Verses: Matthew 5:17-20
My thoughts about the
verses:
We need to look back to
the law. The law was written in a time
when a new nation was being formed. The book
of Leviticus is directions put in place to ensure that the Jewish community
would flourish as they started growing as a community. We have to remember this
as we hear the words from Jesus.
Many of the people who
were listening to the stories were Jews.
There were many in the community that not only believed in the laws of
Leviticus they also practiced the rules that the Pharisees and Sadducees had
established. They believed that if they
stayed within law they were pleasing God.
At the time sacrifices
were made to cleanse them from the wrong they had done. The sacrificial animal’s blood is what was
needed for the cleansing of the people’s sin.
We have to understand the role Jesus played in this sacrament of the
Jewish community.
We have to go back to
the story of Abraham and his son Isaac.
God called Abraham to take his son and sacrifice him as an offering to
God. Abraham out of his faith took Isaac
to offer him up to God. Yet, God was
only testing his faith. God provided a
ram for that sacrifice.
Yet, if we look back at
it from a different perspective we can understand how Jesus fulfilled the
law. The law required blood to cleanse
the world. Abraham showed through his
faith what the final fulfillment of the law would be. God would have to send the son to be the
fulfillment of the law.
Jesus’s blood paid the
final atonement for the whole world.
Just like Abraham had faith in God when he took Isaac to the altar we
have to have that faith in Jesus.
Imagine how hard it would be to let your son die for people who were
unclean. Yet, knowing through that
sacrifice they would become clean.
Abraham had experienced it yet he was stopped. Therefor he grew stronger in his faith for he
knew that God would provide.
Today we need to
understand that God did provide that last sacrifice. Jesus will be there for anyone who will
accept the gift Jesus is offering. Once you accept Jesus into your life your
sins are forever forgiven and forgotten by God.
God no longer sees you as unclean.
You can come straight to God for all of your needs because you have the
blood of the lamb cleansing your life.
There are so many who
need to feel that cleansing power. Yet,
they do not understand that all it takes is faith. They try so many ways to follow a set of
laws. They try to do the right
thing. They put themselves on a pedestal
and believe that they have done enough good in life. Yet, they lack faith in the power of Jesus. They believe that they can do it all by
themselves. Yet, if they would just
accept Jesus in their life things would change forever.
Yet, Jesus tells us that
the law was to be followed until the law was fulfilled. The moment Jesus went to the cross the last sacrifice
was fulfilled. When Jesus rose from the
grave the law ended. Jesus became the
lamb that gave his life willingly so that we may have eternal life. God provided the lamb for us just like he
provided the ram for Abraham.
We can embrace this or
we can choose not to. This is the only
thing left for us to do to have eternal life.
We have a choice to make. We do
not have to make sacrifices because the blood has cleansed all that will say
yes to Jesus. Giving your life over to
Jesus allows the cleansing blood to cover all your sins.
Prayer:
Dear God we praise you
for your love. We thank you for your sacrifice. We praise you for your sacrifice of the
perfect lamb. We ask that you come into
our life and cleanse us. Help us be the
people that you want in our life. In the
name of the Law Fulfiller we pray. Amen
Questions:
Have you accepted God in your life? Have your shared your gift of salvation with
others around you?
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