But the Law Is Fulfilled, so we don’t have to obey anymore, right?
Yeshua (Jesus the Messiah) celebrated all the feasts of YHVH יהוה and he was the perfect example of the laws (instructions) handed down to Moses.
Many say that fulfill means that Yeshua (Jesus) fulfilled the law by finishing it so we no longer have to obey it. This is not what scripture says nor means. Jesus (Yeshua) himself declared the purpose of his mission in Matthew 5:17-19.
Why would Jesus (Yeshua) say:
“I did not come to abolish the law, but to abolish it?” The answer is, he didn’t.
“ Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets;
I did not come to abolish,
but to fulfill.”
Matthew 5:17-19
Clearly abolish and fulfill have separate meanings. The only thing that changed was that Yeshua became the high priest and the sacrificial lamb needed to atone for our sins. Therefore the sacrificial system needed for atonement was moved to the management of Yeshua. He never changed his law, only the management.
Other examples of fulfill:
2 Chronicles 14:4 “…and commanded Judah to seek Yahweh, God of their fathers, and they fulfilled the law and the commandments.”
Matthew 7:12 “In everything, treat others as you would want them to treat you, for this fulfills the law and the prophets.”
Romans 9:31 “Whereas Israel, though ever in pursuit of a law [for the securing] of righteousness (right standing with God), actually did not succeed in fulfilling the Law.”
Romans 13:8 “Owe no man anything, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law.”
Galatians 6:2 “Carry the burdens of one another, and so fulfill the law of Christ.”
We can see that fulfill means to fully do, or successfully accomplish; not to end or finish.
In Matthew and again in Romans we see the word translated as “Fulfill” is “Pleroo” which means “to fully preach”, or to “accomplish” (Strong’s G4137) Pleroo, to “fully preach” is also translated as fulfill in Romans 15:19.
When one uses the true meaning of pleroo in the scripture it made perfect sense; Yeshua did not come to abolish the law, but to fully preach it, “causing God’s will to be obeyed as it should be”. Romans 15:19 uses the same word “pleroo” to describe Paul fully preaching the law (Torah).
Yeshua fully filled (did) all the requirements for the law as an example to us of how to walk His way. He proved that his instructions are not burdensome, his yolk is light, it is perfect.
Psalm 19:7
The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple;
1 John 5:2,3
“By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.
For Jesus (Yeshua) himself said:
Matthew 11:30
“For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
John 14:15
“If you love Me, you will keep My commandments”
John 14:21
“Whoever has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me. The one who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and reveal Myself to him.”
John 14:23
Jesus replied, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make Our home with him.”
Matthew 19:17:
he said to him “ Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. If you would enter life, keep the commandments.”
In each of those verses Yeshua is referring back to promises made by God in the scriptures:
Deuteronomy 7:9: “Know therefore that the LORD your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations,”
1 John 2:3
“By this we can be sure that we have come to know Him: if we keep His commandments.”
2 John 1:6
“And this is love, that we walk according to His commandments. This is the very commandment you have heard from the beginning, that you must walk in love.”
What is the commandment we have heard from the beginning? The well known Shema Prayer in Deuteronomy 6:4-6
“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart.
Yeshua said: “My teaching is not mine, but Him who sent me.” John 7:16
Also see 1 John 2:7-8, 15 and 1 John 3:11.
So do we really think that God’s perfect instructions are too hard? Did God spend thousands of years disciplining his people for disobedience, only to change his mind and declare we don’t have to follow his house rules anymore? May it never be!
Our salvation never was through works or doing His instructions. It was always by faith. But if we are grafted into his family, we are Israelites and heirs. There are house rules to follow as a set apart people.
As parents, we have not abolished our house rules because our kids disobey and don’t always keep them. Neither did our Father in heaven abolish his instructions. These instructions give us blessing (Deut. 28). So as for me and my house, we will follow יהוה.