It Starts Small

Jehovah Tsidkenu is not found in the English translated Bible. This is the Hebrew translation: THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. It is found in two places throughout the Word of God. Our scripture today and:

In those days Judah will be saved,
and Jerusalem will dwell securely,
and this is what she will be named:
The Lord Is Our Righteousness

Jeremiah 33:16

When Jeremiah was inspired to write these words, the southern kingdom of Judah was in decline and moving to its deportation. Jeremiah wrote, ‘The days are coming’ when the Lord will raise up for David a ‘righteous branch’. He will reign as king; ruling wisely, accomplishing justice and righteousness in the land. In the days of this king Judah will be saved and Israel will dwell securely. They will know this king as ‘The Lord is our righteousness.’ (Jeremiah 23:6 ESV) In the midst of despair and darkness there was a promise of hope and light for the nation.

This promise aligns with what God promised to David that He would establish His throne forever.

¹⁶ Your house and kingdom will endure before me forever, and your throne will be established forever.’”
¹⁷ Nathan reported all these words and this entire vision to David.

2 Samuel 7:16-17

From the line of David, a king would come! This branch would be righteous. Righteousness would be the chief characteristic of a coming kingdom but it would not come from the citizens of this new kingdom. This king is the source of the righteousness required and who is this king? Jehovah the Lord God! It is the Lord Jesus Christ. The people of Judah would rejoice in a future day because they will be seen righteous due to the Lord’s provision.

This past week we have looked at God’s righteousness. It is who God is. Remember, it is not something He has. God always does is right, just, proper, and is consistent with all His other attributes. When we say that God is righteous, we mean that there is no wrong, dishonesty, or unfairness in Him. He is the perfectly righteous One and His righteousness is an everlasting righteousness,

Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness,
and your instruction is true.

Psalm 119:142

David points out the stark contrast between man and God.

Indeed, I was guilty when I was born;
I was sinful when my mother conceived me.

Psalm 51:5

Job gives testimony of God’s righteousness (Job 1:8) but he also had to confess how can man be put right before God? (Job 25:4)

maintaining faithful love to a thousand generations, forgiving iniquity, rebellion, and sin. But he will not leave the guilty unpunished, bringing the consequences of the fathers’ iniquity on the children and grandchildren to the third and fourth generation.

Exodus 34:7

This is good news! God will punish the guilty! Well it is good news until like David and Job, we realize that we are also guilty. The consequence of not being perfectly and perpetually righteous is that we must be judged by God and the sentence is eternal death. This fate applies to ALL people at all times unless we obtain righteousness before a just and holy God.

God’s Word is very clear in stating that no man is able to make himself righteous in God’s sight.

as it is written:
There is no one righteous, not even one.

Romans 3:10

We need righteousness from another source, in other words ‘we need an alien righteousness’. Even in the Old Testament, they understood that righteousness could only come from the Jehovah God. Isaiah wrote:

I rejoice greatly in the Lord,
I exult in my God;
for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation
and wrapped me in a robe of righteousness,
as a groom wears a turban
and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.

Isaiah 61:10

Isaiah also wrote of how the perfect servant of God would make many people to be accounted righteous.

After his anguish,
he will see light^[a] and be satisfied.
By his knowledge,
my righteous servant will justify many,
and he will carry their iniquities.

Isaiah 53:11

When we come to the New Testament, this truth is more clearly revealed. The Good news is that anyone can have righteousness standing before God. Paul wrote:

¹⁶ For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, first to the Jew, and also to the Greek. ¹⁷ For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, just as it is written: The righteous will live by faith

Romans 1:16-17

The phrase, Righteousness of God, would be better understood as: Righteousness FROM God. The gospel reveals that on the basis of faith alone, God will impute righteousness to ungodly sinners.

He made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

2 Corinthians 5:21

Jesus was dealt with as if He had sinned so that anyone who repents of their sin and trust in Him alone will be dealt with as if they were righteous.

If we are going to pursue righteousness, we have to understand we can not do it alone without God. He imputes us to us. He works righteous living in us by us surrendering to Him. We are going to move forward with David’s Psalm 15 and learn what the character of righteous living are and how we allow God to work righteousness into every aspect of our lives.

Ponder: Are you trusting in the Lord Jesus as your Savior, knowing and rejoicing in ‘The Lord is my righteousness’?

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