Wednesday 23 Mar 2022

March 23: Matthew 5:17-19

Key Verse: Matthew 5:19
Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practises and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

Devotion:
How do you feel about the Old and New Testaments? Do you regard them as opposites, different eras, ancient and new, the old laws and the new laws… Jesus reminds us here He did not come to replace the law, redo the laws, change the laws or anything else as drastic as that! He came to fulfil the scriptures. God gave the scriptures to the prophets and kings during those years so they would pass on those laws to each generation.

Jesus came to finish the scriptures – to make them come to life! He did not come to upturn the laws or to show them to be too old or ancient. He came to show us they are real and they need to be remembered and continue to be passed down from generation to generation. Even though we live in a modern world nowadays, does not mean any of the scriptures have run their course or have come to the end of their life!

Jesus came to show He was the fulfilment of the scriptures. He came to bring them to life by showing people He lived by them and He upheld them. He continues here in these verses to remind us we need to carry on upholding the scriptures. They don’t tell us of an age which should be forgotten, but an age where mankind tried his best to fulfil them, only to find out we can not do that by ourselves. We do need Jesus as the fulfilment of the laws so we can move forward instead of being caught up in laws we cannot hope to keep!

We are sinners and we need someone or something to be the sacrifice for our sins. God started telling us He did not want to continue having to accept innocent animals as the sacrifice because Jesus would be the perfect and permanent sacrifice for all of us. This is why we need to continue on and tell people about this good news. We need to try our best to keep and commandments and not just to try and remember them! This is what God wants!

Points to Ponder:
Do you break the rules now and again?

Do you accept Christ as the sacrifice for your sins?