20191215ASHPM Fulfilment in Christ
We continue in our series Dare to be Different and this month our focus is on Different Fulfilment.
Jesus fulfilled the Old Covenant & established The New Covenant.
Jesus was the promised Messiah, and during this season of Advent, we remember and celebrate the amazing truth of His incarnation. We celebrate the truth that Christ came on a rescue mission to save us from our sins.
While we celebrate the birth of Jesus and worship Him as our Lord and Saviour as He is described in the New Testament, it is important for us as His disciples to grasp the significance of what God revealed to the Old Testament prophets about the coming Messiah.
His birth, His life, His death and His resurrection were all prophesied thousands of years earlier in the Old Testament.
For us as believers in Christ, the wonder and glory of who Jesus was and is, is illuminated more when we consider how the coming Messiah was revealed in the Old Testament.
John 1:14 reminds us, “So the Word became human and made His home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen His glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son.”
John describes Jesus as the Word, the Logos, and Jesus fulfilled all of the 300+ Old Testament prophecies that were written about Him.
Jesus is the Word of God incarnate, John 1:1-5 says,
“In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. He existed in the beginning with God. God created everything through Him, and nothing was created except through Him. The Word gave life to everything that was created, and His life brought light to everyone. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it.”
Jesus is called the Word of God because He is the total consummation of all the words, all the prophecies that the prophets inspired by the Holy Spirit recorded about Him. All of the Bible bears witness to Jesus Christ as Messiah, as Lord, and as Saviour.
In John 5:39 and 46, Jesus said, “You search the Scriptures because you think they give you eternal life. But the Scriptures point to me! If you really believed Moses, you would believe me, because he wrote about me.”
Friends, throughout the Old Testament there are verses that point to the coming Christ which were satisfied and fulfilled when He came.
After His resurrection, Jesus appeared to two of His disciples on the road to Emmaus, Luke 24:27 records how Jesus took them through the writings of Moses and all the prophets, explaining from all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.
Jesus came to fulfil all that was written in the Old Testament in the Law and the Prophets. Everything was pointing to Jesus, even when a verse was not explicitly prophetic, Jesus accomplished what the Law required.
In Matthew 5:17–18, Jesus said: “Don’t misunderstand why I have come. I did not come to abolish the law of Moses or the writings of the prophets. No, I came to accomplish their purpose. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not even the smallest detail of God’s law will disappear until its purpose is achieved.”
All of the promises of God in the Old Testament are fulfilled in Jesus Christ.
When you are in Christ, when you have accepted Him as your Lord and Saviour, you have both Christ Himself and everything else God has promised through Christ. 2 Corinthians 1:20, For all of God’s promises have been fulfilled in Christ with a resounding “Yes!” And through Christ, our “Amen” (which means “Yes”) ascends to God for his glory.
The requirements of the law were perfectly fulfilled by Christ. All of the penalties of the law for our sins were carried and dealt with by Christ on the cross.
Following the Old Covenant Law is not our path to salvation. Following Christ is.
Following the Old Covenant Law is not our path to righteousness. Following Christ is.
Following the Old Covenant Law is not our path to forgiveness. Following Christ is.
Listen to the words of the Apostle Paul in Romans 10:1-4, Dear brothers and sisters, the longing of my heart and my prayer to God is for the people of Israel to be saved. I know what enthusiasm they have for God, but it is misdirected zeal. For they don’t understand God’s way of making people right with Himself. Refusing to accept God’s way, they cling to their own way of getting right with God by trying to keep the law. For Christ has already accomplished the purpose for which the law was given. As a result, all who believe in Him are made right with God.
The ultimate purpose of the Old Covenant law is to show us we need a Saviour, we need His perfect righteousness, we need His forgiveness, we need to look to Christ, to trust in Him, not in our own efforts or works.
Remember Ephesians 2:8-9, God saved you by His grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.
The Old Testament blood sacrifices of animals have ceased because Christ has fulfilled all that they were pointing toward. Jesus was the final, perfect sacrifice for our sin. Hebrews 9:12, “With His own blood—not the blood of goats and calves—He entered the Most Holy Place once for all time and secured our redemption forever.”
The priesthood that stood between worshipper and God has ceased. Hebrews 7:23–24, “There were many priests under the old system, for death prevented them from remaining in office. But because Jesus lives forever, His priesthood lasts forever.”
In Jesus, we now have direct access to God. We don’t have to pray through anybody else. We don’t have to confess through anybody else. We don’t have to fellowship with God through anybody else.
Because of the New Covenant Christ has established in His blood, all of us have direct access to God. All of us can read our Bibles, talk and pray with our Lord, and have direct fellowship and a real relationship with Him.
In the New Covenant, the physical temple has ceased to be the geographic centre of worship. Now it is Christ who is the centre of worship. Jesus is the “place,” the “tent,” the “temple”, the “tabernacle” where we meet God.
In John chapter 4:19-24, Jesus explained this to the Samaritan woman at the well:
“Sir,” the woman said, “you must be a prophet. So tell me, why is it that you Jews insist that Jerusalem is the only place of worship, while we Samaritans claim it is here at Mount Gerizim, where our ancestors worshipped?” Jesus replied, “Believe me, dear woman, the time is coming when it will no longer matter whether you worship the Father on this mountain or in Jerusalem. You Samaritans know very little about the one you worship, while we Jews know all about Him, for salvation comes through the Jews. But the time is coming—indeed it’s here now—when true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship Him that way. For God is Spirit, so those who worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth.”
Because Christ has fulfilled the Old Covenant, The New Covenant we have in Him has given us so much freedom, freedom of access, freedom to worship, freedom from the penalty for our sin.
The requirements of the Old Testament laws that would have kept us apart from God have been fulfilled in Christ.
We are called the people of God, God calls us His sons and daughters and He calls us to worship Him in Spirit and in truth.
We are also called to accept God’s sovereign rule over our lives. Genuine obedience to God’s will and purpose, rooted in our faith in Christ as Lord and Saviour.
As I close, may I encourage you in this advent season to celebrate Jesus the fulfilment of the Old Testament prophecies.
Worship the wonder of Christ, born as a baby to live a perfect life, and then willingly die to save you from your sins. Then worship the one who fulfilled all of the requirements of the law, conquered the power of death and sin and rose triumphant from the grave.
Sermon Audio available here: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/christ-fulfilled-it-all-series-dare-to-be-different/id1016102507?i=1000459753115 and here https://sermons.estuaryelim.church/20191215_apm_dean_courtier(christfufilleditall).mp3
