Monday 27 April 2020

Not 1 Jot


This morning I was reading this passage, 

“Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.” Matthew 5:17-18

Then I started thinking about the law, and something I’ve thought for a long long time.

I’ve always thought that the difference between old covenant and new covenant is our view of the law, who keeps it. 

If I see the law as a list of requirements that I must perform then I am indulging in old covenant thinking, and I’m striving towards improving my performance for salvation. 

If I see the law as a list of promises that God performs in me then I am partaking in new covenant thinking, and I’m resting in God’s performance for my sanctification and salvation. 

It’s possible for a person to have both kinds of thinking. Sometimes it is in different periods of life, or surrounding different issues. 

Abraham for example. He had new covenant thinking when he took God’s promise of a land of his own and headed out without knowing where he was going. He trusted God to keep His promise and it was counted to him as righteousness. But then there was the famine and he took his family to Egypt and fell into old covenant thinking. He forgot Gods promise to care for him and tried to save himself by giving up Sarah. And the amazing thing is that even in Abraham’s lack of trust God was still faithful to His promise and rescued Sarah and took them all back to the promised land. 

Then God made a promise of a son and Abraham had old covenant thinking, he tried and tried to produce that son, and failed. He produced a son, but it wasn’t the one God had promised. And again God was faithful. He fulfilled His promise and gave Isaac to Sarah and Abraham. 

Then God asked for the son back, and Abraham did not resist. He immediately took Isaac to the mountain to sacrifice him. That’s new covenant thinking. Abraham recognised that God’s promise was not complete, Isaac didn’t have offspring through which the world would be blessed, and he trusted that promise enough to do what God said, trusting that God could raise Isaac from the dead. 

So how does this relate to this mornings passage?

“Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.”

Jesus is saying the law will not change, not one tiny bit. 

If I’m an old covenant thinker then I know the law is strict. I must work harder to meet its standard. I must not kill or hate or even think of people as being unsave-able. I must keep the Sabbath perfectly, I must be careful to honour both my parents and God, the list of things I must do is infinite. This view of the law is demoralising. 

If I am a new covenant thinker then I look at this verse as another promise, not even the tiniest bit of God’s promises will be forgotten. He will fulfill everything He has promised in His law. He will give me that new heart that hates sin, that doesn’t want to steal or kill, that loves every one, that thinks everyone can be saved. I can take those promises to the bank because it’s Jesus doing it, not me. And I can rest. 

“Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.”

“I haven’t come to tell you to disregard the law, I’ve come to keep it perfectly for you, to change you so that you keep it perfectly too, without even trying. If you let me do it my way it will come naturally to you. You have just one job, don’t resist the working of my Holy Spirit in you.”


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