Character Student Devotional Week 1: "Jesus & The Old Testament"

"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." (Matthew 5:17)

Jesus came in the tradition of the Prophet, God's mouthpiece for His people. The Old Testament Prophets were constantly trying to bring God's People, the Israelites or Hebrews as they were known in the Old Testament or Jews as they were known in Jesus' time, back to God through repentance. Remember Jeremiah calling God's people a stiff-necked people and John the Baptist calling for God's people to repent and be baptized! Jesus, like the prophets of Old and New came to bring a very important message that God is still calling His people to repent of their evil and wicked ways and come back to Him. I like to think of Jesus as a wake-up call to the Jews that they had turned the faith of their forefathers into a bunch of rules and rituals to keep. So, does this mean all the Old Testament laws still apply to us today? In the OT there were three categories of law: ceremonial, civil & moral laws. A quick run down of each: Ceremonial- Laws relating to the worship of God (Lev. 1:2,3). Even though we are not bound by these worship rituals, the principle behind them still applies to worship and love God. Civil- Laws applied to daily living (Deut. 24:10,11). Even though times have changed, the principles of respecting your neighbors property and so forth still appply today and Jesus lived them out by example. Moral- Laws directly commanded by God to obey such as the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:13). These laws reveal the nature and will of God.