Psalms 19-20 – 4/15/2025
Living in the age after Jesus, it is easy for me as a Christian to neglect the idea of the perfect law, a law that God has set forth to make straight the path of the people of Israel. Considering that Jesus is the perfect fulfillment of the law and has come to create a new covenant with us, it is easy for me to throw any thought about that old law to the wayside. After all, Jesus changed everything for us, right? He did indeed change everything, there is no doubt about that. But that doesn’t change the fact that God’s law is still perfect forever, and that law is still to be delighted in if we are to have a full understanding of our creator and savior.
As I read through Psalms 19, I am greeted with various verses that describe the law. It makes wise the simple, it rejoices the heart, it enlightens the eyes, it endures forever, it is righteous, more to be desired than any gold and sweeter also than honey. What admiration the Psalmists have for the law of the Lord! They know that the Lord loves them and is a righteous God, and that the boundaries that he has set for them are meant to prosper them and guide them on the path to righteousness. “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.” They love the Lord, and in return they desire to adhere to the law.
God is the same God yesterday, today, and tomorrow. The law that he created is good in all times and to all people. It is perfect, and always will be. But we live in a different time than the Psalmists, they lived in a time before Jesus and his sacrifice. How does the involvement of Jesus change how we should live our life according to the law?
Jesus makes it clear that his coming does not abolish the law, but instead he has came to fulfill and perfect the law, giving us the ability to be made right with God through his sacrifice. “Christ is the culmination of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.” (Romans 10:4). The law is still good, but Christ is the culmination of it all, meaning that by believing in him we follow his law perfected. The writer of Hebrews puts it this way, “The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming – not the realities themselves.” (Hebrews 10:1) The law is only a shadow of Christ, it pointed to Jesus to come as the fulfillment of everything that it had to offer. In these ways, Christ has bridged the gap between us and the Father, ultimately doing everything that we couldn’t and making us perfect before him.
The law is good, and to know the perfect law is to know Christ, our savior. It is important that we, like the Psalmists, have an understanding that perfection through the law is still expected of us as Christians and is still the standard that God has set for us to be in relationship with him. But unlike the time of the Psalmists, Christ has come to die on our behalf, to make a sacrifice that washes us clean in the eyes of the Lord. In his perfect fulfillment of the law, we are made righteous and have the opportunity to be with him for eternity. This Jesus, the word made flesh, can only be understood in fullness when we understand that the word that he fulfilled was the perfect law of the Lord. May we all delight in the law of the Lord, for by delighting in the law we really are delighting in Christ who perfected it.