Fulfilled
A Communion Address

(Matthew 5:17-18 KJV)  "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. {18} For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled."

Each time I approach the Table of our Lord Jesus Christ, I am amazed - awed - left in wonder over some new truth that He reveals through that Table. To many this time, the sharing of Communion, is no more than a ritual we keep. We may yawn, and after hearing the preacher drone on, we gobble down a little dry bread or a little cup of grape juice. God help us as a Church to avoid this type of blasé' attitude, for the Lord's Table is much more than just an empty ritual. The Table is a time of wedding, a time where we who believe celebrate the fact that we are part of the Bride of Christ, His Church. This is a time when we recognize that we have died to an old husband and, having died, are now in the care of a new Husband, a better Husband - the Lord Jesus Christ.

Our Lord tells all who will heed Him:

(Matthew 5:17a KJV)  "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets ..."

Jesus says, "Think not", or literally, "Never think that". Those who met our Lord Jesus while He walked this earth believed two different extremes about Him. The Pharisees and the Saducees pointed to Jesus as "that Lawbreaker", and taught their followers that Jesus came to destroy the intricate framework of the Mosaic Law that so bound Israel. Others believed that Jesus would establish God's Kingdom on the earth, and universal government peace. To those Jesus said:

(Matthew 10:34 KJV)  "Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword."

Literally He said, "Never think that this peaceful reorganization of humanity is my goal at this time". No, Jesus came in His first incarnation, not to bring universal peace, nor to destroy the Mosaic Law. The Mosaic Law was given to man by God through Moses for a purpose. Let's talk about that Law for a moment:

Many people have the mistaken idea that the Mosaic Law was given by God to give man a means whereby he might be saved. Though the Pharisees and Saducees might have taught this concept, it was never something that God taught. We can only understand WHY the Law was given and WHAT its purpose was when we go back to the beginning. Everything starts in Genesis. In Genesis man was given a thing to do, and that thing was not an outward thing. No, man was placed in a perfect environment and told, "Believe in me, for I am the Lord thy God". The one thing, ONE thing that God asked man not to do was to avoid eating of the forbidden fruit. God asked man to believe that:

(Genesis 2:16-17 KJV)  "And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: {17} But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die."

if he ate of that tree, that he would bring death on himself. Not that God would kill him, but that he would kill himself by his own disobedience. God did NOT kill man, man killed man. God did not punish man with death for disobedience. No, man brought death on himself when he stepped out of that RELATIONSHIP OF BELIEF IN GOD and turned instead to believing WHAT SATAN SAID. God did punish both man and woman for falling away from belief, but not with death. He punished man with hard labor in the workplace, and woman with hard labor in childbearing. But Adam brought death on himself, and on all his progeny. No Mosaic Law had been established, but man died anyway.

No Law was available for man to "make himself righteous by it" when Abraham was saved by faith. Abraham (originally Abram) was a Gentile who lived in Ur of the Chaldees. Though Abram was surrounded by pagan idolatry, he was saved by faith in the One True God. The Scripture says:

(Romans 4:3 KJV)  "For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness."

(James 2:23 KJV)  "And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God."

And how did he believe? He believed just as we believed unto salvation, not by calling on the Law, but by calling on Jesus. Our Lord said:

(John 8:56-58 KJV)  "Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad. {57} Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham? {58} Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am."

Abraham believed in God apart from the Law, saw Jesus Christ revealed, and was saved by faith in Him just as we are. And what of Moses? Moses was not saved by the Law, but believed in God - and for this reason righteousness was placed in his heavenly account. If you don't believe me, read:

(Hebrews 11:24-29 KJV)  "By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter; {25} Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; {26} Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward. {27} By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible. {28} Through faith he kept the passover, and the sprinkling of blood, lest he that destroyed the firstborn should touch them. {29} By faith they passed through the Red sea as by dry land: which the Egyptians assaying to do were drowned."

Did you catch that? Moses "Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt". Moses believed in God, believed in Jesus Christ rather than choose the pathway of this world. He saw Christ revealed, believed in Him, and was saved. Each of the events of faith that are recounted in our Hebrews passage all occurred PRIOR TO THE GIVING OF THE LAW. Abraham's righteousness and Moses salvation were prior to the Law, and all tied to BELIEVING IN GOD, believing in Christ.

The Law was not given to allow us a means to "work our way to Heaven", but was given to convict us of our need to believe in God. Not in our own abilities, but in Jesus Christ. The Law was not given to Israel until she repeatedly, REPEATEDLY rejected faith in God. The Law was not given to Israel until she, in the greatest of arrogance, LOOKED at the Pillar of Fire and the Pillar of Smoke and, shamefully, even with all this evidence, refused to believe. The Law was not given to Israel until she prophetically created a Golden Calf of works to try and get on some god's "good side". "Let me work my way to you", the Israelites cried out. "Let us go back to Egypt rather than believe in You", they muttered and complained.

The Law was given to Israel to open her eyes to her own deficiency. The Law was given to Israel to shame her, to kill her, to educate her. Consider that the Law was in Three Codex's:
 

• Codex 1, the Ten Commandments, shamed Israel in that it put down in writing what all normal people knew already. Of course, it's wrong to murder! Of course, it's wrong to commit adultery, and to steal. There are things which all people instinctively know to be right and wrong, whether these people are Christian, Jewish, or Buddhist. Yet God wrote these things down for Israel as if to say, "You as a people do not even know basic morality".
• Codex 2, the Feasts and Holy Days, were a shadow, a teacher of the Christ who was to come. One of the Feasts in Codex 2 was the Passover meal, a feast that was instituted by God OUTSIDE of the Law while Israel was still in Egypt, and brought INTO the Law to teach us that Christ would one day come and be our Passover.
• Codex 3, the Social Law, placed the greatest bondage on Israel by dictating righteous and unrighteous behavior - and then slapped them in the face by providing a "Day of Atonement", for God knew that man would not keep His Law intact.

(Romans 3:20 KJV)  "Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin."

(1 Timothy 1:9 KJV)  "Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for man slayers,"

(Galatians 3:24 KJV)  "Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith."

The Law was given to point the finger so that, no matter how hard I tried, at the beginning of the New Year I would have to go and "Atone" for my sins. The Law was given because I rejected faith in God, and stood as a reminder as to how foolish I truly was. How dare I strive to reach God's purity? I could not, for at every turn the Law convicted me, and screamed out: "Unclean, Unclean!"

(Matthew 5:17 KJV)  "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill."

Abraham came to Christ by faith. Moses came to Christ by faith. Yet Israel rejected faith in God, and was placed under a harsh school master, the Law. She brought this on herself by her disobedience, by her faithlessness. And the Law became a chain to bind Israel, and unbreakable chain, until Messiah came and fulfilled each of it's Codex's.

Jesus came to fulfill Codex 1, the Moral Law. At every step He showed us that Love was the center of God's nature, and that the Moral Code was automatically fulfilled when we loved God and loved one another. Yet Jesus took this one step farther by loving the unlovable. He purposely went through Samaria and spoke to the woman at the well. He refused to condemn the woman taken in adultery, and when all others ran the children away He always had time to hear them.

Jesus fulfilled Codex 2, the ceremonial Laws. He was the Passover the ceremonial passover foretold. He was the Lamb without blemish, led to the slaughter. He was the blood dashed on the door posts, the meal offering burnt. He fulfilled Codex 2 of the Law.

And Jesus fulfilled the Social Laws, Codex 3. He kept these intricate Laws perfectly, never once having to go forward on the Day of Atonement because He "missed" one. The Law's righteousness was fulfilled in Jesus for the Law was the reflected righteousness of Christ. Just as we look in a mirror and see a likeness of ourselves, Jesus looked in the Law and saw a perfect reflection of His own righteousness. By being Himself, God in the flesh, He fulfilled the Law given to a disobedient people so long ago. And, once fulfilling that Law, He released us from its grip.

We are dead to the Law, and now wed to Another, Jesus Christ.

(Romans 10:1-13 KJV)  "Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved. {2} For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. {3} For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. {4} For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth. {5} For Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law, That the man which doeth those things shall live by them. {6} But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise, Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down from above:) {7} Or, Who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.) {8} But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; {9} That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. {10} For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. {11} For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. {12} For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. {13} For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved."

At the Lord's Table today we share the Passover cup with our new Husband. We do not share the Passover Cup as a function of the Law, but just as this Cup was prior to the Law, and as this Cup was shared under the Law, we now share the Cup after the Law with Christ our Savior. Consider this for a moment. The Passover was PRIOR to the Law. The Passover was WITHIN the Law. The Passover we celebrate now is AFTER the Law. And in every aspect we see that Christ our Passover has been with man from the beginning, calling us to God by faith.

Celebrate Him who died for us. Christ our Passover, our Redeemer forevermore. Amen.

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