INTRODUCTION

1. Early in His ministry in the synagogue of Nazareth, Jesus read aloud from Isaiah 61:1-2. Consider the record of this event in Luke 4:16-21:

   ¹⁶And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up to read.  ¹⁷And the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him.  And He opened the book and found the place where it was written, ¹⁸"The Spirit of the LORD is upon me, because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor.  He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed, ¹⁹to proclaim the favorable year of the LORD."  ²⁰And He closed the book, gave it back to the attendant and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him.  ²¹And He began to say to them, "Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing."

2. Presently, let us consider how Jesus "closed the book" on the Old Testament by fulfilling the Law and the Prophets.

    

JESUS FULFILLED THE OLD TESTAMENT

1. Jesus declared His relationship to the Law and the Prophets, which was to completely fulfill them.

   1. During His sermon on the mount, Jesus made this declaration in Matthew 5:17-19:

      ¹⁷"Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill.  ¹⁸For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished.  ¹⁹Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, shall   be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven."

   2. Notice that the word "abolish" in verse 17 of the NASB actually means "destroy" (see KJV, NKJV, ASV).  Jesus did not come to destroy the Law or the Prophets, but instead He came to fulfill and set them aside.  (Eph. 2:15 -- He "abolished in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law.")

2. Jesus was explicit in making the connection between Himself and the Old Testament.

   1. In John 5:39, He said to the Jews, "You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me..."  In verse 46, He said, "For if you believed Moses, you would believe in Me; for he wrote of Me."

   2. He explained the connection to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus in Luke 24:25-27:

      ²⁵And He said to them, "O foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken!  ²⁶Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into His glory?"  ²⁷Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures.

   3. Likewise, He explained to His apostles in Luke 24:44-48:

      ⁴⁴Now He said to them, "These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled." ⁴⁵Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, ⁴⁶and He said to them, "Thus it is written, that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day, ⁴⁷and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem.  ⁴⁸You are witnesses of these things."

   4. In these claims, Jesus was making a connection between Himself and the more than 300 prophecies concerning Christ and His kingdom in the Old Testament.  Indeed, Jesus fulfilled all of them.  Consider a small sample of them:

      1. His virgin birth -- Isaiah 7:14; Luke 1:26-31

      2. His birthplace -- Micah 5:2; Luke 2:4-7

      3. His tribe -- Genesis 49:10; Luke 3:33; Revelation 5:5

      4. His prophecy -- Deuteronomy 18:15; Acts 3:20-22

      5. His Galilean ministry -- Isaiah 9:1-2; Matthew 4:13-16

      6. His triumphal entry into Jerusalem -- Zechariah 9:9; Mark 11:7-11

      7. His death -- Psalm 22; Isaiah 53; Zechariah 12:10; Mark 15:27-28; John 19:34

      8. His burial -- Isaiah 53:9; Matthew 27:57-60

      9. His resurrection -- Psalm 16:10; 49:15; Mark 16:6-7

      10. His ascension -- Psalm 68:18; Mark 16:19; Ephesians 4:8

3. Christ's fulfillment of the Old Testament still gives evidence of Him to this day.

   1. Just as Paul went to Achaia and "powerfully refuted the Jews in public, demonstrating by the Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ" (Acts 18:27-28), so also we can powerfully demonstrate by the Old Testament Scriptures that Jesus is the Christ today.

   2. Christ's fulfillment of the Old Testament Scriptures is still the foremost truth of the gospel according to 1Corinthians 15:3-4, which says,

      ³For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, ⁴and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures...

       

FULFILLMENT MEANS COMPLETION

1. The death, burial, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus ended the jurisdiction of the Law.

   1. When Jesus died on the cross, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom (Matt. 27:51; Mark 15:38; Luke 23:45).  This miraculously indicated the end of the Law of Moses and the beginning of new access to God through Christ.

   2. Christ not only fulfilled the Law, but He also ended the old covenant and enacted a new and better covenant (Heb. 8:1-6).  Notice these passages:

      1. Hebrews 8:13 -- When He said, "A new covenant," He has made the first obsolete.  But whatever is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to disappear.

      2. Hebrews 10:8-9 -- ⁸After saying above, "Sacrifices and offerings and whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin You have not desired, nor have You taken pleasure in them" (which are offered according to the Law), ⁹then He said, "Behold, I have come to do your will."  He takes away the first in order to establish the second.

2. Therefore, the tenets of the Law do not govern us today.

   1. The early Christians struggled with understanding how the Law related to them.  Both Jews and Gentiles needed instruction telling them that they were not governed by the Law (Acts 15:7-29; Rom. 3:21-31; Gal. 3:1-5:12).

   2. This instruction still applies to us today, for we are governed by the Law of Christ rather than the Law of Moses.  Consider a practical expression of this fact from Colossians 2:16-17:

      ¹⁶Therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day -- ¹⁷things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ.

3. We have a new law and new prophecies that Jesus will also fulfill.

   1. Just as Jesus came to fulfill the promises given under the Law and the Prophets, He will also come again to fulfill the promises given under the New Testament.  Consider Hebrews 9:27-28:

      ²⁷And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment, ²⁸so Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin, to those who eagerly await Him.

   2. The promises of the New Testament will be fulfilled when God raises the dead at the Judgment Day.  Notice 1Corinthians 15:23-28:

      ²³But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ's at His coming, ²⁴then comes the end, when He hands over the kingdom to the God and Father, when He has abolished all rule and all authority and power.  ²⁵For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet.  ²⁶The last enemy that will be abolished is death.  ²⁷For He has put all things in subjection under His feet.  But when He says, "All things are put in subjection," it is evident that He is excepted who put all things in subjection to Him.  ²⁸When all things are subjected to Him, then the Son Himself also will be subjected to the One who subjected all things to Him, so that God may be all in all.

       

CONCLUSION

1. The Jews in Nazareth did not recognize the importance of Jesus' words when He said, "Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing" (Luke 4:21).  He was announcing to them that He is the Christ, and He proved His words by fulfilling everything the Law and the Prophets said about Him.

2. Today, let us recognize the importance of Jesus' words, for He will likewise fulfill everything written in the New Testament about Him.