In conclusion of what we’ve seen the last couple of days, we may sum up the four main purposes for which the law of Moses was given.
- The law was given to show men their sinful condition.
- The law also showed men that, as sinners, they were unable to make themselves righteous by their own efforts.
- The law served to foretell by prophecy and to foreshadow by types the Saviour who was to come and through whom alone it would be possible for man to receive true salvation and righteousness.
- The law has served to keep Israel a separate nation throughout the many centuries of their dispersion, so that even now they are still preserved for the special purposes which God is working out for them.
Our examination of the relationship between the law and the gospel could not be complete without taking into account the words in which Christ Himself sums up His attitude and His relationship to the law.
“Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfil. 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.” (Matt. 5:17-18)
In what sense did Christ fulfil the law? First of all, He personally fulfilled it by His own spotless righteousness and by the faultless, consistent observance of every ordinance.
“God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.” (Gal. 4:4-5)
Notice the words “born of a woman, born under the law...” By His birth as a man, Jesus Christ was a Jew, subject to all the ordinances and obligations of the law. These He perfectly fulfilled throughout the entire course of His life on earth, without ever deviating one hair’s breadth from all that was required of every Jew under the law. In this sense, Jesus Christ alone, of all those who ever came under the law, perfectly fulfilled it.
Lord Jesus, how wonderful that You are the only perfect accomplisher of the Law that this world has ever seen. And through Your atonement at the Cross, Your perfection was also made available for me and for millions on Earth who could never have done this on their own. Thank You! Amen.
