One outstanding incident occurring on the day of the resurrection gives us a perfect view of the mental processes of the disciples. On Easter morning, the risen Lord met two of His own disciples on the road to Emmaus as they were returning home from the Passover. These men were greatly disheartened by the crucifixion scene. So Jesus asked them about their evident sorrow. They explained why they were sad: "Jesus of Nazareth," they said, "had been crucified." Just what did that mean to them, personally? Their answer was a confession: "We trusted that it had been He which should have redeemed Israel" (Luke 24:21).
When the Lord prophesied His death to His disciples they were confused. Christ did all that could be done to teach them. But even on the night before His crucifixion, they did not understand what was about to happen, though He had told them so plainly. He even said, "These things have I spoken unto you, that ye should not be offended" (John 16:1).
The eleventh chapter of Matthew is one of the most pivotal passages in the Bible. John the Baptist, from his prison, sent two of his disciples to find Jesus and ask Him a question. They came with John’s message, "Art Thou He that should come, or look we for another?" (Matthew 11:3). There is no avoiding the implications of this question. If we paraphrase the thought, it will read: "We have been expecting that Thou wouldst do all that we prophesied of Thee. We said that the Messiah Who was to follow us would come in judgment. His axe would be laid to the root of the trees that did not produce good fruit. His winds of judgment would sweep away the chaff and leave the threshing floor with its cleansed wheat. But now we find ourselves in prison with a sword hanging over us. We had expected that Thou wouldst break forth in Thy judgment work, long before this. Have we misunderstood the Scriptures? Art Thou He that should come, or look we for another who will complete the work that is prophesied concerning the Messiah and which we had expected of Thee long ere this?"
But this freedom from the penalty of the law does not remove us from the obligation of holiness. The work of Christ takes us out from under the curse of the law but it also plants within us a new life that makes it possible for the holiness which the law demands to be brought into our lives. In the eighth chapter of Romans there is a final statement concerning Christ and the law where we read, "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus" (Romans 8:1). This is the freedom from the penalty of the law of which we have just spoken. The passage then goes on to explain this freedom which believers know, "For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit" (Romans 8: 2-4). We now are able to see the perfect working out of God’s plan and the place of the law in that plan.
The law is "holy, just, and good." It can never be anything else, since God gave it to men as a standard - it is an expression of His perfection, and shows us that He must demand perfection of men. Secondly, we have seen that Christ accomplished all the law in Himself, fulfilling every detail of it in His own human perfection, yielded and dependent upon the power of God. He amplified it by giving to it an even stronger hold upon man and increasing its demands. Consequently, He showed the sinfulness of man against a sharper background of light. Then, having lived His life of perfection, He could go to the cross and die, and thus redeem us from the curse of the law. How was this accomplished?
