How Jesus Fulfills the Law and the Prophets?

Our Lord Jesus Christ is the full revelation of God to man. Everything that the Father wished to reveal to man, He did so perfectly and fully in the Person of Jesus Christ. This is how Jesus can say: “He who has seen me has seen the Father.” (Jn 14:9) After the Fall of man, God did not leave His creation abandoned. Instead, over a long period of time He revealed Himself to fallen men and promised their salvation. This needed to be done over a long period of time because of the weight of the blindness of sin and the fact that human beings grow gradually and in stages.

To God, a minute is like an eon. So, writing straight with crooked lines over the millenia, God laid out His plan for salvation of humanity. In His infinite love and goodness, He made a covenant with Adam and then renewed it with Noah. Then, He chose a people, beginning with Abraham, then Moses, then David. Afterwards and in the intervening years, He sent prophets who foretold the coming Messiah. He entrusted His revelation and covenantal promises to Noah, Abraham, Moses, and David. Set out in the Old Testament, we hear the plan of salvation preparing for this Christ who is to come. The Law, represented especially by Moses, and the Prophets, represented especially by Elijah, speak of the Wisdom and Word of God. 

When the fullness of time had come, the Old Testament’s revelation of Law and Prophets took on Flesh in the Person of Jesus Christ. What was hidden in the Old Testament is fully revealed in the New. Jesus Christ is true God and true man. He did not do away with Adam, but instead is the New Adam. He begins to restore fallen creation. He is the new Noah who saves the elect from the wicked. He is the new Abraham who is the leader and perfecter of Faith. He is the new Moses who not only gives the Law but is the embodiment of the Law itself. He is the Son of David who will reign forever. And, of course, Jesus fulfilled all of the prophets. The Prophets announced God’s plan of redemption for humanity and Jesus Christ brought that plan to fruition. 

Jesus did not come to abolish the Law and the Prophets, He fulfilled them in a glorious way beyond all imagining. In this Lent, let us lean ever deeper into the Mystery of His suffering, death, resurrection, and ascension. We are approaching the greatest feasts of the Church in Passion Sunday, Holy Week, the Triduum, and Easter! Pray, fast, give alms, and draw nearer to our precious Lord.