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17 Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. 18 For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. ~ Matthew 5:17-18
Today, we continue our study of the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7. In the previous verse, the Lord Jesus told the disciples to let their light so shine that others see their good works causing them to glorify their Father in heaven. Now, He brings up words that are so misquoted and misapplied within the church that even cults have used them to teach falsely. Such is the case with false teachers who take God's words out of their context and build whole systems upon them.
In v.17 of today's passage we read, "Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill."
The Law of Moses and the Prophets were given by God to the people of Israel. These words of the Lord Jesus in today's passage were given to Israel, as well. No other people on the planet were given these laws but the people of Israel. The teachings of the Old Testament were specifically given to the nation of Israel by God to provide His culture to them. Throughout the Bible we see a major distinction between Israel and the Church. This is important because there are certain promises given to Israel that weren't given to the Church.
The context in today's passage was of the Lord Jesus speaking the law to the people who were under the law. The Lord Jesus was telling the people of Israel that they should not perceive that His mission was to destroy the law or the teachings of the Old Testament prophets. That was not His mission, and nobody was to accuse Him of conducting His ministry otherwise. The Lord Jesus was born under the law, and He had no design or intent to set aside its teachings that were given to Israel primarily through Moses.
False teachers down through the centuries have used these words of the Lord Jesus to teach that everybody, even Christians, must adhere to the Law of Moses in order to be made acceptable before God. These have a high view of themselves and a very low view of the truth because no fallen sinner has ever or will ever measure up to the righteousness requirements of God. This is why the Lord Jesus came to this earth to be born under the law so that all who believe in Him could realize the acceptance of God through His perfectly lived life and His sacrifice upon the cross for the forgiveness of our sin.
The Lord Jesus came to fulfill or to sustain the righteous requirements of God given through the law and the prophets. The phrase "law and the prophets" is synonymous with the entirety of the Old Testament scriptures. It's a nickname for what we call the Old Testament from Genesis to Malachi. Formally, the Jews divided up their scriptures into three sections; the first is what they call the Torah which is the law. The second are the Nevi'im which are the prophets, and the third, the Ketuvim, which are the writings. In God's eyes, the law is binding on Israel as much today as it was when Moses gave it to them at the foot of Mount Sinai. Due to the fact that no one can fulfill the Law of Moses, the Lord Jesus came to rescue sinful and hopeless man by fulfilling and substantiating the truth on the behalf of all who claim as Savior the Lord Jesus.
In Romans 8:1-4 we read, "There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, 4 that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit."
It was through the Lord Jesus Christ that the law’s requirements were met on the behalf of hopeless man. In Colossians 2:13-14 we read, "And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, 14 having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross." This does not mean that the Law has been set aside. No, our requirement to meet it has been fulfilled by the Lord Jesus. He did this so that we could enjoy through Him the blessing of being sons and daughters of God.
In v.18 of today's passage we read, "For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled."
After preparing the ears of His disciples and the Jewish folks who had gathered to hear the Lord Jesus teach, He continued to underscore the absolute necessity of the Law of Moses. The problem had been created by two things, the Fall of Man and the fact that the Jews believed that their adherence to the Law of Moses was what made them right in the eyes of God. For some reason they lost sight of the fact that the Old Testament sacrifices made them right before the Lord and that the Law of Moses could not make them right before Him due to their inability to adhere to it.
In today's passage, the Lord Jesus assured us that He would substantiate the teachings of the Law and the Prophets so that we could realize their teachings in a practical sense everyday. This is why He said, "one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled." The Greek word translated "jot" is found only here in the Bible. It is the Greek word "iota" which equates to the smallest Hebrew letter. It would be easy to miss a jot when transcribing a document. The "tittle" is even smaller than the jot and it is the little protrusion on Hebrew letters. It seems to be most insignificant but for those who know the truth, it is huge because even the fulfillment of the smallest letters made us perfect in the eyes of God through the Lord Jesus.
Sadly, for those who fail to come to Christ for forgiveness, they are condemned by the Law of Moses. Any individual Jew who comes to Christ is freed from the requirements of the law. And, for all who reject the free gift of God through the Lord Jesus, there remains no salvation. However, there is coming a day when the people of Israel will fully recognize the identity of the Lord Jesus Christ as their Messiah. This is noted in many Old Testament passages, especially in Zechariah 12:10 which reads, "And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn."
