MAY 12

Matthew 5:17-19
Memorise Luke 24:44
“…all things must be fulfilled …concerning me”

WHAT IS OUR VIEW OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURES?

There are people who think that the Old Testament is irrelevant and should be dispensed away with. Instead, they place greater importance on the New Testament and read the New Testament with more enthusiasm than the Old Testament, which they neglect. The misconception here is that Jesus’ coming meant that the Old Testament would be replaced by the New.

Jesus teaches that the Old Testament is neither to be neglected nor trivialized in any way. He says in Matthew 5:17 that He did not come to destroy the law or the prophets but to fulfill them, meaning that He came as God in the form of man to live a life perfectly obedient to God the Father, hence satisfying all of God’s requirements according to the law and statutes as recorded in the Old Testament. Far from considering the Old Testament to be irrelevant, Jesus wants us to know that the Old Testament law is so important that anyone who cannot obey it perfectly would be condemned to hell unless they trust in Him to do so on their behalf. It was here that He made the declaration, that till heaven and earth pass, not one jot or tittle shall pass from the law till all be fulfilled. The entirety of God’s Word is so important, that God himself will ensure that His Word is perfectly preserved, such that every generation can have access to it.

Furthermore, Jesus does not want anyone to think that salvation is a license to live as if a lower standard of holiness is now somehow acceptable. Misleading others into taking such an attitude has consequences. Likewise, those who tell others that salvation means having even greater reason to live holy lives on account of their relationship with Jesus while conducting themselves in like manner will have their reward in Heaven one day (v19). In order to know how to live a holy life, we need the complete Word of God, both the Old and New Testament.

The Old and New Testaments are one harmonious whole (J.C. Ryle). Many of the Old Testament prophecies, including those about Jesus, have been fulfilled right down to the last minute detail as recorded in the New Testament. Indeed, Jesus being God Himself would not contradict Himself by favouring the New Testament to the Old Testament as He is the Author of both.

Thought: The New Testament is in the Old concealed. The Old Testament is in the New, revealed.
Prayer: We do thank Thee indeed Jesus for fulfilling every jot and tittle of the law for us, otherwise we would be lost for eternity.