Jehovah Tsidkenu - The Lord Our Righteousness
Jeremiah 23:6 – “In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is the name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.”
In a sermon on June 2, 1861, the great Charles H. Spurgeon said, “Man by the fall sustained an infinite loss in the matter of righteousness. He suffered the loss of a righteous nature, and then a two-fold loss of legal righteousness in the sight of God. Man sinned; he was therefore no longer innocent of transgression. Man did not keep the command; he therefore was guilty of the sin of omission. In that which he committed, and in that which he omitted, his original character for uprightness was completely wrecked. … Man must have a righteousness, or God cannot accept him. Man must have a perfect obedience, or else God cannot reward him. Should He give heaven to a soul that has not perfectly kept the law; that were to give the reward where the service is not done, and that before God would be an act which might impeach his justice. Where, then, is the righteousness with which the pardoned man shall be completely covered, so that God can regard him as having kept the law, and reward him for so doing? … We must believe, then,—for there is no other alternative—that the righteousness in which we must be clothed, and through which we must be accepted, and by which we are made meet to inherit eternal life, can be no other than the work of Jesus Christ.”
Yes, my friend, Christ is the only righteousness we need – Christ is the only righteousness that God the Father will accept – Christ is the only righteousness that God the Spirit will employ. The Bible tells us in Isaiah 64:6, “All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags.” Man in himself has no righteousness – no goodness – no uprightness. Romans 3:10 – “There is none righteous, no, not one.” Romans 3:12 – “There is none that doeth good, no, not one.” Romans 3:19 – “And all the world may become guilty before God.” Guilty before God – that is the verdict. And the sentence? Romans 6:23 – “For the wages of sin is death.” The sentence is death!
But – there’s a but – a provision has been made. Yes, a lamb can be offered to pay the sin-debt. Hebrews 9:22 – “Without shedding of blood is no remission.” But every lamb offered to restore fellowship only atones for sin, it doesn’t wash it away. Still a provision has been made. Abraham said it atop Mt. Moriah many years ago in Genesis 22:8, “God will provide himself a lamb.” Yes, the eternal Lamb of God will come and wash away our sin. Romans 3:21-22 – “But now the righteousness of God … is manifested. Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ.” He is the answer to the sin problem – Romans 3:25 continues the thought, “Whom God set forth … to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins.” Christ alone is righteousness – He is the redeemer (Rom 3:24) – He is the propitiation (Rom 3:25) – He is the justifier (Rom 3:26).
Jesus Christ, “the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world (John 2:29),” is Himself our Righteousness. Look at 1 Peter 2:24, “Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness,” and 2 Corinthians 5:21, “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” He was the Christ of glory – He left the streets of heaven – He took on the form of man – He suffered persecution at the hands of men – He endured the humiliation of the cross – He was forsaken by all – yet, He provided, through His death, the righteousness God required to be accepted of Him. On the cross Christ declared, “It is finished.” The great work of justification was finished – the wondrous work of restoration was finished – the eternal work of salvation was finished. C.H. Spurgeon put it this way: "Throughout his earthly life our Savior was spinning the fabric of our royal garment; and in his death he dipped that garment in his blood. In his life he was gathering the precious gold; and in his death he hammered it out to make for us a garment of wrought gold."
Quote – “God never alters the robe of righteousness to fit man; He changes the man to fit the robe.” – Unknown
