Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: l am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.—Jesus.
To the children of Israel, the law given to Moses for their guidance and government, together with the teachings of the prophets, was the safeguard of their nationality. If it had not been for its provisions and restrictions, its promises and its implied threats, the children of Israel would have mingled with the peoples of the countries they were sent to possess, would have been absorbed by them, and would have perished as a nation. Therefore when a prophet or teacher arose among them, the first thought to be satisfied was as to his obedience to the law.
Our Lord came to teach men that the ritualistic observance of the law was not its fulfilment; hence his declaration in his Sermon on the Mount, after he had pronounced the blessings that attend those who love God and who follow His law, that he had not come to destroy the law, but to fulfil it.
