Easter Sunday is approaching and many churches are getting ready for their Easter service. I am praying that many pastors will preach faithfully the gospel of our Lord as there will many attending this weekend since Christmas last year or for the first time in years.
As Easter approaches, many will reflect on the death, burial and resurrection of Christ, which are essential doctrines. One thing that will must never forget is not did Jesus die on our behalf and was raised from the dead, He also lived on our behalf.
Theologians have describes Jesus's death on the cross as His passive obedience meaning He took the wrath of God for us while He was being executed. Jesus living a perfect obedient life is defined as Jesus's active obedience. Matthew 5:17 says, “Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill" (LSB).
God demands perfect obedience. Unfortunately, you and I could never do that. Adam and Eve could not even keep one law in the garden, therefore, we could never attain a perfect righteousness. James says, "For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all" (James 2:10, LSB).
There are 613 commandments in the Old Testament and we are expected to observe all of them. Jesus Christ did that for us. He fulfilled the Old Testament law including the sacrificial system mention in Leviticus 1-7 (those chapters are important and we should never skip over those).
Jesus lived a perfect life so He can be the mediator between God and man (1 Timothy 2:5). Only a perfect man could do that. In closing, I leave you this quote from John Owen, "...the Lord Christ fulfilled the whole law for us; He did not only undergo the penalty of it due unto our sins, but also yielded that perfect obedience which it did require... Christ's fulfilling of the law, in obedience unto its commands, is no less imputed unto us for our justification than His undergoing the penalty of it is."
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