Jesus passed the test for us

Jan Gompper

Do you remember the standardized tests you took in school where you had to color in tiny circles with your #2 yellow lead pencil? I hated those tests. I was always afraid either I wouldn’t get the circle fully filled in or that I would color outside the lines of the circle. In both cases, the answer could be marked wrong.

I bet Old Testament Christians sometimes felt as if they were taking a standardized test. They had so many rules and regulations to follow; it had to be extremely difficult to adhere to them completely or perfectly. And there were often harsh penalties for “coloring outside the lines” God had established for them. 

I am so grateful that I’m a New Testament believer, aren’t you? This doesn’t mean that God’s law (test) no longer applies to us, but we no longer have to worry about passing it perfectly because Christ passed it for us. “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them” (Matthew 5:17).

Christ perfectly “filled in” the circles (requirements) of the Old Testament law with his indelible blood. Furthermore, he has erased every mark we have ever made outside the lines. And his eraser is still working on our behalf.

Old Testament believers had to trust in God’s promise of a Savior to free them from the boundary lines of the law. We are blessed to live in the fulfillment of that promise.