Daily Devotional
"I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them."
Matthew 5:17b
The word ‘fulfill’ in Matthew 5:17 has generated significant discussion among New Testament scholars, and rightly so, because it carries tremendous theological weight. Blomberg notes that Jesus likely intended the term to do multiple things at once: he would do the things laid down in Scripture, he would bring out their full meaning, and through his life and teaching he would bring Scripture to its intended completion. These are not competing interpretations; they are layers of the same truth.
Consider the sacrificial system. No one attending church on Easter Sunday brings an animal to offer at the altar. Why? Because the entire sacrificial system was a long preparation for the one final sacrifice Jesus would make on the cross. The Levitical offerings did not stop mattering when Christ came; they became the lens through which we understand what he did. He fulfilled them. And understanding the sacrificial system now helps us appreciate, with far greater depth and gratitude, what it meant for Jesus to give himself as the Lamb of God.
Paul writes in Romans 10:4 that ‘Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.’ The word ‘end’ (telos) does not mean termination; it means goal, destination, the completion point toward which the whole journey was aimed. Every commandment, every prophecy, every type and shadow in the Old Testament was pointing forward to him. He did not arrive to clear the board and start over. He arrived to be everything the board had always been about.
This understanding transforms Bible reading. The Old Testament is not a relic. It is the first half of one coherent story, and every page of it is pressing toward the person of Jesus Christ. When you read it with that lens, the whole Bible becomes richer, deeper, and far more Christ-centered than you may have imagined.
Today's Challenge
Read through a short passage from the Old Testament today, perhaps a Psalm or a few verses from Exodus or Isaiah. What does it reveal about the character of God? How might it point, directly or indirectly, toward Jesus? Is there a way in which your understanding of the cross has been shallow because you have not paid enough attention to the Old Testament background it completes?
Prayer
Father, open my eyes to see your Son on every page of Scripture. Where I have treated the Old Testament as optional background reading, correct me. Show me that the Law and the Prophets are full of Christ, and let that vision make me more grateful for the cross, more grounded in your Word, and more hungry to know him. In Jesus' name, Amen.
