Isaiah 2:3b”for out of Zion shall go the law and the word of God from Jerusalem.
We have learn t that we are in Mount Zion and not in Mount Sinai. Mount Zion reprsens Christ whereas Mount Sinai represents Moses or the Old covenant. We learnt also from Hebrews 12:18-24 that we have nt come to mountain that cannot be touched. Such a terrifying moment it was at Mount Sinai as the law was being given to the children of Israel. It was not that God was full of rage and tired of the children of Israel rather it was a time of grieving for God for his own people had become stiff necked and refused to deal directy with him and so the people told Moses that whatever the Lord will require them to do they will do.
It was not in the original plan of God to have the Israelites live under the law But as Paul tells us, the law was an addendum, it was added because of transgression (Gal 3:19). The law was given to show man how much he had transgressed against God. The law was not kept for man to keep but for man to know how much he has transgressed and fallen short of the glory of God in lieu of a savior who would come and save humanity from such a wretchedness.
Paul says that the law was added to increase the trespass so that where sin is utterly sinful , grace may super abound.(Romans 5:20)
Isaiah says that out of Zion shall go the law and the word of God from Jerusalem. I will endeavor to show us how this came to be.
We have learnt that Mount Zion represents Jesus. He is the one in whom we believe in today. John introduces him as the word which was from the beginning and which was God and was made flesh nd dwelt amongst us. Jesus said that he did not come to abolish the law but came to fulfil it.
Matthew 5:17-18” "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. 18 For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. 19 Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”
Jesus did not come to abolish the law but to fulfill it. Jesus in this text stamps up his authority as one who had come with a mission. He delievers a ermon on the mount . He ascends a mountain and starts to preach. To me this seems to be the same experience as Moses who ascended Mount Sinai and brought with him the law.
This time Jesus preaches on the beatitudes as we know it and goes ahead to to say that we are the salt of the world. Jesus wasn’t not preaching something that we could do. Contrary to what we may have been taught all over the years, the beatitudes’ and the entire sermon on the mount was not a speech of telling you what you must do, Jesus here was bringing the law to its pristine standards where it was meant to be, because the Pharisees had compromised on the law and were loading it over the people.
Its only Jesus who exemplified all those qualities of the beatitudes, he is all the blessed are’s and the only way we become what the book of Matthew talks of is if we are in Jesus.
Jesus said that not an iota not a dot will pass from the law unless it’s accomplished. When I read this verse at first I thought that we are supposed to fulfill everything in the law that we may finally experience the kingdom of God. Jesus though is introducing himself as the savior and he says that Heavens and earth will pass but not an iota of the law will go unfulfilled. He says this because he had the capacity to fulfill the law himself. He is contrasting himself from the Pharisees who emphasized on strict adhererents to the law though they themselves couldn’t fulfill. He said that whoever teaches and does the law will be called great in the kingdom of God and whoever teaches the law but does not will be considered as the least in the kingdom of God. Here again lies an antithesis between Jesus and the Pharisees. The Pharisees were the least in the kingdom of God because they taught the law but never practiced it. Jesus though is considered as great because he taught the law and kept it. He alone is considered the greatest because he kept all the law and obeyed fully. In order for us to be great, it’s not for us to keep everything that God commands. Paul says that there is no single law that could impart life (Gal 3:21) Yet Jesus fulfilled the Law and imparted life to the entire human race.
The Bottom line is this, you cannot fulfill the law, its only Jesus who fulfilled the law and if we are in him, we are living on the fulfilled side of life. We do not kill not because of the commandment but because Jesus lives in us, we keep all commandments by the enablement inside of us, which is Jesus.
FOLLOW THE NEXT BLOG AND FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THE FULFILMENT OF THE LAW AND THE AFTERMATH WHICH IS THE WORD OF GOD COMING OUT OF JERUSALEM TO THE ENTIRE WORLD
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