Session 04 - A Different kind of Making Things New

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or 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. Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”‭‭Matthew‬ ‭5:17-20‬ ‭ESV‬‬

In Matthew 22:34-40, when Jesus was asked what is the greatest commandment, Jesus answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”I like Math, and these two passages are like a math equation waiting to be solved. In the later passage, Jesus was teaching the Pharisees that everything in the Law and the Prophets had said are founded upon the most basic commandments that has to do with a loving relationship, first between us and God and then between us and others.Based on that Principle, he point of the Law and the Prophets stem from relationships that were rooted in the love for God from God. Of course, then, it would not make sense that Jesus' ultimate goal was to ge rid of the Law and the Prophets, because that would contradict what He said about the Greatest Commandment.There is a key in this passage that would, as a matter of fact, tie everything together: "until heaven and earth pass away". We know from Revelation (echoing the Prophets) that there will be a new heaven and a new earth upon the return of Jesus.Did Jesus also mean to say that when the time come, God will do away with the Law and Prophets? I strongly think so. Until that day, everything are simply an anticipation of the day when everything become new. When it does, the Law and Prophets no longer necessary, and all that remain necessary would be "Love the Lord your God with all your soul, strength and mind."Until that day, though, the Law and the Prophets are absolute necessity for us to understand the "how" of "Love the Lord with all your heart, strength and mind" as well as "love your neighbour". How are you supposed to know otherwise? It would become the random standard that the world uses these days with a very movable definition.Just imagine someone who is trying to tell people "it is okay to move the line a little bit, God is all loving, He wouldn't mind". It should remind you of that conversation Adam and Eve had with the Serpant. It would give a person excuse to not "Love the Lord your God with all [their] heart, soul, and mind".