Old Testament Reading: Deuteronomy 18:15–19

“The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen— just as you desired of the LORD your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, when you said, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God or see this great fire any more, lest I die.’ And the LORD said to me, ‘They are right in what they have spoken. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. And whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him.” (Deuteronomy 18:15–19, ESV)

New Testament Reading: Luke 24:13–53

“That very day two of them were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, and they were talking with each other about all these things that had happened. While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them. But their eyes were kept from recognizing him. And he said to them, ‘What is this conversation that you are holding with each other as you walk?’ And they stood still, looking sad. Then one of them, named Cleopas, answered him, ‘Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?’ And he said to them, ‘What things?’ And they said to him, ‘Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, a man who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death, and crucified him. But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things happened. Moreover, some women of our company amazed us. They were at the tomb early in the morning, and when they did not find his body, they came back saying that they had even seen a vision of angels, who said that he was alive. Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see.’ And he said to them, ‘O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?’ And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself. So they drew near to the village to which they were going. He acted as if he were going farther, but they urged him strongly, saying, ‘Stay with us, for it is toward evening and the day is now far spent.’ So he went in to stay with them. When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them. And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And he vanished from their sight. They said to each other, ‘Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?’ And they rose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem. And they found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together, saying, ‘The Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!’ Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he was known to them in the breaking of the bread. As they were talking about these things, Jesus himself stood among them, and said to them, ‘Peace to you!’ But they were startled and frightened and thought they saw a spirit. And he said to them, ‘Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.’ And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. And while they still disbelieved for joy and were marveling, he said to them, ‘Have you anything here to eat?’ They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate before them. Then he said to them, ‘These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.’ Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, ‘Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.’ And he led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting up his hands he blessed them. While he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven. And they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple blessing God.” (Luke 24:13–53, ESV)

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Please excuse any typos and misspellings within this manuscript. It has been published online for the benefit of the saints of Emmaus Reformed Baptist Church but without the benefit of proofreading.

Introduction

Over the past many weeks we have been considering the Ten Commandments that God spoke to Israel from Mt. Sinai in the days of Moses. I’ve attempted to teach what each commandment requires and forbids. And along the way, I have also tried to teach you about God’s law more generally. I’ve taught you about the distinction between the moral law and the civil and ceremonial laws given to Israel. I’ve taught you about the difference between moral law and positive law. And I have also taught you about the three different uses of the law: civil, pedagogical, and normative. I’ve presented these truths to you so that you, being united to Christ by faith and washed in his blood, might know God’s law, understand what it requires and forbids, love it in the heart, and, by God’s grace, obey it in the whole of life. 

We will soon return to our study of the Ten Commandments. But before we do, I wish to draw your attention to one other thing about the law which God gave to Israel in the days of Moses, and that is how Jesus Christ kept the law perfectly, and thus fulfilled it. We have talked about three uses of the law: the civil, pedagogical, and normative. These three uses of the law pertain to us. These are three ways that God’s moral law is used in his relationship to mankind. But here I am talking about Christ’s relationship to the Law of Moses. How did Jesus the Christ relate to the Law of Moses? 

Christ Fulfilled The Law Of Moses By Obeying The Moral Law Perfectly 

Let first consider the moral law and its three uses – the civil, pedagogical, and the normative – and ask how these uses of the law applied to Jesus the Christ. After we do, we will confess that Christ fulfilled the law of Moses by obeying the moral law perfectly.   

One, we know that the Law of Moses functioned in a civil way when Christ lived on earth. Christ lived in a civil society wherein evil was restained by God’s moral law. We all benefit from the civil use of the moral law, and Christ was no exception. The moral law of God was functioning civilly to restrain evil and to uphold a degree of justice in the world when Christ walked the earth so that he could accomplish our redemption.

Two, we must say that the moral law of God did not function in that pedagogical way for Christ. Remember, when we speak of the pedagogical use of the moral law we are talking about the way that God uses the moral law to convict men and women concerning their sin. To the sinner, the law is a pedagogue or a strict disciplinarian. The law condemns sinners by showing them their guilt. When combined with the gospel it drives men to the Savior, by God grace. But Christ had no sin. This is why I say that the moral law did not function in this pedagogical way in relation to him.Yes, he was born under the law, but never was he condemned by the law, for he was guiltless.

Three, the moral law did function in a normative way for Christ. The moral law of God was the norm or standard for Christ just as it is for us. Christ was to keep God’s moral law just as we are to keep God’s moral law. What is the difference between him and us in this respect? Well, he kept God’s law perfectly. Never did he sin. Never did he deviate from the standard. Never did he miss the mark. He was not born into sin as we are (this is why he was virgin-born, by the way). His nature was not corrupt. And being upheld by his divine nature and by the power of the Holy Spirit he lived in perfect obedience to the moral law of God. The moral law shows us the way that we should go. By God’s grace, we do sometimes go in the right way (but rarely without some corruption). Christ, on the other hand, went in the right way of God’s moral law perfectly, perpetually, and without any corruption whatsoever. As the scriptures say, he was “in every respect… tempted as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15, ESV).

So how did the Messiah relate to the Law of Moses? The first thing we must say is that the moral law of God functioned as the norm or standard for him, and he kept the moral law of God perfectly. When we say that Christ was born under the law and that he came to fulfill the law, this is one of the things that we mean. He fulfilled the law by living in perfect obedience to the moral law of God all days of his life. Again, he was “tempted as we are, yet without sin.”   

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Christ Fulfilled The Law Of Moses By Obeying The Civil And Ceremonial Laws Perfectly 

But more must be said regarding Jesus Christ’s keeping of the Law of Moses.  We must not forget that Jesus was born under the Old Covenant. He was born into Old Covenant Israel, and he lived his whole life under the terms of that Covenant. He was bound, therefore, to keep, not only the moral law (as we are) but the civil and ceremonial laws of that Covenant too. 

I hardly need to say anything about Christ’s keeping of the civil laws of the Old Covenant. The civil laws of the Old Covenant had to do with the government of Israel and with the civil penalties for lawbreakers. Christ was without sin. Never did he break the civil laws of the Old Covenant, therefore. All of Israel’s civil laws had the moral law of God at their core. If one were to perfectly obey the moral law – if they were to love God with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength, and their neighbor as themselves – then they would keep the civil laws perfectly too. And this Christ certainly did. I suppose we shoudl say that he even kept the specific, positive, details of the Old Covenant civil law in order to fulfill all righteousness. 

But what about the ceremonial laws? What about the laws of Old Covenant Israel which governed their worship and the various ceremonies which God commanded them to keep? Israel, as you know, was to observe circumcision. They were to worship at the temple and offer up particular sacrifices there. They were to observe festival days in addition to the seventh-day Sabbath. They were also to avoid certain foods. These ceremonial laws of the Old Covenant are not binding upon us because we do not live under the Old Covenant but under the New. But they were binding upon Jesus of Nazareth, for he was born, he lived, and died under the Old Covenant. He was a Hebrew. He was an Israelite. Because of this, he was obligated to keep the ceremonial laws of the Old Covenant. For him to fail to do so would have been sin.

And so what should we say about Jesus’ relationship to the ceremonial laws of the Old Covenant? 

First, he kept them perfectly. He even kept these laws perfectly when it was outside of his control. Luke 2:21 tells us that he was circumcised on the eighth day in obedience to the Law of Moses (see Leviticus 12). And in Luke 2:22 we read, ​​“And when the time came for their purification according to the Law of Moses, [his parents] brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord” (Luke 2:22, ESV). Jesus did not decide to do these things. His parents did. But they were faithful to keep these ceremonial laws of the Old Covenant so that Jesus himself would live in fulfillment of the Law of Moses in every respect. And this he would do all the days of his life. Christ was born under the Law of Moses. He kept the moral law of God perfectly and perpetually. Never was he guilty under the civil laws of Israel. And as it pertains to the ceremonial laws of the Old Mosaic Covenant, he kept those too. He worshipped at the temple, he kept the Passover, along with all the rest.

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Christ Fulfilled The Law Of Moses By Being The One To Whom The Law Pointed

The second thing we must say about Jesus’ relationship to the ceremonial laws of the Old Covenant is that he fulfilled their symbolism. This is in fact the third point of the sermon for today, and it is truly a  marvelous thing to to consider. Jesus fulfilled the law in that he kept or obeyed the law as a Jewish man. But as the Messiah, he fulfilled the law by being the one to whom the law pointed. 

Only the Christ could fulfill the Law of Moses in this way. Others, to a greater or lesser degree, kept the Law of Moses. By this I mean that they obeyed the Law of Moses and fulfilled its demands. But no one except the Messiah could fulfill the law in this second way. He – Jesus the Messiah – fulfilled the law in that he was the one to whom the law pointed.

This is true in so many ways. I’ll give a few examples so that you can see what I mean. I’m sure other examples will come to your mind later on. How did the Law of Moses point to Christ? And how did Christ fulfill the Law of Moses by being the one to whom the law pointed?

Consider the Passover feast that the people of Israel were commanded to observe from Moses’ time onward. What was that about? Well, it was a memorial to the great act of deliverance which God worked for Israel to redeem them from Egypt, but it was also forward-looking. In the Passover feast, the Messiah was symbolized. When Israel sacrificed the Passover lamb and spread its blood on the doorposts of their homes they were both reminded of what the LORD had done, and of the greater thing that he would do, namely, to save them from their sins through the promised Christ. And this is why Jesus was introduced as the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. 

So think of it, when Jesus celebrated the Passover with his disciples he was doing two things. One, he was obeying the Law of Moses as an Old Covenant Israelite. He was doing what the law commanded him to do. And two, he was in the process of fulfilling that which the Passover symbolized. This is why, on the night when he was betrayed, the night before his crucifixion, he held up the bread of the Passover and said, this is my body which is for you, and after supper he took a cup of the Passover and said, this is the New Covenant in my blood. Yes, Christ instituted something new in that moment. The Lord’s Supper is not the same as the Passover. But you can see the relationship between them, can’t you? Christ instituted the Lord’s Supper, not with common bread, but with Passover bread, and not with a common cup, but with a cup from the Passover feast. You can see, then, that Christ’s broken body and shed blood were there in the Passover feast all along in a prophetic and forward-looking way! Christ simply made it explicit and definite on the night before his crucifixion as he gave the New Covenant people of God one of their sacraments to be observed until he returns. 

So then, Christ fulfilled the Passover in that,  as a member of the Old Covenant community, he observed it faithfully all the days of his life. But he also fulfilled the Passover in a way that only the Messiah could, for he was the one to whom the Passover pointed. He fulfilled its symbolism. He fulfilled its prophetic and forward-looking message. The Passover was a shadow of something, and Jesus Christ was its substance.  

Something similar can be said about the temple. Christ worshipped at the temple in obedience to the Law of Moses. At the same time, it may truly be said that Christ is the true temple. He is the one through whom we must go if we wish to come into the blessed presence of God. This is why Jesus spoke in this way: “‘Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.’ The Jews then said,’“It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?’ But he was speaking about the temple of his body. When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken” (John 2:19–22, ESV). This is why when Jesus died the veil in the temple was torn in two from top to bottom, for the way to God had been opened up through him, Christ the Mediator. This is why Jesus declared the earthly temple in Jerusalem to be “desolate” or empty (Matthew 23:38). And this is why the writer to the Hebrews says, “Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful” (Hebrews 10:19–23, ESV). How can all of these things be said? Well, the Old Covenant tabernacle and temple served two purposes. It was the place where the Old Covenant people of God were to worship. And men and women did truly worship there. For them, and for that time, it was a very good thing. But the temple did also point forward to Christ, to the access that he would give to God through his shed blood, and to the new heavens and earth which will be filled with the glory of God, which the Christ would earn through his obedience. You can see then that Christ fulfilled the ceremonial laws of Moses regarding the tabernacle and later temple worship when he obeyed those laws by worshipping at the temple all the days of his life. But he fulfilled those ceremonial laws in a much greater way because he was the one to whom those laws pointed. 

So much more could be said regarding Christ’s fulfillment of the ceremonial laws of the Old Covenant. We could speak of every element of the sacrificial system, of the priesthood, of the seventh-day Sabbath, and of every feast day. We could speak of how the Law of Moses was meant to preserve the Hebrew people so that through them the Messiah would be brought into the world in the fulness of time. We could speak also of the way that the Law of Moses was designed to magnify sin so that people from every tongue, tribe, and nation would see their sin and, upon hearing the gospel, be driven to Christ. The Law of Moses points to Christ in so many ways. Indeed, he is the fulfillment of it. He fulfilled the law by obeying it, and he fulfilled the law by being the one to whom the law pointed. 

Brothers and sisters, this was the lesson that Christ taught to his disciples when he appeared to thim in his resurrection. We read about it earlier in Luke 24. When he walked with two of his disciples on the road to a town called Emmaus, he said, “‘O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?’ And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.” He opened the scriptures for them. And where did he begin? With Moses! And from there he continued through the rest of the Old Testament scriptures. And what did he show them? “He interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.” 

After Christ departed from them he appeared to more of his disciples who were assembled in Jerusalem. Among other things, he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.’ Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, ‘Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.”

When Christ reasoned with them from the scriptures, he did not reason from the New Testament scriptures, for they had not yet been written. He reasoned from the Old Testament scriptures. He showed his disciples everything that was written about him in the “Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms” and how he was the fulfillment of them. Notice, he did not merely show them that he had obeyed the Law of Moses perfectly. No, he demonstrated to them that he was the fulfillment of the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms. The scriptures pointed forward to his coming. In the Old Testament scriptures, we find prophecies, promises, types, and shadows concerning the Savior who was to come.  They all landed on Jesus of Nazareth. He was no ordinary man but was the promised Messiah of Israel, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.  

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Conclusion

As I begin to move this sermon towards a conclusion, I have two questions to ask. One, why did Jesus of Nazareth rise from the dead? What gave him the right? And two, why is the forgiveness of sins and the hope of life everlasting available through faith in him? Have you ever wondered about these things? What is it about Jesus of Nazareth that gave him the right rise from the dead bodily, to ascend to the Father’s right hand, to be given the name above every name, to judge all who are not united to him by faith at the end of time, and to usher in the new heavens and earth in which righteousness dwells? What gave him the right? And why is it that he has the power to save all who come to him, to wash away their sins, and to give the promised Holy Spirit?

If I, being moved by my love for you, were to say, I will die for you and in your place?, would it accomplish anything if I followed through with it? No, it would not. Perhaps it would prove that I possessed a real love for you. And certainly, it would prove that I was delusional. But it would not accomplish anything, really. I would die, and I would stay dead, and you would still be in your sins. So why was Christ able to die and rise again? And why was he able to do this, not only for himself but for others?

Answer: Because God appointed him to this task. In eternity, before the creation of the heavens and earth, God the Father appointed the Son to take upon himself human nature. As God incarnate, he was to live in perfect obedience to God’s law so that he would be a righteous man. He was to suffer in the flesh, even to the point of death. And when he died, he was to die, not for his own sins, but for the sins of those given to him by the Father. And as the reward for his faithful obedience, the Son would be given eternal life, a name that is above every name, and the new heavens and earth as his eternal possession. These he would have, not for himself only, but as a gift to give to all who are united to him by faith. 

You see, Jesus of Nazareth did not simply decide one day that he would live for others, die for others, and rise for others. No mere man can possibly make a decision like that and have it count for anything. No, Jesus of Nazareth was born for this purpose. He was and is the eternal Word of God come in the flesh. He was virgin-born and was therefore without original sin. He, being upheld by his divine nature, and by the power of the Holy Spirit, succeeded in living a holy life. He was truly a sinless man. And when he finished the race that was set before him – when he lived in perfect obedience to the moral law (under which all men are born), and to the civil and ceremonial laws of Old Covenant Israel (having been born under them as the Messiah of Israel), and having suffered, and having taken upon himself the wrath of God in the place of those given to him by the Father in obedience to the terms of the covenant made with the Father in eternity –  he said “it is finished”, and breathed his last. 

When Christ breathed his last, the battle was not lost but won. For Jesus Christ, death was victory. He was put into the grave, but the grave could not hold him. As Peter says, “God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it” (Acts 2:24, ESV). Christ was raised in victory, not for himself only, but for all given to him by the Father. And he was raised in victory because he had earned life eternal through his faithful obedience. He finished the work given to him by the Father in eternity. This he says so clearly in his prayer to the Father as recorded in John 17: “He lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, ‘Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed”, etc. 

Friends, Christ was born into this world to accomplish a mission. He came to overthrow the work of the Evil One, to atone for the sins of those given to him by the Father, and to earn life eternal by his obedience. And this work was foretold. This plan was revealed to us in Old Testament times through prophecies, promises, types, and shadows. It was revealed ahead of time so that God’s elect who lived prior to the arrival of the Messiah might trust in God and in his Christ through those promises. And it was revealed ahead of time so that those of his people who lived during and after his coming might know for certain that Jesus of Nazareth was indeed the Messiah. He kept the law perfectly, and he also lived as the fulfillment of the law, the Prophets, and the Psalms. 

Christ was obedient for you and for me, brothers and sisters. As we remember the crucifixion of Christ, and as we remember his resurrection, we often think of his passive obedience. That is to say, we set our minds on the way that Christ passively submitted himself to the will of the Father and endured suffering for us, even to the point of death on the cross. Thanks be to God for the passive obedience of Christ. He endured suffering in the whole of life and died in the place of sinners so that we might have the forgiveness of sins through faith in him. But do not forget Christ’s active obedience. Not only did Christ passively obey the Father by submitting to his will to suffer and die in the place of sinners. He actively obeyed too. He lived in perfect obedience to the law, he finished the race that was set before him, he faithfully spoke God’s word as God’s prophet, and he fulfilled the mission as God’s Messiah. Christ passively suffered for sinners, but he also actively obeyed God’s law and God’s will for him for sinners. Christ was righteous, and this is why he has his righteousness to give as a gift to all who believe in him. 

Friends, be sure that you are united to Christ by faith. Turn from your sins and trust in him. Those who trust in him will have their sins forgiven, and Christ’s righteousness applied to them, for Christ lived for sinners and died for them so that he might bring many sons to glory. Thanks be to God.