Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill.—Matthew 5:17.
It is our Creator, the Giver of the law, who declares that it is not His purpose to set aside its precepts. Everything in nature, from the mote in the sunbeam to the worlds on high, is under law. And upon obedience to these laws the order and harmony of the natural world depend. So there are great principles of righteousness to control the life of all intelligent beings, and upon conformity to these principles the well-being of the universe depends. Before this earth was called into being, God’s law existed. Angels are governed by its principles, and in order for earth to be in harmony with heaven, humanity also must obey the divine statutes. To Adam and Eve in Eden Christ made known the precepts of the law “when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy.” (Job 38:7.) The mission of Christ on earth was not to destroy the law, but by His grace to bring us back to obedience to its precepts.
The beloved disciple, who listened to the words of Jesus on the mount, writing long afterward under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, speaks of the law as of perpetual obligation. He says that “sin is the transgression of the law” and that “whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law.” (1 John 3:4.) He makes it plain that the law to which he refers is “an old commandment which ye had from the beginning.” (1 John 2:7.) He is speaking of the law that existed at the creation and was reiterated upon Mount Sinai.
Speaking of the law, Jesus said, “I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.” He here used the word “fulfill” in the same sense as when He declared to John the Baptist His purpose to “fulfill all righteousness” (Matthew 3:15); that is, to fill up the measure of the law’s requirement, to give an example of perfect conformity to the will of God.
His mission was to “magnify the law, and make it honorable.” (Isaiah 42:21.) He was to show the spiritual nature of the law, to present its far-reaching principles, and to make plain its eternal obligation. . . .
Jesus, the express image of the Father’s person, the effulgence of His glory; the self-denying Redeemer, throughout His pilgrimage of love on earth, was a living representation of the character of the law of God.—Thoughts From the Mount of Blessing, 48, 49.
From Homeward Bound - Page 181
Homeward Bound