Today—or rather yesterday now in my time zone—was Good Friday. No matter what the historical accuracy of the day is or isn’t, it is nevertheless a day that represents great significance as the accepted commemoration of the death of Christ.
Historically speaking it was actually the 14th of Nisan, a day that was foretold centuries earlier with the first Passover in Egypt when the Israelites were finally released from the bondage of slavery to their Egyptian masters. (Exodus 12) That Passover—and every other one up to the death of Christ—pointed forward to the single greatest event in all of earth’s history, the sacrificial death of the Lamb of God.
The Lord Jesus Christ fulfilled every aspect of the Passover, not to mention a multitude of other prophecies and foreshadows in the Old Testament, when he suffered and died upon the cross of Calvary. The question we might ask is, “Why did it take so long.”
We don’t have to speculate, for the Apostle Paul answers that question for us in Galatians chapter four. “When the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.” (Gal 4:4-5)
The answer is “when the fulness of time was come!” In other words, in God’s perfect timing he “sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.” (1 John 1:9) We can live because he fulfilled the law and the prophets and every requirement of a holy God. (Mat 5:17)
Unfortunately our Good Friday does not correspond with the 14th of Nisan in the Jewish calendar, but nevertheless it is a perfect segue into the subject of law, as the verses from Galations 4 and Matthew 5 make obvious reference to the law in regards to the person of Christ.
The Lord Jesus Christ was perfect, holy, and sinless. Not only did he not sin, he COULD NOT sin. In both the Old and New Testaments God is described as being thrice holy—the triune God of Father, Son, and Spirit is spotless in every way, without so much as a shadow of sin in character or deed. “Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts.” (Isa 6:3) and “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.” (Rev 4:8) The Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was therefore qualified to fulfill or complete the law.
He did not, however, have to keep the law. Now that statement might be a bit enigmatic, but allow me to use a simple example from the natural world. An apple does not have to expend energy to keep the law of gravity—it has no means to do anything but operate in perfect subjection to that law. When an apple becomes dislodged from the tree on which it grew, it falls to the ground. It does not, and cannot, do anything else.
In like manner, the Lord Jesus Christ, being the Son of God, operated in perfect subjection to the law of God—he could do nothing else. And because of that, we have a Saviour! “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” (1 Tim 1:5) Think about that! The MAN Christ Jesus, who is also the Son of God! And as Galations 4:5 says, we have received the adoption of sons, to be “no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.” Neither are we relegated to second-rate heirs, but we are “joint-heirs with Christ.” (Rom 8:17)
Thank God for the gift of his Son!
-Andrew N. Scharf
