3 Minute Read
Prepare Your Heart
To the best of your ability, get rid of all distractions. Take a few minutes to breathe deeply and quiet yourself in the Lord’s presence. Then, ask the Lord to speak to you in this time. Let Him know that you will listen and make whatever adjustments He will reveal to you.
Read God’s Word
A Verse for Today
Slowly and reflectively read the following verse(s) and listen to what God will say to you through His written Word. Consider writing down any insights He reveals to you.
Matthew 5:17 (CSB): “Don’t think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to abolish but to fulfill.”
Reflecting on God’s Word
Matthew 5:17 is one of those verses we may read in a few seconds and move on to the next verse, not thinking much about it. But it’s powerful! Let’s talk about it.
When we listen to Jesus’ words in today’s verse, we hear Him assure His disciples that He didn’t come to earth to “abolish” the Law. In other words, He didn’t leave Heaven and come into our world to throw the Old Testament Law into the trash.
Instead, He came into our experience to “fulfill” the Law. He said His life is the final and ultimate expression of the perfect life according to the Law. While He lived His life on earth, He obeyed every single Old Testament law that pertained to Him. He was also the final expression of all the Old Testament ceremonial laws (all the Old Testament sacrificial laws ultimately pointed to Jesus and His death on our behalf).
So, Jesus didn’t do away with the Law. He fully obeyed it and brought it to its desired end in Him, the only One who has ever perfectly complied.
This truth may not seem applicable to us at first glance, but it has everything to do with us.
At the moment we were saved from our sins, we were no longer held responsible for them. However, someone had to pay our sin debt. So, Jesus graciously took our sin and our guilt upon Himself.
But something else happened at the point of salvation. We were credited with Jesus’ righteousness. You see, being forgiven of our sins isn’t enough to get us into a right relationship with God and then into Heaven. We need something more. We need to obey every single law the Bible gives us. That’s why Jesus had to fulfill the Law. He lived a perfect life so that He could take our sins and then credit us with His righteousness. It’s the divine swap!
2 Corinthians 5:21 (CSB): “He made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
So, when we read Matthew 5:17, we hear Jesus saying He came to live a perfect life according to the Law. Why? So that He could trade with us. At the moment of salvation, He takes our sins and credits us with His righteousness.
That’s why the New Testament writers often called their readers “saints” (a.k.a. “holy ones”). It’s not because those Christians were perfect. Instead, it was because they had the righteousness of Jesus credited to their account.
The message of Christianity then becomes simply this: “Live like who you are. You are forgiven and righteous in God’s eyes, so act like it.”
Spend Time in Prayer
Lord Jesus, I am becoming more aware that Your Word tells me things that I don’t innately know or believe. I often see myself as a rotten sinner when Your Word tells me that I’m a saint who periodically sins. Help me to receive what Your Word says about me by faith. Help me believe it so deeply that it begins to affect how I think and behave. And may those thoughts and behaviors reflect Your glory to a lost and dying world. I pray in Jesus’ Name, Amen.
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Matt Ellis is the pastor of First Baptist Church in Polk City, Florida (fbcpolkcity.com).
Matt’s Musings 