When Jesus resurrected He made us His righteousness and this helps us to approach the throne of grace without any form of condemnation. We are so loved by God that He sees us as righteous because of His Son Jesus Christ. Let's go into the scriptures to confirm this great promise of our Father. The day I realised that I am the righteousness of God my life changed and also knowing that my works does not make me right in God's presence, but my faith in Him alone makes me His righteousness.
Jeremiah 23: 5 - 6
Behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord,
“That I will raise to David a Branch of righteousness;
A King shall reign and prosper,
And execute judgement and righteousness in the earth.
In His days Judah will be saved,
And Israel will dwell safely;
Now this is His name by which He will be called:
THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.
1 Corinthians 1:30
But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption
Philippians 3: 8 - 9
Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith.
Because of what Adam did by disobeying God, sin came into our lives and Jesus was sent to redeem us from the curse that was brought on mankind. God immediately set a plan in motion so that we would not be held captive by Satan.
1 Corinthians 15:22 records this "For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.
Romans 5: 12 - 21 records
Death in Adam, Life in Christ
Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned— (For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come. But the free gift is not like the offense. For if by the one man’s offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many. And the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned. For the judgement which came from one offense resulted in condemnation, but the free gift which came from many offenses resulted in justification. For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.)
Therefore, as through one man’s offense judgement came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man’s righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous.
Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more, so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Because of Adam all die,, but in Christ who became our righteousness all will be made alive.And this is why 2 Corinthians 5:21 says this " For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him".
God had to lay or impute on Christ all our sins the past , present and future sins. Jesus became the Lamb Of God and John The Baptist introduced Him to us in John chapter One verse 29 like this
The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!
Jesus Our Lamb became a sacrifice and took away our sin. and after His finished work on the cross. He cried out "It is finished"!
I love this statement in the WORD Of God - It is finished!
It is because of His cry that God made us His righteousness.
What is the meaning of Righteousness?
- The quality of being morally right or justifiable
- Rightness
- Free from guilt or sin
- Upright
- Just
We therefore, stand before God just as if we had never sinned because of the Blood of Jesus that was shed. The Blood made a way for us to be called children of God.
Jesus - Our Righteousness
Also the blood of animals was not sufficient enough for us to be free from sin, and this is in Hebrews 10: 1 - 18
Animal Sacrifices Insufficient
For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with these same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect. For then would they not have ceased to be offered? For the worshippers, once purified, would have had no more consciousness of sins. But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins.
Christ’s Death Fulfils God’s Will
Therefore, when He came into the world, He said:
“Sacrifice and offering You did not desire,
But a body You have prepared for Me.
In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin
You had no pleasure.
Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come—
In the volume of the book it is written of Me—
To do Your will, O God.’ ”
Previously saying, “Sacrifice and offering, burnt offerings, and offerings for sin You did not desire, nor had pleasure in them” (which are offered according to the law), then He said, “Behold, I have come to do Your will, O God.” He takes away the first that He may establish the second. By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
Christ’s Death Perfects the Sanctified
And every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool. For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.
But the Holy Spirit also witnesses to us; for after He had said before,
“This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them,” then He adds, “Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.” Now where there is remission of these, there is no longer an offering for sin.
And in Romans 4: 1 - 8 we have Abraham our faith father as an example of righteousness.
What then shall we say that Abraham our father has found according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt.
But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness, just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works:
“Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven,
And whose sins are covered;
Blessed is the man to whom the Lord shall not impute sin.”
Abraham was not made right with God by his works or by keeping the law of God. He was made righteous by God because of his faith in God. It was Abraham's faith that made God call him His righteousness and we are also made righteous by our faith in God.
When we receive the gift of salvation and believe in the finished work of Christ we are immediately made the righteousness of God . Righteousness is a gift from God and we stand before him righteous because of the sacrifice of Jesus.
We are the righteousness of God by faith only. Our works does not make us righteous and we cannot do any work that will make us right with God, like David said that we are receiving the blessing from God because He accepts us as good without looking at what we have done.
We are forgiven for the wrongs we have done and this is a great blessing and our sins are also erased. When God looks at us, He only sees what His Son Jesus did by the shedding of His Blood and this is why we stand before God without any guilt or shame.
God made us right because of Jesus. It;s all about Jesus!
As the righteousness of God we can go boldly before the throne of God to receive mercy and grace in our time of need. Since God sees us as His righteousness we cannot be condemned according to Romans 8:1.
Looking at Romans 10: 1 - 12
Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for [a]Israel is that they may be saved. For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.
For Moses writes about the righteousness which is of the law, “The man who does those things shall live by them.” But the righteousness of faith speaks in this way, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ down from above) or, “ ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach): that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him.
- God wants everyone to be saved
- So many are ignorant of God's righteousness and they want to make their own right standing with God.
- We are to submit to God's righteousness.
- Christ came to introduce us to a new way of living.
- Been made right by faith was the right way.
- Confessing that Jesus is Lord and believing in our hearts that God raised Him from the dead will cause us to be saved.
As we submit to the truth of our righteousness we will reign in life through Jesus Christ according to Romans 5:17.
"For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ".
And 1 Peter 2: 9 - 10 describes to us who we are as God's righteousness.
But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.
By faith we are to receive the gift of righteousness and not rely on our own righteousness.
Believing in the gift of righteousness we receive the benefits of righteousness which are:
- The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life
- The house of the righteous will stand
- The righteous will come through trouble
- He who sows righteousness will have a sure reward
- The posterity of the righteous will be delivered
- The labor of the righteous leads to life
- The desire of the righteous will be granted
- The hope of the righteous will be gladness
- The righteous will be delivered from death
- The lips of the righteous feed many.
Romans 4: 13 - 25
For the promise that he would be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. For if those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made void and the promise made of no effect, because the law brings about wrath; for where there is no law there is no transgression.
Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all (as it is written, “I have made you a father of many nations”) in the presence of Him whom he believed—God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did; who, contrary to hope, in hope believed, so that he became the father of many nations, according to what was spoken, “So shall your descendants be.” And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead (since he was about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah’s womb. He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform. And therefore “it was accounted to him for righteousness.”
Now it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him, but also for us. It shall be imputed to us who believe in Him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification.
Abraham had faith in what God promised and because of his trust in God he was accepted and had a right standing with God. He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief as well so it was accounted to him as righteousness.
In Matthew 6:33
But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.
We are told to seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness first and the promise is that all other things will be added to us - Salvation, Healing , Blessings , Protection will all start manifesting in our lives.
We are the righteousness of God in Christ by faith.
Jesus is our righteousness!
It's all about Jesus.
