Jesus’ Fulfillment of God’s Law
Jesus was made under the law.
“When the time was right, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law” (Galatians 4:4).
Throughout Jesus’ life on earth, He obeyed God’s law explicitly and perfectly—and He was the only One who ever truly did! Why is this significant? The law required a sacrifice for the forgiveness of sins: “And according to the law almost all things are purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission” (Hebrews 9:22).
Thus, by being born under the law and obeying it completely, Jesus fulfilled the Old Testament types as laid out in Leviticus and Numbers: Jesus was the perfect, spotless Passover Lamb, the Scapegoat.
The law—as far as the individual is concerned—was never meant to make one righteous. It was given to show us that we could never be righteous in our own ability or works. The law shuts our mouths but opens our eyes.
- It condemns, but does not convert;
- It challenges, but does not change;
- It points the finger, but it does not give mercy;
- It leaves us without excuse, but it drives us to Jesus.
The law is like a moral mirror, allowing you to see yourself as you really are—a guilty sinner before a righteous God (Romans 3:19). Yet, as you see your true condition, the law will drive you into the open arms of Jesus: “Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith” (Galatians 3:24).
Christ’s death fulfilled the law’s requirements.
When Christ died on the cross, He took the righteous requirements of the law and paid the price we could never pay. “He has made [you] alive together with Him having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross” (Colossians 2:13–14).
Through Christ’s death on the cross, we are no longer under the curse of the Law. Jesus’ work on the cross satisfied the righteous requirements of God. We are not forced to obey it out of obligation; we are compelled to obey it because of the depth of His love for us.
As we accept Jesus into our lives, He takes that law and writes it in our hearts!
“This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel. . .I will put My law in their minds and write it on their hearts” (Jeremiah 31:33).
In effect, God is saying, “The difference between the old and the new covenant will be this: I will no longer write my law on tablets on stone, but on the fleshly tablets of your hearts.”
