The Fulfillment Of Time
Reading from the book of Matthew, chapter five, beginning at the sixteenth verse:
Matthew 5:16-20: “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.”
Jesus was doing some really strong, outstanding preaching. Pharisees accredited to themselves that they were very righteous people, but Jesus exhorted them by saying, “Unless your righteousness excels what I see as your own self-righteousness, there’s no way you can enter into the kingdom of God.” Remember now, the Bible says that the law and the prophets were until John, since that time, the kingdom of God has been preached and men were pressing their way into it. Here was Jesus, standing before them, being the manifested kingdom of God, in that He was the body or envelopment of light. He’s reproving those that have been such a religious sect, that have accredited to themselves that they were masters, while the others were children. Now, they’ve met the real master, and they find that they’re not even fortunate enough to be children. They have to be born again to even be a child of God. So then, they’re reaping what they sowed, for they lorded over God’s heritage with intellectual brilliance and intellectual knowledge.
If you’ll look around, people are doing the same thing today. God warned the ministry not to lord over His people. The Bible says that He hateth the Nicolaitan’s doctrine. We’re not to bring people under the rule by constraint of our own intellect or our own evil endeavors, in our stride toward worldly gain or selfishness. But we’re to yield ourselves as members unto the body of the Lord Jesus, being an example unto the flock, that they may see within us Christ and the admiration of God. We should live in such a way that men may see our good works and glorify our Father in heaven. If you try to tell men of your good works, or try to demonstrate your good works, to try to make them believe in something that really doesn’t exist in your life, then you deceive your own self, for the Bible says that you are a well without any water, and it cannot produce when time comes for the thirsty to drink. A man that doesn’t have a gift, that boasteth himself of something he does not possess, he’s like the well without any water. How can he perform when time comes for him to demonstrate?
So then, we know that Christ Jesus was the embodiment of God, that He was the virtue of the heavenly Father, and that He was the power of the heavenly Father. He, through the Spirit of holiness, led a righteous, clean, godly life, proven to be the Son of God by power. When they came to match wits with Jesus, the Pharisees had boasted and testified and said great things, but when it came to the actual demonstration, they could not produce. Paul said, “Not coming to you with the wisdom of man’s word that man teacheth, but rather in the demonstration of the power of God and in the Spirit of God that your faith may not stand in the wisdom of men, but that it may stand in the power of God.” Paul said, as to the great, wonderful knowledge of God, to them that have understanding, “Howbeit we do speak wisdom.”
I’m only saying, that here Jesus says, “I have come not to destroy the law.” Don’t think that, He told His followers. Don’t get the concept that He came to destroy the law or to do away with what had been a standard of righteousness among the Pharisees, the Scribes and the Jewish people. That was something that was given unto Moses, as a way of life to people and to a sect of people. He is requiring it of them. He didn’t come to do away with that. He came to fulfill this wonderful law that was given to the people. He gave it to Israel. Paul said, “You have the law and none of you keep it, and the name of the Lord is blasphemed among the Gentiles, because of your foolishness.” You stand at the door in your hypocrisy. You know the way. That means you’ve come to the door, but He said, “You’ve not been born again. You’ve not received the Spirit of God, therefore you are a hindrance, and I’m about to remove that hindrance.” Jesus said, “I shall be the door to the sheepfold and men shall go in and out into their green pastures by Me. If I be lifted up, I’ll draw all men unto Me.”
The Lord Jesus said to them, “Now is the hour when the kingdom of God is at hand.” He said unto the Scribes and the Pharisees, “Verily I say unto you, they shall come from the east and they shall come from the west,” speaking of the Gentile people, the strangers, “and they shall be translated into the kingdom of the living God. You that are children of the kingdom, that is by virtue of David and the others, ye shall be cast into the outer darkness.” You’ll be cut off and you’ll wander around in intellectual ignorance or intellectual darkness. But ye yourselves shall see yourselves being cast out, and the strangers, people from the north, the south, the east, and the west, from all the world, they shall come and be translated by faith into the marvelous kingdom of God. The law and the prophets were until John, since that time the kingdom has been preached and men have pressed their way into it.
It is very obvious that they saw this, though it was grievous to them. They saw as they themselves rejected the Lord Jesus and they themselves were cut off in darkness. Today, they still are in darkness. “That veil,” Paul said, “is still over their face, as to the blindness.” If the blind lead the blind, they all fall into the ditch. But, the blindness, Paul said, that it was the veil which is over the reading of the Old Testament, as to understand that it was only allegoric, as pointing to spiritual things, pointing to the coming of the Lord the Messiah. Paul said that veil still remains over their face until today. It’s untaken away. But Christ Jesus, the great revealed light, rent that veil at Calvary and that veil is taken away. And he that can get beyond Calvary, he that can look to this wonderful Christ, then he hath escaped the death veil that is over Moses’ face.
So then, we realize that this light of the latter house, the spiritual Jew, is greater than that light of the former house, the first Jew or the natural Jew. He that is a Jew outwardly is not a Jew, but he that is a Jew inwardly. Paul said, “The blessings of the Lord be upon the true Israel of God, for he that is a spiritual Jew is indeed the true Jew.” Understanding then that Christ said, “I came to fulfill the law,” He fulfilled every jot and every tittle of it. He said, “Father, it is finished.” He folded it up and laid it away. He gave unto us who believe in God, through the righteousness of Jesus Christ, this wonderful righteousness of the law, and today we have, by faith, been translated into the marvelous kingdom of our God as to our inner spiritual angelic person. Today, our spirit is interwoven with Christ’s Spirit, which is the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of God. We are thus without sin and we are without fault. We’re delivered from the curse of the law of the twenty-eighth chapter of Deuteronomy and our sins are taken away. The seed of God remaineth in us. We cannot sin because we are born of God. We’re kept by His righteousness, full of the grace of God, looking unto the coming of the Lord and praising and worshipping the Lord of glory with all of our heart, mind, soul, body and strength.
By Rev. George Leon Pike Sr.
Founder and first President of Jesus Christ’s Eternal Kingdom of Abundant Life, Inc.
Holiness Unto The Lord