“For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.” Matthew 5:18 (NKJV)
Jots and tittles have to do with letters and pen strokes in Hebrew writing. A jot referred to the smallest letter of the alphabet and a tittle was even smaller than a jot. A tittle was a letter extension, a pen stroke which differentiated one Hebrew letter from another. The dot on top of our letter ‘i’ is called a tittle. ‘Tittle’ sounds appropriately like the words ‘tiny’ and ‘little’ merged together. An expression associated with ‘tittle’ is ‘to a T’, being a shortened form of ‘to a tittle’, meaning ‘precise, down to the very last detail’. The jot is still used by us when making a brief note; we jot it down.
Jesus uses the words in today’s verse from the Sermon on the Mount. In the previous verse He said:
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfil them.” Matthew 5:17 (ESV)
What was written in Hebrew Scripture must be fulfilled and it is amazing to see how Jesus fulfilled the Old Testament prophetic words.
When He was walking along the road to Emmaus, He spoke to the disciples and we are told:
…beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. Luke 24:27 (NK/V)
What a sermon this must have been. No wonder their hearts burned within them. The law and the prophets had all borne testimony, either directly or indirectly, to Christ. In John 1 we are told that Philip found Nathaniel and told him:
“We have found the One Moses wrote about in the Law (and so did the prophets): Jesus the son of Joseph, from Nazareth!” John 1:45 (HCSB)
How deficient our Biblical knowledge would be, specifically concerning Jesus, if we steered clear of the Old Testament. When Christ commenced His public ministry in the synagogue at Nazareth with the words of Isaiah, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor, ” He said:
This day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears. Luke 4:21 (KJV)
As He drew near to the Cross, our Saviour said:
Behold we go up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of Man shall be accomplished. Luke 18:31 (KJV)
Jesus said:
‘“Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.'” Matthew 4:4 (NKJV)
Let’s value every word, remembering that even the jot and tittle matter to God.
All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 (KJV)