Originally Posted by
Wolverine
Jesus fulfilled the law!
We see the first pointer of how things have changed dramatically in Matthew 5:17 where Jesus says, “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.” So all the Old Testament finds its completion and fulfillment in Jesus — and that is a basic truth that a person needs to understand. Everything in the Old Testament was pointing toward Jesus as the Son of God incarnate, dying and rising to save his people. And, therefore, in his person, in his ministry, the whole Old Testament reaches a climax and is dramatically altered.
The Bible spells out many of the specifics of this dramatic alteration. For example, the book of Hebrews is probably the classic place for showing how the old covenant has become obsolete with the coming of the new covenant. Hebrews 8:13 says, “In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.” And, for example, the death of Jesus is the once-for-all sacrifice for sins so that the entire Old Testament sacrificial system of offering animals comes to an end.
Hebrews 7:27 and 9:12 say Jesus is the final Lamb of God. The whole Old Testament sacrificial system is over. It doesn’t apply anymore. Another example from Hebrews is that Jesus himself offers the sacrifice of himself and therefore Jesus is the final Priest. And you don’t need any more priests. And so the entire Old Testament priesthood is removed. It is over. We have one, new, final, eternal High Priest, Jesus Christ.
A third example is that Jesus saw himself as the new temple. “If you destroy this temple, I will build it in three days” (John 2:19). And he meant, I will rise from the dead in three days. So when the temple was destroyed in 70 AD, the place of worship for Christians was not destroyed, because we don’t have a place for worship that is limited geographically. We have Jesus. And any place Jesus is, we can worship.
So all of those specifics are how the old covenant was becoming obsolete. And dramatic changes came about and hundreds of commands in the Old Testament don’t apply to Christians anymore, because this new phase of redemptive history has come.
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