Tuesday Reading: Matthew 5:17-19
Key Verse: Matthew 5:17
17 Do not think that I have come to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I have not come to destroy but to fulfil.
Devotion:
One thing that Jesus made sure of was that nobody was in any doubt about the Old Testament having to be upheld just as His new commandments to go out and spread the gospel to everyone. He made sure that they realised that He was the fulfilment of the Old Testament – when it talked about a perfect lamb being offered for the sins of the world, it is Him. He knew that people had read the Law of Moses and had come up with their own interpretations of it and He knew that it had to be set right again according to the law and not according to man. That is what He was trying to do and that is one of the reasons why many did reject Him – because He was re-applying the law in its true spirit and not according to the whim of mankind.
Man has a propensity to pervert the law for his own good or for his own encouragement. Even a verse that says that nothing will change has been corrupted by some translations of the bible to make man feel better about what happened those many years ago. The jot (or jod) is the least significant letter in the Hebrew alphabet (showing us the original language of the law) and Jesus said that not even this should change from the law because it is God’s Law and not mans to change.
We are not here to discuss whether the Old Testament is relevant or not, Christ already gives us the answer here – He came to fulfil the Old Testament and to make sure that we never change one bit of it because it is the whole truth and nothing but the truth. How can we argue against our Lord and Saviour? He wants us to show others that we uphold His writings from the beginning right through to the end. We have to be discerners of His Word, reading it, learning it and knowing it so that we can encourage others by it as well. He is our God. He is our King. Praise Him! Believe Him and believe His Word. If you are worried about whether what you are reading is the truth, continue reading because everything in God’s Word is supported by something else in His Word – you will know the truth when you see it...
Points to Ponder:
Do you take your own take on what others say?
Do you try to adjust God’s Word for your own delight?
