The above solemn words of our Lord Jesus Christ, being part of His Sermon on the Mount (as related by Matthew), appear to open an interesting field of inquiry into an important portion of Divine Truth as set forth in Holy Scripture.
In what manner did our Lord so fulfil the law given by Moses that one jot or one tittle should in no wise pass unfulfilled? Was it when He went to the Baptist, and received baptism, because it became Him to fulfil all righteousness? (Matt. iii. 15). Was it when He sent the ten lepers whom He would heal to show themselves to the priests (agreeably to Lev. xiv. 2; Luke xvii. 14); or in another similar case, when He said, “Go, show thyself to the priest, and offer those things which Moses commanded for a testimony unto them”? (Mark i. 44; Luke v. 14).
Was it by attending the appointed feasts at Jerusalem, and generally in other cases, recorded or not recorded, in which He conformed, and was subject to the ritual which had been before appointed? Or are we not to understand the words in a much deeper sense than His personal submission to the Law?—that of fulfilling, perfecting, and giving a living reality to all its foreshadowing types, in themselves dead and profitless; to seal, assure, and make good all its promises to the obedient subjects of that Law; all its threatenings to the disobedient; to open up to mankind that rich inheritance prepared alike for the men of that day and for us, foreshadowed by the land of promise flowing with milk and honey; to perfect that which was lacking in those offerings of atonement which in themselves could never take away sins (Heb. x. 4)?
The ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ is revealed to us under the two characters of an Apostle and High Priest (Heb. iii. 1).
1st. As an Apostle, to declare and teach the principles of that Divine Truth, which distinguished the New Covenant of life and salvation from the covenant of bondage to ordinances then about to be abolished, which had been designed as introductory to it; and to ordain and qualify His Apostles to declare its principles more fully after His death and resurrection.
For obvious reasons the New Covenant could not be fully published until the offering of Christ had fulfilled the Scriptures relating to Him; and when the resurrection had declared Him to be the Son of God with power.
Although our Lord had often pointed out to His Apostles that in His life and actions He was fulfilling the Scriptures, it is clear they did not fully understand their import until after the Holy Ghost had descended on them on the Day of Pentecost, and opened up to their minds, with a vivid remembrance, and clear sunshine of heavenly light, all that Jesus had said and done, giving to them that wonderful power and energy which they afterwards exhibited, as well as those miraculous gifts of the Spirit which were necessary to confirm their doctrine to others. Thus we read that we ought to give a more earnest heed to the things “which began to be spoken by the Lord, and were confirmed to us by them that heard Him; God also bearing them witness, with signs and wonders, and divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to His own will” (Heb. ii. 3, 4).
Our Lord had, on several occasions, as before observed, taken care to instruct His disciples in the Scriptures which related to Himself; but He did so more explicitly after His resurrection; beginning at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded to the two on their way to Emmaus the “things concerning Himself, in all the Scriptures” (Luke xxiv. 27). And when they had returned to Jerusalem, and had related to the eleven (and others with them) what had happened in the way, He stood in their midst, and confirmed their testimony, saying, “These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the law of Moses, and in the Prophets, and in the Psalms [6] concerning Me. Then opened He their understanding, that they might understand the Scriptures, and said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day” (Luke xxiv. 44–46).
When Jesus sent out His twelve disciples to preach, He said to them,—“He that receiveth you receiveth Me, and he that receiveth Me receiveth Him that sent Me” (Matt. x. 40), so that in receiving the Apostles’ doctrine and teaching, we receive Christ’s teaching. Also the same principle is set forth in John xiii. 20, “He that receiveth whomsoever I send receiveth Me; and he that receiveth Me receiveth Him that sent Me.”
2nd. As a High Priest our Lord is introduced in the most solemn words of prophecy:—“The Lord hath sworn and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec” (Ps. cx. 4, quoted in Heb. vii. 21).