Messiah: Fulfillment of the Law and Prophets

“ ‘Behold, the days are coming,’ says the Lord, ‘when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah—not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them,’ says the Lord. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel: ‘After those days,’ says the Lord, ‘I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,” for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them’ says the Lord. ‘For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.’ “ (Jeremiah 31:31-34, NKJV). “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. NKJV). “ ‘Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?’ Jesus said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.’ “ (Matthew 22:36-40. NKJV).

All the Messianic prophecies (and they were many) in the Old Testament were fulfilled specifically and precisely in Jesus Christ. Because Jesus did not always follow ‘the letter of the law” as the Jews had added to and amended the Ten Commandments, they accused Him of breaking the law. He healed on the Sabbath Day. He allowed his disciples to pluck grain and eat on the Sabbath because they were hungry. Instead of making the law burdensome and weighty, Jesus summed up the heart of the law in His statement in Matthew 22:36-40. He told the lawyer from among the Jews that all of God’s covenant commandments could be summed up in two major statements: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart…soul…mind” and “love your neighbor as yourself.”

Jeremiah’s prophecy of God’s writing a new covenant with His people and writing it on their hearts was fulfilled in Jesus’ life and teachings. He taught us how to be practical in keeping God’s Law. He stated that He did not come to destroy it but to make it fuller, more applicable and practical for daily life. Incredibly, Jesus summed up the essence of the teachings of the law and the prophets when he taught us to “Love God…and love your neighbor.” Behind the Law stands these two principles of right relationship with God and with our fellowmen. Love can never be adequately portrayed in rules and laws. God’s commandments of love have been there all along. The concept had been lost in much interpretation of the law and making it a burden instead of a joy to live by. Jesus showed us how to live out teachings of the law and the prophets—and the New Covenant written on the heart that Jeremiah told us about. Only with the aid of the Holy Spirit can we meet the requirements of love which fulfills the Law.

c Ethelene Dyer Jones; Thursday, December 16, 2010

Parables of New and Old: Patches and Wineskins

“Then the followers of John came to Jesus and said, ‘Why do we and the Pharisees often give up eating for a certain time, but your followers don’t?’ Jesus answered, ‘The friends of the bridegroom are not sad while he is with them. But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them, and then they will give up eating. No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth over a hole in an old coat. If he does, the patch will shrink and pull away from the coat, making the hole worse. Also, people never pour new wine into old leather bags. Otherwise, the bags will break, the wine will spill, and the wine bags will be ruined. But people always pour new wine into new wine bags. Then both will continue to be good.’ “ (Matthew 9:14-17, NIV).

It is well that we remember Jesus’ stated intention of why he used parables to teach: “But blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear” (Matthew 13:16). Stories about things the disciples could relate to added emphasis to what Jesus wanted his disciples then and now to learn. The occasion of the parables in the Bible reference given above was the disciples of John coming to Jesus to ask why they and the Pharisees practiced fasting and Jesus’ disciples did not follow the age-old customs of the law that recommended fasting, or abstaining from certain foods for religious purposes. Jesus answered by saying people did not fast when the bridegroom was present, but they celebrated with the wedding feast. This was a way of referring to Himself as the Bridegroom, and of His disciples celebrating while He was with them in the flesh. It was also a means of introducing a new and better understanding of the old ways of God with his people by introducing the way of grace through Jesus Christ. They were not able to comprehend all the new concepts of grace, although the Bridegroom was giving them ample opportunities to understand and to celebrate.

Then He followed by two stories from everyday life to which they could relate. Anyone who patches an old garment to make it wearable despite worn or torn places knows that a new piece of cloth that has not been preshrunk is not sewed onto the tear. It would make the tear worse. Likewise, in processing wine from grapes, they knew to always put the new wine into new leather wineskins so that when fermentation (which expands the volume of the wine) occurs, the wineskins would not burst but expand. Would the disciples (those who followed Jesus and those who followed John the Baptist) be able to understand that the Bridegroom is Jesus? Could they know that He has a new way of patching up old garments and also of filling new wineskins (those outside the fold of Judaism)? Could they understand that He wanted to reach those even in religious bondage hampered by the law (do this, do that) and His Way is available to admitted sinners as well (those who have not tasted the old law and its ways)? Here was a new concept of inclusiveness. God had tried to teach Abraham that that his descendants would be as the sands of the seashore. But alas, along the way, that vision was thwarted.

There is great joy in Christ’s companionship. He expects us to be reasonable and adapt our actions to circumstances. When my mother patched my father’s overalls so he could still wear the old garment to the fields to work, she always used for the patches faded denim, that which had been through the wash many times before. We were not winemakers and didn’t make wine nor store it in skins made from our sheep. But the Jews would have known of this practice. Here Jesus is teaching them (and us) that He is presenting a new and better way to God. Rather than through ritual and sacrifice, we can come directly to the point of salvation and know restoration and wholeness through faith in Him. These parables represent the bright and joyous character of the way of faith Jesus is offering. Recall that the Judaizers spoken of in Acts wanted to combine the Law of Moses with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. That was like trying to put new wine into old bottles.

Are these two parables not deep, deep: of patching the old garment and the new wineskins for new wine? Indeed. The more we think about what Jesus is illustrating by these parables, the more we know that faith must step in where the substance of good works once reigned. God inspired the prophet Jeremiah to write: “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,’ declares the Lord. For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.” (-Jeremiah 31:33b-34). Thank God for the New Wine of His Word, even Jesus Christ, the very Word of God.

c Ethelene Dyer Jones; Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Jeremiah Buys Land for Future Use

“Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, ‘Take these deeds, this sealed deed of purchase, and this open deed, and put them in an earthenware jar, that they may last a long time.’ For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, ‘Houses and fields and vineyards shall again be bought in this land.’ “ (Jeremiah 32:14-15. NASB. Read Jeremiah 32)

The prophet Jeremiah often did in his life that which was symbolic of God’s providence and watchcare of the people. Jeremiah bought a portion of land when the nation of Judah was under siege from Nebuchadnezzar and the forces of Babylon. In the midst of trouble, Jeremiah demonstrated his trust in God’s leadership to restore the nation by buying land, having the deeds legally drawn, and storing them in a safe place. God would keep His promises to the nation. In the future, the people would again live in safety in their promised land. Jeremiah’s action indicated his faith that God would fulfill his purpose in restoring the scattered and persecuted nation.

In historic perspective, Jeremiah began his prophetic ministry in the thirteenth year of King Josiah’s reign in the nation of Judah, about 626 B. C. He continued his prophesying until after he was forcibly taken to Egypt about 584 B.C. He began his ministry before good King Josiah’s reform recorded in 2 Kings 23. Jeremiah was often under attack because of his message, one of judgment on Judah because of their unfaithfulness to God. In fact, the first writings by Baruch, his scribe, were burned, piece by piece, by King Jehoiakim. Jeremiah dictated the message, anew and enlarged, and Baruch wrote the message again. Despite efforts to eradicate Jeremiah’s important message, it prevailed and we have the second longest book in the Bible next to Psalms, filled with visions, prophecies, autobiographical sketches, predictions about foreign nations, and important history of God’s work among the nation of Judah and its enemies. And in the midst of trouble came Jeremiah’s act of hope: the purchase of land that might be used in the period of restoration.

In this action of Jeremiah, and, indeed, throughout the prophecies of this faithful servant, we learn that God is sovereign over His covenant people and over individuals. God is faithful to His people and is always calling them back into fellowship with Him. The new covenant God made with his people is a clarion cry of Jeremiah’s message: “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people…I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.” (Jeremiah 31:33b, 34b. NIV) God stands ready to restore and forgive but we must make the move toward him: “Call to Me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.” (Jeremiah 33:3, NIV)

c Ethelene Dyer Jones; Monday, August 23, 2010

An Everlasting Love

“The Lord appeared to him [Israel, His people] from far away, ‘I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued My faithfulness to you. Again I shall build you and you shall be built, O virgin Israel! Again you shall adorn yourself with tambourines and shall go forth in the dance of the merrymakers.’ “ –Jeremiah 31:3-4

During the entire month of February, these daily devotionals have dealt with some aspect of love. February is traditionally the month of love, with Valentine’s Day and all it implies. I’ve typed them with red ink to emphasize the thread of God’s love that reaches from Creation to the Cross and from the Cross to the victor’s Crown. Every month and every day is a “God is love” and “God loves me” time. For this last day of February, let us consider that God loves us unconditionally with a love that is everlasting.

My dear early pastor, Rev. Claud Boynton, a marvelous Bible teacher and minister, taught us that we should examine carefully the context of a scripture to learn more of the situation and its implications for our understanding of a passage. Jeremiah began prophesying about 626 B. C. in the thirteenth year of the reign of good King Josiah. This king, who led religious reforms in Judah, died in 609 B. C. He was Judah’s last great king. Jeremiah’s prophesying ended shortly before the destruction of Jerusalem and the fall of Solomon’s Temple which occured in 587 B. C. under Babylonian attack.

Jeremiah warned the people of impending destruction. But he called people to hope as he gave a prophecy concerning the restoration of Israel after exile. Chapters 31 – 33 give the promises of this restoration of Israel. Within that context, the above quoted verses appear. Jeremiah, the spokesman for God, gives God’s Word to the people: “I have loved you with an everlasting love.”

What a remarkable, incomprehensible concept: “God loves me with an everlasting love.” He loves all humanity with an everlasting love. What hopeless, helpless people God loves! Think of Abraham, Father of many nations, who feared Egypt’s monarch and passed his wife Sarah off as his sister. There’s Moses who in anger broke the tablets of the Ten Commandments. And Aaron, Moses’ brother and spokesman, who was dancing around the altar of the golden calf with the rest of the Israelites when Moses returned from the mountain where he’d received the Ten Commandments. But don’t think the buck stops with these patriarchs of old whom God loved despite their rebellion. Have we, ourselves, not been like Judah when Jeremiah preached his heart out to them for change and repentance? We have gone our own way, disregarding God’s covenant and God’s call. Yet God declares through the ages, even to this present day, “I have loved you with an everlasting love.” He wants to restore us. Like Jeremiah’s message of restoration in chapters 31-33, God calls us to a wedding party. Bring out the tambourines. Start the dance. We’re going to have a celebration! God loves us with an everlasting love.

Go to Revelation and we see that love call continued. Like the Son of Man, the Lord Himself, walking among the golden candlesticks (the churches), wrote to the church at Laodicea, in Revelation 3:19-22: “Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with Me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with My Father on His throne. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” (ESV)

“I have loved you with an everlasting love.” God’s drawing power is unbelievable. His agape love is incredible, always present, from age to age the same. He just will not let us go. Not now. Not in eternity. Praise be to God!

c Ethelene Dyer Jones; Sunday, February 28, 2010