Imitating the King

Before Jesus was inaugurated as King over His newly established spiritual kingdom (following His ascension into heaven per Acts 2:33), He lived as a Jewish man bound to the Law of Moses. Galatians 4:4 says that He was "born of a woman, born under the Law." The question is: what was the Son's attitude towards the Law? How did Jesus the man respond to the supreme authority of the Father?

Consider the following texts with me...

"Do not think that I cam to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill. For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass away from the Law, until all is accomplished. Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 5:17-19).

"Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to His disciples, saying, 'The scribes and Pharisees have seated themselves in the chair of Moses; therefore all that they tell you, do and observe, but do not do according to their deeds; for they say things, and do not do things" (Matthew 23:1-3).

Both of these passages illustrate Christ's overall attitude towards the Law of Moses. It's clear that He absolutely believed in studying and obeying the Law. In fact, as we learn in Matthew 5, He was concerned about every letter and stroke of the Law. Did He encourage people to follow their hearts? No. Did He lessen the scope of the Law's influence and/or application? No. Did He mock those whose goal was to pattern their whole lives after the teachings of Scripture? He did oppose the Pharisees time and again, but He opposed them not because they stringently obeyed the Law, but because...

1. They missed the heart of the law (Mt. 23:23).
2. Superceded the Law by binding their own traditions (Mt. 15:1-9).

If Jesus condemned the Pharisees for their strict observance of every jot and tittle of the law (not that they did), then He would have been condemning Himself for as we've already seen, He was 100% in favor of complete and total obedience "to the letter of the law." After all, sin is defined as transgression of the law in places like 1 John 3:4, and because we know that Jesus was "without sin" (Heb. 4:15), we can rest assured that not once did He violate the Scriptures.

Along these same lines, not only was Jesus fully obedient to every letter and stroke of the Law of Moses, when questioned about spiritual matters, He consistently directed people to the Scriptures:

• When tempted by Satan, Jesus responded all three times by saying, "It is written" (Mt. 4:4, 7, 10). In the second instance, when the devil quoted Scripture himself, Jesus responded with Scripture.
• When falsely accused by the Pharisees concerning His actions on the Sabbath, Jesus said, "Have you not read what David did...?" (Mt. 12:1-3). And in verse 5, "Or have you not read in the Law...?" 
• When confronted with the gross traditionalism of the Pharisees in Matthew 15:1-2, Jesus responded by showing them their abuse of Scripture (vs. 3-6). Then He quoted Isaiah (vs. 7-9).
• When questioned about marriage and divorce, Jesus replied, "Have you not read, that He who created them from the beginning made them male and female?" (Mt. 19:1-4).
• When the rich young ruler asked him what he had to do to inherit eternal life, He told him to "keep the commandments" (Mt. 19:16-17). When the young ruler asked "which ones," Jesus began to list specific commandments (vs. 18-19).
• This phrase "have you not read" was used by Jesus on a number of other occasions: Matthew 21:16; 22:31; Mark 12:10. In each case, he responded to religious questions by directing His audience back to the written word.
• When Jesus encountered a problem at the Temple, He didn't disagree based upon His own private feelings or experiences. Instead, He quoted Scripture (Mt. 21:12-13).
• When a lawyer asked him what he had to do to inherit eternal life, Jesus responded, "What is written in the Law? How does it read to you?" (Luke 10:25-26).
• After Jesus healed the leper, He said, "See that you tell no one; but go, show yourself to the priest, and present the offering that Moses commanded..." (Mt. 8:4).
•  During His ministry, He also cited a number of Old Testament stories: Abraham (John 8:40), Moses (Mk. 12:26), David (Mt. 12:3; 22:43), Solomon and the Queen of Sheba (Mt. 12:42), the story of Jonah (Mt. 12:40), Sodom and Gomorrah (Mt. 10:15; Lk. 17:32), the martyred prophets from Abel to Zechariah (Mt. 23:35), as well as the story of Elijah (Mt. 11:14). I'm sure there are others, but these few references confirm that Jesus not only had a thorough knowledge of the Old Testament, but He regularly incorporated His knowledge of the Scriptures into His sermons and conversations with others.

After considering these ten points (in addition to the observations made earlier in this article), ponder the following question with me:

 Aren't we supposed to imitate the example of our Lord, Jesus Christ? 

We're to imitate Jesus' attitude of humility and service (Phil. 2:5). We're to be holy as He is holy (1 Pet. 1:16). And as Paul says in Galatians 2:20, we're to be "crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and delivered Himself up for me."

How did Jesus view the Law? In what way, or to what extent, was He obedient to the written word (the Scriptures)? When faced with religious questions, how did He respond? What was His source of authority, His standard, or pattern for religious life and worship?

It's clear that Jesus, the Son of Man, rejected human innovations, denominations, traditions and perversions and instead advocated obedience to God's revealed will in all things. He exemplified in His life an incredible respect and reverence for the Law. And if we're to be like Him, we MUST do the same. When faced with religious questions, we need to revert to that which has been "written." And like Jesus, we need to be concerned about every letter and stroke of the Law. Like Jesus, we need to pursue such a thorough knowledge of the Bible that it flows out of our mouth in our daily conversations. And like Jesus, we need to understand not only the external requirements of the Law, but the heart of the Law as well!

Jesus is our example. He is our King. And He expects His servants to respect His total authority (Mt. 28:18) just as He, during His earthly ministry, respected His Father's total authority!

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