The Volume of the Book
Bob Yandian
Jesus came to fulfill the Old Testament, every bit of it. The New Testament calls it jots and tittles, that means every little dash, every little dot above an “i.” He came to fulfill the smallest little things and He fulfilled it all on the cross when He said, “it is finished.” He was not referring to the plan of salvation, He was referring to the fact that the Old Testament, the Old Covenant, was completely over. At the resurrection, that is when the New Testament started.
For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins. Therefore, when He came into the world, He said: “Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, but a body You have prepared for Me. In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin You had no pleasure. Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come In the volume of the book it is written of Me To do Your will, O God.’ ” Hebrews 10:4-7 KJV
I consider this to be the greatest Christmas passage in scripture. Here Jesus is speaking, and I want you to notice what He said. It says in verse five, "Therefore, when he came into the world," this is when He came into the manger, this is when He became a human being. He's been to the earth many times as the angel of the Lord, as the rock, as the cloud that overshadowed the children of Israel. He was the burning bush that spoke to Moses. He came in so many ways, but in those cases, He always came and then He left. But when He came into a human body, He remained, and still remains in a human body today. It's a resurrected body, but once He took on a human body it would be forever.
When Jesus said, "Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, but a body You have prepared for Me," He was speaking to the Father. This occurred when He came into the world in the manger. I know that's a mind-blowing thought, but He didn't say this to Mary, she would have freaked out if He rolled over in the manger and said this to her. But He didn't, he was talking from his deity on the inside of Him. His deity never had to grow up, it never had a beginning. He spoke from His deity to the Father and said you have prepared a body for me. This body was how he was coming to redeem us. Notice it says, "In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin You had no pleasure. Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come In the volume of the book it is written of Me To do Your will, O God," He's telling us that he came to fulfill every part of the Old Testament.
Jesus came into this world to accomplish the Father's will. He came to bear our sins; he came to die for the sins of many. He did that by going to the cross, but also in fulfilling every sacrifice, every law, every feast day, every fast day, from the smallest one to the greatest ones. By the time he went to the cross, even the sacrificial laws were accomplished. Just before he died physically, he said, “it is finished.”
Today we live in a fulfilled time of the Old Testament. Notice Jesus did not destroy the law or put it away. He said, “I did not come to destroy the law, but to fulfill it (Matthew 5:17).” The law is still here today, but it never has been, never will be, never was at any time, a form of salvation.
That's where the people perverted it. The purpose of the law was to instruct people of Jesus Christ, even Paul said this in the book of Galatians that the purpose of the law was our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ. Every part of the law taught about Jesus Christ. Whether it was the sacrificial laws, the hygienic laws, laws of sacrifice, every part of the law spoke of Jesus Christ. From the smallest to the greatest Jesus came and fulfilled them all. The Law pointed to the coming of Jesus, and when he came, he put it away.
The Law is still here for us to study. We can still see Jesus Christ in it, but we're not under that dispensation. In other words, we can study the law, but we don't have to observe it. I can study the sacrifices but, thank God I don't have to bring them to church. Thank God my pastor doesn't have to kill it. We study it many times in our sermons, but we do not have to observe it because Jesus fulfilled every bit of It.
Old Testament Prophesies
Jesus's coming had been prophesied many times in the Old Testament. His birth was prophesied, His life and ministry, His death, His ascension, and His seating at the right hand of the Father. Psalm 110:1 prophesied that the Lord, God the Father, would say to my Lord, Jesus Christ, "Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool."
When Adam and Eve sinned, God prophesied that through the virgin birth of Jesus Christ He would turn around this whole mess.
And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. Genesis 3:15 KJV
God said to Satan, "I will put an enmity," or a division, "between you," that is Satan and the woman. Adam and Eve had affected all of mankind around them, all of nature, but God said he was going to protect one thing, the womb of the woman.
The sin nature, the curse, is passed down through the father into the children. The women herself does not pass it down. She possesses the sin nature. She possesses the curse put on this earth, but she did not have it herself. It was passed down to her by her father, not by her mother. Therefore, if it was possible for a woman to conceive without a natural man, then the child could be born outside the curse.
We know from this verse that God knew from the time of Adam and Eve that Mary would be the one to carry Messiah. It was not because she was special or that she was more holy. She was just chosen by God. Therefore, as a virgin, she conceived by the Holy Spirit. Of course, we know that from the New Testament.
Jesus was born in this earth for a particular reason, why? To destroy Satan and to destroy his works. He came to destroy sin. He came to destroy physical and mental sickness. He came to destroy poverty and sin's control over us. He came to keep us from hell and the lake of fire. All these things Jesus came to do for anyone that would put their faith and trust in him.
Abraham’s Seed
In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice. Genesis 22:13 NKJV
There are two seeds that came from Abraham. One was the natural race of Israel and the other was the spiritual race of mankind that covered every nation, tribe, and tongue. Every male, female, young and old, who puts their faith and trust in Jesus. Israel was chosen by God to be the custodians of the word of God and of the gospel. The New Testament is not when the great commission kicked off. It was kicked off with Israel. In the Old Testament, Isaiah 52:7 says of Israel, “how beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of them that bring glad tidings.” That is the good news. That is the gospel.
Israel was supposed to spread the gospel, not take the law to the world. The law was given to only one nation to teach them about the message of salvation. The message of salvation is that man is a sinner and needs a savior. That savior is Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ. They were to take that information to the world and present it in a very short form. You need to accept the Savior by faith, and that faith in Him will save you.
In the Old Testament when Jonah went to Nineveh and preached, he didn't preach the law. He didn't walk up and down the streets saying that all the men needed to be circumcised. He didn’t tell them not to eat pork and shellfish. No, his message was one word, repent! That was it. And everybody did. From the king on down to the peasants in the street. Without ever knowing the law, they found their Savior.
By the time Jesus came to this earth the Jews had perverted the gospel. They were taking the law to the world, not the gospel. Jesus told them that they were making proselytes, not converts, not believers. A proselyte is a Gentile, now living like a Jew. In other words, we don't care if you're saved or not, we're just going to turn you into a denominational person. Jesus said to the scribes and Pharisees “For you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves (Matthew 23:15).” He was simply saying that law-keeping and becoming a Jew will not save you.
There is no particular nation that has an “in” with God when it comes to salvation. God chose Israel first to spread the gospel. But today, He is using the church. Israel did have an “in” with God when it came to the natural race. Because through that nation, through Abraham and David, the Messiah was going to come. After the church is gone, He will again go back to using Israel. Jesus is going to come back to rule and reign from the temple in Jerusalem. And he will reign there throughout the entire millennial reign. Since its creation, Israel has always had a great future with God. Presently, they are on hold, as God is using the church. But they will be used again when the church is taken out of here.
The Dividing Line
In Abraham we have such an extensive in-depth vision of how a person is saved. Abraham had faith in the Lord and his faith was accounted to him as righteousness. This comes back to the simplicity of our relationship with God. It has always been this way. Whether it was from the Old Testament looking forward to the time it would be fulfilled. Or, as in the New Testament, looking back on the time that it was fulfilled for us.
The cross became the dividing line for all of humanity. For time, and everything else. Today we have (A.D.) Anno Domini, and (B.C.) before Christ. On the Cross Jesus Christ is the dividing line. Two hands were stretched out in each direction. I like to think one was pointing toward all of the Old Testament believers and one was pointing toward all of the New Testament believers. Jesus Christ literally fulfilled the whole thing. Mankind was saved on credit in the Old Testament, and it just kept rolling until Jesus went to the cross. On that day, Jesus Christ picked up the entire tab. We can't even pay the tip. Jesus paid it all! The redemption He paid for went to the Old Testament and to the New Testament so that anyone could put their faith in Jesus Christ.
All we have to do is put our faith and trust in Him. He is always the means of salvation. The law was never given to save us. The law taught them that they were a sinner and needed a savior. He would be the eternal sacrifice. Once He came, Old Testament sacrifices no longer had to be offered again. Law-keeping was never a part of it. It was always given to teach people about the Lord Jesus Christ. He came to redeem fallen mankind. Jesus was born sin-free. He lived sin-free and he died sin-free to redeem sinful mankind. He was the just, dying for the unjust.
