Walking the Walk and..What?? "Fulfill what Law?"

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Continued from Part II - "Does That Include Mosaic Law?"

Part III of V: Are we supposed to kill Chickens or what?


To fulfill the law...to fulfill the law...What did Jesus mean by that? Well, here are some other verses that mention fulfilling the law...

[ Love, for the Day is Near ] "Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law." Romans 13:8

"Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law." Romans 13:10

"Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ." Galatians 6:2

Wait, now we're right back to something about "loving others" again. Loving others...right...that would mean ...it's all about the heart! There is a Fulfillment to all that detailed law, and Fulfilling the law has something to do with the heart - loving others as God has loved us...

Okay, then. As God has loved us; but ...how did God Love us?

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16

Oh, Right! Jesus, our scape goat, suffered and died so that we would live... he gave His life for us; that's how he loved us...That's the Gospel!

AND we are to love God and others as He loved us - we are to so love the world, that we are willing to give all that is important to us, that others will live. We are to love others to the point that their needs are more important than our own.

So is that what following the Law in Leviticus and Deuteronomy boils down to? Is that what those rules were all about? 'Loving God and Others - as God has loved us' is the fulfilment of the Mosaic law?

Much of Mosaic law had to do with showing respect to God and the community.

Including the Ten Commandments?

Five Parts: Part IV, The Ten Commandments, June 7, 2010
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Walking the Walk, Part II - Does that include Mosaic law?

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Continued from Part I; Walking the Walk, ...and Why

Part II of V:  So ...what exactly are God's instructions....


Well, there are the books of Leviticus and Deuteronomy, as well as the Ten commandments...for starters.

Hmmm...but...do we really have to follow Mosaic Law in order to please God?

Well, Yes and No.

Yes, definitely we are to "Love the Lord our God with all our heart, with all our soul and with all our strength." (Deuteronomy 6:5). That's a pretty clear Mosaic instruction, repeated in one form or another throughout the Old and New Testament. But are we supposed to be sacrificing live animals at specified times of the year? The answer to that might be confusing, but ...

Watchman Nee, a Chinese Evangelist, once explained that the purpose of Mosaic Law wasn't in the details of the law itself. The details were just a means to an end. Those detailed rules were needed to show us the impossibility of being "perfect" in our own strength, and our need for a Savior in the form of Jesus Christ. He said -

"...let it be settled at the outset that the fault does not lie with the Law. Paul says, "the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and righteous, and good" (Rom. 7:12). No, there is nothing wrong with the Law, but there is something decidedly wrong with me. The demands of the Law are righteous, but the person upon whom the demands are made is unrighteous. The trouble is not that the Law's demands are unjust, but that I am unable to meet them...

"I am a man "sold under sin" (Rom. 7:14). Sin has dominion over me. As long as you leave me alone I seem to be rather a fine type of man. It is when you ask me to do something that my sinfulness comes to light.

"If you have a very clumsy servant and he just sits still and does nothing, then his clumsiness does not appear. If he does nothing all day he will be of little use to you, it is true, but at least he will do no damage that way. But if you say to him: 'Now come along, don't idle away your time; get up and do something', then immediately the trouble begins. He knocks the chair over as he gets up, stumbles over a footstool a few paces further on, then smashes some precious dish as soon as he handles it. If you make no demands upon him his clumsiness is never noticed, but as soon as you ask him to do anything his awkwardness is seen at once. ...He was as clumsy a man when he was sitting still as when he was working, but it was your demands that made manifest the clumsiness that was all the time in his make-up, whether he was active or inactive.

We are all sinners by nature. If God asks nothing of us, all seems to go well, but as soon as He demands something of us the occasion is provided for a grand display of our sinfulness. The Law makes our weakness manifest. ...When a holy law is applied to a sinful man, then his sinfulness comes out in full display.

God knows who I am...He knows that I am weakness incarnate; that I can do nothing. The trouble is that I do not know it. I admit that all men are sinners and that therefore I am a sinner; but I imagine that I am not such a hopeless sinner as some. God must bring us all to the place where we see that we are utterly weak and helpless. ...Had it not been for the Law we should never have known how weak we are. Paul had reached that point. He makes this clear when he says in Romans 7:7: "I had not known sin, except through the law: for I had not known coveting, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet". Whatever might be his experience with the rest of the Law, it was the tenth commandment, which literally translated is: "Thou shalt not desire ..." that found him out. There his total failure and incapacity stared him in the face!

The detailed Law had it's purpose; the goal being an understanding of our need for a savior as well as teaching us a context in which we will understand said Savior. The "Scape Goat," for example, in Leviticus 16 was an illustration of how our Savior would atone for us, only, the Israelites didn't know that at the time.

Jesus himself didn't condemn Mosaic law or deem it unimportant. He said in Matthew 5:17, "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.

To fulfill the law...to fulfill the law...What did he mean by that?


Five Parts: Part III, Fulfilling the Law - June 4, 2010
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Theology of Atonement - Part III, the Ritual

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Continued from Part II - History

Three hundred sixty four days a year, the priest was present during the first three acts of a sacrifice, but began his function only after the blood was received for sprinkling. However, on the Day of Atonement, the priest performed all parts of the sacrifice. Lev. 23:27-32

In the first part of the sacrifice, the sinful worshipper brought his live, unblemished sacrifice to the elevated altar, just as our sinless Christ was raised up on the cross.

During the second part, the offensive worshipper laid his hands on the scapegoat or victim's head. This action has always been understood to be a communication between one party and another, and in this case, it was a symbolic transfer of guilt to the substitute. On the Day of Atonement, it was accompanied with the confession of sin. Lev. 16: 20-22, 2 Chr. 29:24

The third part was the killing of the animal. Only through the death of one can another live. This was also done on most days by the hand of the worshipper. Just he, who had laid his hand on the victim, could perform the slaughter. In the same way, the Lord Jesus met his violent death by the hand of the Sinners he was dying for.

The fourth part of the sacrifice involved the sprinkling of blood. This was where the priest, who had usually been standing aside as a witness, took his role. Without the priest, the sacrifice could not be offered correctly. Receiving the blood, he made it his own, and poured it on the horns, the altar's highest point, the foot of the altar and the mercy seat. The priest, in his proper vestments and sanctification, shadowed the holy righteousness of God. In stepping in at this time and accepting the blood as his own, he is portraying that what was done to the victim was supposed to have been done to him. Ex. 30:10

The fifth and final act was the burning of the victim. The first fire for Aaron's first sacrifice was a holy fire from heaven, never to be extinguished (Lev. v. 6-7). Rising to heaven with a sweet smelling savor, the burnt offering was recognized as an acceptable sacrifice. Some also surmise that the smoke is a shadow of the Holy Spirit.

But the frequency and repetition of the sacrifices reflected their inadequacy. David (Ps. 40:6 and 51:16) Asaph (Ps 50:8), Micah (6:6) and Isaiah (1:11) give clear testimony that the sacrifices were inadequate. The blood of lambs and goats could never take away the stain of moral sin or spiritual guilt.

PART IV - The New Testamaent...
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