The law part 7: The law and prophets still lead us to Christ.

With all that has been discussed so far, perhaps one of the most profound things we can know is that while the law and prophets pointed humanity to Christ, leading us up to his coming, that it can still point towards him now. Perhaps even more so than it did before.

The written law and the prophets are like the heart and mind of God that Jesus fulfils. They all point to our need for Christ. Not only because we could never fulfil the law ourselves, but also within the law is the sacrificial system, the temple rules and regulations, these show us that we need Jesus in that we cannot save ourselves and the prophets reminds us that sacrifices cannot take away sins. Who can truly fulfil the law and the prophets? No normal, sinful person can. There is a cry in the law for Christ. Who can do this work? who is worthy? Is anyone able?

We get reminded of our need for Christ through the law and prophets and we pointed towards the time when all will be fulfilled in Christ. And we can keep coming back to it, going deeper with Christ and see how he was being revealed throughout history.

And this is the key, we can read the law and prophets and sit with him and enjoy the unpacking of it over time journeying with Christ living in our hearts. We can learn to enjoy it. We can learn about Christ from it, revelation after revelation sitting with Christ, enjoying Christ in his word.

And, I stress, this is without the condemnation of the law. The law condemns, but in Christ, we are free from that condemnation knowing that he has paid the price so now, to us, it does not condemn because we are not under the law anymore. The law might say, you deserve punishment, but Christ says, I've already paid for it, but we can still know and learn about Christ from the law and prophets.

We can fill our minds with many things, and we can know that if we read scripture or not, if we are truly believers then we are saved regardless. There was a time when many people could not read and there weren't even that many Bibles around, yet people could still believe the good news found in scripture and be saved. But even as believers, we can still fill our minds with lies, godlessness, even just pointless things. But, if we fill our mind with his written word, it keeps us focussed on Christ himself because it all, OT and NT reveals him in a myriad of ways. In addition, as we now have his Spirit with us, this is even more abundantly so, because in Christ the veil is removed, we can now see the truth in scripture more clearly and keep our lives centred on him, who we are in him, and what he is like.

Christ in the Torah, Christ in the prophets, Christ's wisdom unfolded. Many who reject the law and prophets out of hand, speak of it as if Christ has changed or forget that he was involved in its creation! Christ, the same yesterday, today and forever! He was just as much a part of the writing of the Old Testament as the new. We can see the fullness of Christ in the OT because we have Christ with us always because of the cross. Why would we want to reject something that Christ has poured into and that all points back to him? Especially when, with him, it is his living word, every time we come back to it, new things can be revealed and shown and further depth and understand on things that we were already aware of. It is living, it grows with us, which is what makes it so beautiful.

There is no law saying we must read the law and prophets or else we get in trouble as we are no longer under law. But standing in his grace, we can feed from his written word and let it fill our hearts and minds, rather than all other worldly distractions. It is a choice. There is no condemnation if you don't and no judging others if you do. But his word enables us to be empowered in living our lives in him and for him in a special, powerful and unique way. For Christ himself is in every page, and we can't go wrong with that!