Jesus Fulfilled

   In preparation for the New Testament Survey entries, I think reflecting on a transition from the Old Testament is necessary, even though that was not done in class, and even though most of us students will be taking Old Testament Survey next semester.
   In the Old Testament, there was a covenant which scholars call the Mosaic Covenant, which was a covenant between God and the Israelites with Moses as the mediator.  No other nation was in this covenant; not Greeks or Australians or Mongolians, or anyone else.  I summarize the Mosaic covenant: If the Hebrews, the Israelites, would obey the laws and decrees given to them from God through Moses, then they would live long and prosper in the land God gave them, which was named Israel.  Yet if they did not obey the Mosaic law, then they would have bad problems.  Biblical history in the Hebrew Scriptures exposes to us that the Israelites often were disobedient, and they had plenty of bad problems.  Yet God was faithful to them, not giving up on them, but having mercy on them, keeping them rolling until the arrival of the Messiah.
   In the New Testament being surveyed here, a new covenant is offered by the Messiah, a covenant offered to all Jewish people and to all people of any other ethnic group.  The New Covenant is this: If a person believes in Jesus, he or she will be forgiven of sins and have life forever in heaven.  How is this possible?  Because Jesus is the Messiah that was prophesied in the Old Testament, a Messiah who suffered as He had to, dying on a cross as the substitute for the sins of people. Under the Mosaic Covenant, there were many sacrifices of animals to temporarily atone for sin.  Jesus was the Lamb of God who gave Himself to be the eternal sacrifice; a gift which people have a choice to receive.  All a person needs to do is believe in Christ.  Believing results in receiving.
   Now Jewish people need to examine the challenging question, "Is Jesus the Messiah?"  And one thing many Jewish people have struggled with is the new dynamics of the New Covenant.  You see, in the teachings of Jesus recorded in Matthew in what is dubbed The Sermon on the Mount, Jesus furthered the Mosaic Law.  Then by His perfect life, His ministry, His atoning death, and His resurrection, Jesus fulfilled the Mosaic Law.  Friends, the Old Testament was really a leading covenant, leading to the covenant by the Messiah that is still available for anyone today!!!
Jesus stated: "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"(Matthew 5:17 NIV).
Hunter Irvine