Jesus was having a friendly chat with His disciples as they sat on a grassy knoll on the side of the mountain. "Then He opened His mouth and taught them." They were puzzled that He seemed to go out of His way to antagonize the Pharisees, and He did not participate in the sanctuary services. At times He appeared to be breaking the Sabbath commandment, and therefore was being branded as a commandment breaker. So, He proceeded to explain to them that He didn't come to do away with the law or the prophets but rather to fulfill. Then He stated that the law would never be changed till heaven and earth passed away and till all be fulfilled (Matt. 5:18). Most people have interpreted this to mean that the law will never be changed, but I think it means just the opposite.

Jesus is saying that the law will not be changed until heaven and earth pass away. But we are told that this earth and its heavens will be destroyed, and that there will be a new heavens and a new earth. We are also told that when the sanctuary service in heaven is ended and the plan of salvation has been consummated, that Jesus will stand up and declare, "It is finished." In other words, all will have been fulfilled, or as one version puts it, "all is accomplished" (Matt. 5:18, RSV). Another version translated this verse as, "Until all that must happen has happened" (Matt. 5:18, NEB). When the great controversy between Christ and Satan is finished and there is a new heaven and a new earth, then the conditions of that little word 'till' will have been fulfilled, and in some way some jots and tittles will pass from the law.

What changes in the law will occur in the New Earth? We are told that the ten commandments were codified to meet man in his sinful condition. The Law of Love, which existed in heaven from the beginning as a transcript of God's character, needed to be adapted to deal with sin. and so it was spelled out to Adam and Eve, and then handed down from generation to generation until it was finally written by God's own finger on a sapphire stone, "as blue as the sky" (Ex. 24:10). The first four commandments deal with our relationship to God, and the last six deal with our relationship to our neighbor. Certainly, our recognition of God as the sovereign Creator will not change, so the first four will remain, but what about the last six? There will be no marriage in heaven, so honoring father and mother will be moot; `there will be no murder, adultery, stealing, lying, nor coveting.

In fact,it would appear that all six will be unnecessary. It appears as if the Law of Love in the New Earth will be missing a few "jots and tittles."