understand that the Bible is a supernatural Book, written by God Himself to point the way to the focal point of all of human history–Christ Jesus the Lord; and this is the “bottom line,” the heart of our witness for the only Savior there is. Certainly Satan knows this and he has been mounting a furious attack on God’s Word from the very beginning of his dealings with mankind. And then at the time of the so-called “Age of Enlightenment,” the Devil began to seriously blur the lines between “faith” and “reason,” as if they are mutually exclusive; as in alleging that faith is opposed to reason. Here again Satan has mixed a little lie in with the Truth to create this new batch of rancid and toxic dough, which is currently contaminating the Emergent Church movement to name one example.

You’ll also hear this flawed thinking within the messages of the false teachers in the Word Faith perversion as they confuse the two all the time. Here’s a quick example from Rod Parsley. While he was delivering his “sermon” he suddenly stopped and told his audience: “You can’t listen to this next part with your reason. You gotta get this down into your spiritual man.” Men and women, this is an extremely dangerous way to think–or more rightly–how not to think. Let me warn you that to suspend the use of the mind God gave you to blindly follow any professed spiritual teacher will at the very least shipwreck your faith, and as people found out at Jonestown and Waco it can even cost you your life. This is exactly the reason why I am going to such lengths to ground you in what the Bible says, so that you can then be free to use your reason follow Christ Jesus by faith spiritually.

So you see, the Truth has not been abolished as Jesus tells us in the text – “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets,” because the Old Testament teachings about the character and nature of the LORD God Almighty are just as valid today as when the Spirit of God wrote them through His holy prophets. And for those who dare to try and get us to doubt the authority of God’s Word, they had best remember that the Lord warns us that those who aren’t obedient to His Word in the Bible in these “last days” will actually think they are hearing from Him, but it is – For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie (2 Thessalonians 2:9). This is very good reason for us to stay as close to Jesus Christ as possible because our loving Shepherd tells the true Christian – “My sheep know My voice; I know them, and they follow Me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of My hand” (John 10:27-28).