The Fulfilled Path

 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. --Matthew 5:17

Jesus answered, "I am the WAY and the TRUTH and the LIFE. No one comes to the Father except through me... --John 14:6

The Orthodox Jews that I have met do not consider the Bible's law to be legalistic, instead they believe the best English word to directly describe their perception of the Biblically translated term "law" would be "path".

Think of this for a moment... The law was not considered first and foremost a tool for prosecution.  It was instead intended to be perceived as a PATH to life. The only problem is that as Paul mentioned, all the boundaries created by the law (or path) of Moses wound up creating a crooked, impassible road to death.  Why? Because it was so complex that no one could follow it. No man could navigate his way through the path and every man that tried ultimately fell to his death along its narrow passageways.

4,000 years into humanity's feeble attempts to chart a course through the path, Jesus arrived on the scene and made an astounding pronouncement, "I have not come to destroy the law, I have come to fulfill it."  I believe that Jesus was actually saying, "I have not come to destroy the PATH, I've come to show you how to navigate it!"

Up to this point, every individual reached the end of their life with no bridge between heaven and earth.  They couldn't find it along the path because the road was so complex.  Thousands of rules and regulations caused them to be lost.  Don't eat this meat, don't cook food that way, don't start a fire on this day, don't go to the fields unless it is such and such time...

God's point had been proven:  the law killeth!  No man could walk the path. Even with his best attempt, by accident he would in the end stumble to his death.  God's response was to insert his son into the path with the sole-purpose of bridging its gap between heaven and earth.  The first Adam had fallen off the path in the Garden of Eden, but the second Adam would succeed in the Garden of Gethsamene at staying the course.  The result: God's second Adam, Jesus Christ, became the WAY of the Path, the TRUTH to direct the steps along the Path, and the LIFE to prevent death on the Path, so that we may follow the Path back to the FATHER! (Ref. John 14:6)

We now walk the route of the fulfilled path, which means that we do not have to memorize thousands of boundaries.  We must only walk the path guarded on each side by two curbs:  1) Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, mind, and soul; 2) Love thy neighbor as thyself.

Do you want to walk with God?  Do you want to have an assurance that you are on the right path in your life?  If so, walk in such a WAY that you are guided by the LIFE of these two boundary forming TRUTHs:  Love God & Love People! 

I assure you that not only at the end, but also along the journey of this path, there is Life and Life more abundantly!