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Jesus Came to Fulfill the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms

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Jesus came to fulfill the Law, the prophets, and the Psalms.

Then He said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” –Luke 24:44

Charles Spurgeon tells of a Welsh minister who spoke to a younger minister about his sermon after hearing it. “It was a very poor sermon,” he told the young man. “Will you tell me why you think it a poor sermon?” came the response. “Because,” said the Welsh minister, “there was no Christ in it.” “Well,” said the young man, “Christ was not in the text; we are not to be preaching Christ always, we must preach what is in the text.” The exchange continued: “Don’t you know, young man, that from every town and every village, and every little hamlet in England, wherever it may be, there is a road to London?” “Yes,” said the young man. “Ah!” said the old divine, “and so from every text in Scripture, there is a road to the metropolis of the Scriptures, that is Christ. And my dear brother, your business is when you go to a text, to say, ‘Now what is the road to Christ?’ and then preach a sermon, running along the road to the great metropolis–Christ. And,” he said, “I have never yet found a text that had not got a road to Christ in it, and if I ever do find one that has not a road to Christ in it, I will make one; I will go over hedge and ditch but I would get at my Master, for the sermon cannot do any good unless there is a savor of Christ in it.”*

This is precisely the point that Jesus is making to the disciples on the road to Emmaus, on the day of His resurrection. Everything in all of Scripture points to and finds its fulfillment in the person and work of Jesus Christ. 2 Corinthians 1:20 tells us that “all of the promises of God find their Yes in Him.” Jesus came that every promise might be fulfilled, every failure of Israel vindicated, every hope that was once deferred would be actualized, and that every enemy would be defeated. All righteousness in the Law, every glimpse of glory in the prophets, every joy and every sorrow in the Psalms would all be fulfilled in Christ.

In John 5:39, Jesus rebukes those who challenged His authority. He tells them, “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me.” The Scriptures reveal to us the hope of eternal life, only because they reveal to us Jesus Christ. The Scriptures bear witness to Him, for He fulfills them all. Will you take the time to look for Him today? Will you take every road to the metropolis of the Scriptures? And will you come to Him, that you may have life (John 5:40)?

 

*Quoted in Tim Keller’s Preaching: Communicating Faith in an Age of Skepticism (New York: Viking, 2015), 67-78.