Fulfilled in Jesus

The promises of the Hebrew Bible are fulfilled in the Son of God and Messiah of Israel, Jesus of Nazareth.

The promises of God find their fulfillment in Jesus, their “Yea!” and “Amen!” The mysteries previously “hidden” are revealed in Christ’s life and words, and especially in his Death, Resurrection, and Exaltation. Jesus is the Messiah in whom all the shadows and types prefigured in the Hebrew Bible find their substance.

Paul’s words are clear. “How many soever be the promises of God, in him is the yea. Wherefore also through him is the Amen.” Every claim to the contrary is a lie - (2 Corinthians 1:19-2:0).

[Photo by Derek Sutton on Unsplash]

In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus is the promised Messiah who came to fulfill “all the Law and the Prophets,” and fulfillment in him is a key theme in Matthew. What was “written” beforehand is fulfilled in Christ - (Matthew 1:22, 2:15, 2:17, 2:23, 4:17, 5:17-20, 8:17, etc.).

In the Gospel of John, Jesus is the True Tabernacle in whom the unveiled glory of God resides. “Grace instead of grace” arrived in the “word made flesh.” Christ is the true Temple, the place where the presence of Yahweh is found, not any building “made with hands,” whether in Jerusalem or elsewhere - (John 1:14-18, 2:19-21).

The time arrived with the appearance of Jesus for the true worshippers to worship God “in the Spirit and truth.” The old limitations of holy space and holy time no longer apply, and every debate about where to locate the Temple is now moot - (John 4:23-24).

Likewise, the ancient feasts of Israel find their significance in the Son of God. He is the true “living bread from heaven” that imparts life, not the manna given by Moses in the wilderness. The “law was given by Moses. Grace and truth came to be through Jesus” - (John 1:17, 6:50-51, 7:37-39).

When the Day of Pentecost was “fully filled up,” the Spirit was poured out on the saints in Jerusalem. Peter proclaimed this was the promised Gift of the Spirit predicted by the prophet Joel for “the Last Days.” The “Promise of the Father” was given to Jesus upon his exaltation; therefore, he now bestows this very promise, the Gift of the Spirit, on his Church - (Acts 2:16-21, Joel 2:28-30).

SHADOW OR SUBSTANCE?

Jesus came to “redeem us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse in our behalf.” This was so “the blessing of Abraham should come to the Gentiles.” The original Covenant always envisaged the inclusion of the Gentiles in the Abrahamic Covenant - (Galatians 3:13).

The Law of Moses served as a “custodian” until the time of fulfillment when the “seed” came. The time of “custodianship” has ceased since Jesus, the “seed” of Abraham, arrived. He is the “end of the Law for righteousness to all who believe.” The Mosaic Law was always an interim stage between promise and fulfillment - (Galatians 3:19-25, Romans 10:4).

The social and ethnic distinctions inherent in the Mosaic Law have no place in the new covenant community of Jesus. All who “put on Christ” become one in him. We are all “Abraham’s children, and according to promise, heirs” - (Galatians 3:26-29, 4:4-7, Colossians 3:11).

To return to the observation of “days, months, seasons and years” as required by the Law is tantamount to submitting to the “weak and beggarly elemental spirits” that previously tyrannized us. If we do so, we will exchange the Spirit of God and His liberty for the death-dealing letter of the Law with its ever-present curse on all men who fail to do all that it requires - (2 Corinthians 3:6-7, Galatians 3:10, 4:8-10, 5:1-3).

Jesus has provided his people with a “better covenant, one legislated on better promises,” a covenant based on his endless resurrection life. If the first covenant had been “without fault,” there would have been no need for another. Christ’s vastly superior New Covenant has rendered the old one “obsolete” - (Hebrews 7:22-25, 8:4-10:18).

The old system constituted “glimpses and shadows of the heavenly realities,” mere patterns of the real and now permanent originals. “Let no one, therefore, be disqualifying you in eating and in drinking, or in respect of a feast, new moon and Sabbaths, which were shadows of the coming things, but the substance is of the Christ” - (Colossians 2:9-17, Hebrews 8:1-7, 9:9-10, 9:23-24).

Jews and Gentiles together receive their “introduction in one Spirit to the Father,” therefore, no longer are they “strangers and sojourners, but fellow citizens of the saints and members of the household of God,” singular. Jesus has dismantled the “wall of partition” that separated Jews and Gentiles so that “the two Christ might create in himself one new man” - (Ephesians 2:14-22).

The Church of Jesus Christ is composed of Jewish and Gentile followers of Jesus who together become “resident aliens” and “sojourners” in this world, a people without a national homeland and heirs of the incorruptible inheritance of salvation and the promise of resurrection life in the coming “New Heavens and New Earth.”

The Apostle Peter listed several appellations that originally applied to national Israel but now belong to Christ’s Church:

• “But now, in Christ Jesus, you are the living stones being built up into a spiritual house for a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices well-pleasing to God, through Jesus Christ<…> You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for a peculiar treasure, a people that at one time were a no-people but now are the people of God” - (1 Peter 2:4-10, Exodus 19:5-6).

The theme of fulfillment in Jesus is found throughout the New Testament. God defeated Sin, Satan, and Death on the Cross, not on the altar of the Temple of old Jerusalem. The “mysteries of God” hidden in past ages are revealed in His Son, and especially so in the proclamation of “Christ crucified,” the “Word of the Cross” - (Romans 16:25, 1 Corinthians 2:1-9, 2 Corinthians 1:19-20).

Since the promises are fulfilled in Jesus of Nazareth, it would be foolhardy in the extreme to return to the types and shadows of the old incomplete revelation that was never “without fault.”

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SEE ALSO:

• The Promise of the Father - (With the outpouring of the Spirit on the Day of Pentecost, the blessings for all nations promised to Abraham commenced)

• Light and Life - (Jesus is the only true Light of the World, and his light shines all the brighter amidst the darkness that tyrannizes the present age. All competing claims are false)

• His Mysteries Revealed - (The mysteries of God previously hidden are revealed in Jesus of Nazareth, and especially in his death and resurrection)

• Accomplissement en Jésus - (Les promesses de la Bible hébraïque s'accomplissent dans le Fils de Dieu et Messie d'Israël, Jésus de Nazareth)