Fulfilling the Law

          When the Seed had grown and was manifest at His baptism, the apostle John wrote: “He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him” (John 1:10-17). Needless to say, the mystery of lawlessness was already at work in the world.  So when Jesus came to His own people (the Jews), they did not receive Him. He didn’t fit their image of a Messiah. “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.”
           John went on to explain that “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace. For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
          The Chronos Lesson: Near the start of His earthly ministry, Jesus affirmed, “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill” (Matt. 5:17). Only Satan and his lawlessness seeks to destroy. The Old Testament Law was designed to distinguish between corrupted ground and sacred ground. The Law was given to highlight how living according to God’s kingdom ways separates us from the corrupted ways of knowing evil.
       The Law could not make mankind perfect. That could only happen once the Perfect Seed could be planted into the earth and pay the penalty of death on behalf of mankind. But the Law could provide a model of living that would foreshadow the Standard that would come as the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Christ’s earthly ministry showed us the loving and merciful nature of God the Father. Jesus revealed Heaven on the earth. In this sense, He became the sacred ground in which every believer would be planted and thereby experience that Life in us.
        The Law showed us that no fallen human could meet the standard. We know evil. Our spirit was corrupted by it, separating us from the Most Holy One. The amazing truth Jesus revealed to us is the power of grace and truth over the inability of the Law and works to perfect us. While we were yet fallen and sinful, His sacrificial love made it possible for us to be reconnected to God the Father (Rom. 5:8). That is, if we acknowledge our need for a Savior.
          The Spirit was given to seal our spirits from corruption, and as a seal or guarantee of our future complete redemption at the rapture, including our bodies. Until that glorious moment, we “house” the Spirit and are therefore containers of holiness. We are to learn to walk in that reality as we learn to be lights as He is the Light. This is why continuing to walk in sin is so detrimental to the life of a believer—that sin casts a shadow over our light.
          Even more amazing—if that is even possible—we were born into such a time as this that we should be called sons of God and inherit the firstborn blessings of His Son. This blessing not only sustains us in this age and empowers us to fulfill our earthly assignment to preach the Gospel and be lights—albeit imperfect ones. It shall invest us as the immortal government of Heaven over the earth at Christ’s second coming. It shall be our 3rd Day perfection!