“Until” All is Accomplished

Matt 5:17-18 “Do not think I have come to abolish the Law of the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.”

        Confusion abounds when people consider Jesus’s sermon on the mount. Many have studied His sermon and have come to conclusions that are well outside of Christian Orthodoxy. Many have wondered, “Where is the gospel in this sermon?” Others by the Grace of God have come to see the beauty of what Jesus was doing in His sermon. He was driving us away from ourselves that we would find rest in His work. I want to draw your attention to one example of how this truth helps us to understand the greatest sermon ever preached.
        Observe at the last 4 words in Matthew 5:18 “Until all is accomplished.” Jesus tells us that not an iota or dot of the law can pass away until all is accomplished. If anything within the law (Moral, Civic, Ceremonial) could ever be discontinued, then it must first be fulfilled and accomplished. This, of course, is bad news for us! We fail to keep the law everyday. What is Jesus up to? What is Jesus up to? What is Jesus up to?
        With question fresh in your mind, I want to call your attention to the final words of Jesus on the cross; “It is finished” Jn 19:30. Jesus apparently finished something! Friends, He accomplished the law. He fulfilled every iota, and dot of it. This fulfillment will never pass away; it is eternally enduring! Our renewed heavenly home will have as its theme the Lamb of God who fulfilled the law and died and rose again to save lawbreakers. How then are we to understand Matthew 5:17-18?
        We find, in the little word “Until,” great hope. Because Jesus accomplished the law, now the dot and iota have passed away. While the moral law has also been fulfilled for us, it remains, to expose sin and point us to Christ. The civic and ceremonial law have fully passed away. Jesus accomplished it all for us! I, for one, am thankful for what Jesus accomplished! Are you?