There is a famous quote of Abraham Lincoln when some said to Lincoln, I hope that the Lord is on our side. Lincoln replied, that does not concern me, whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God’s side
Lincolns reply gives us an insightful perspective of the contrast between God and man. This contrast is clear when we look at the righteousness of God.
We look at the name of God, Jehovah-Tsidkenu: The Lord is our righteousness. (Jeremiah 23:6)
This is part of a study on the names of God:
Jehovah-Jireh: The Lord is our provider. (Genesis 22:14)
Jehovah-Rapha: The Lord is our healer. (Exodus 15:26)
Jehovah-Nissi: The Lord is our banner, our victory. (Exodus 17:15)
Jehovah-M’kaddesh: The Lord is our Holiness. (Leviticus 20:8)
Jehovah-Shalom: The Lord is our peace. (Judges 6:26)
Jehovah-Shammah: The Lord is present (Ezekiel 48:34)
This revelation of God as The Lord is our righteousness is from the prophet Jeremiah. This prophet had been through so much. He was a prophet under opposition, imprisonment and beatings. He was under difficulty for forty years.
While he suffered the false prophets all around him were enjoying popularity and acceptance. Jeremiah had his messenger send his prophecy to the king. Not only was it rejected it was ripped to pieces. Not surprisingly Jeremiah wanted to resign his prophetic ministry on several occasions.
After the first Kings of Israel; Saul, David and Solomon the people of Israel divided into two regions with two kings. By the time the prophet Jeremiah is warning the nation the northern Kingdom Israel was already defeated.
The false prophets were telling the people that can never happen to the southern kingdom of Judah. It is like the self-help psychology philosophy; I’m OK your OK. These were the false hopes coming from the false prophets. Jeremiah was preaching the harsh reality; God is righteous and you are not OK.
This is what the LORD Almighty says: “Do not listen to what the prophets are prophesying to you; they fill you with false hopes. They speak visions from their own minds, not from the mouth of the LORD. (Jeremiah 23:16)
With the message of the false prophets leading them on the people of the southern kingdom, Judah, had not only forgotten God, but they had also forsaken him. They turned their backs to me and not their faces; though I taught them again and again, they would not listen or respond to discipline. (Jeremiah 32:33)
While the false prophets were predicting peace and prosperity, Jeremiah was predicting Judah would collapse and Jerusalem would fall. When Jeremiah made this prophecy found in Jeremiah chapter 23 king Zedekiah was just coming to the throne.
The name of the king, Zedekiah means the righteousness of Jehovah. Jeremiah predicted he would be cut off and a branch would be raised up called, Jehovah-Tsidkenu: The Lord is our righteousness. (Jeremiah 23:6). It is a play on words with the name of the current king.
Jeremiah was the true prophet and proved to be right on both accounts. Zedekiah would be cut off. He planned a conspiracy against Babylon. Jeremiah warned against it and appeared before the people with a yoke to represent the oppression they would experience.
The three sons of Zedekiah were killed so that his line was completely cut off. Zedekiah was blinded by the enemy and died in Babylon. Jeremiah’s prophecy regarding Zedekiah being cut off came to pass.
The other part of Jeremiah’s prophecy was that a shoot would come like a shoot from a tree that has been cut down. This was the prophecy of the messiah. A righteous branch. “The days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, a King who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land. (Jeremiah 23:5)
The Righteousness of God is perfect righteousness. The term righteousness denotes a straight path. The ones who follow God’s straight path are the upright. Righteousness is portrayed by the image of a judge deciding a case. We expect that judge to have an upright decision. Too many times a human judge will disappoint us. Never so with God.
God’s standards are always straight. They are always right. People may turn their back on God but never because his decisions are unrighteous. Your righteousness is everlasting and your law is true. (Psalm 119:142)
God never changes. He is always righteous. God is righteous and straight in his judgements and all his commands are just. He is righteous in a way that can never be altered. Everything else may change, but God himself and his righteousness will never change.
The law of God is true because it flows from the righteousness of God. God is always honest in his dealings. He commands only what is right. Man is created in God’s image. God requires righteousness from man, but man is flawed.
The condition of man and the true nature of man is seen in contrast to God. The righteousness of God stands in contrast to mans unrighteousness. Romans 3:19-20 sum up man’s problem before God.
Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. 20 Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin. (Romans 3:19-20)
Even our so called righteousness is unrighteous before God. All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away. (Isaiah 64:6)
Our sinfulness is not a popular message. It would be better received to say, just try to be a good person. But Jeremiah was not called to preach what people wanted to hear. He was called to say the hard truth when others preached feel good messages.
Attending a worship service does not make you righteous. The law of God will let you know your shortcomings. George Whitefield would preach the law before a revival. It would make everyone aware of the contrast of righteous God and unrighteous man.
The source of righteousness is never from man it is always from God. It is absolutely impossible for fallen man to reach God’s standards. No one of us can be right without pure and perfect obedience to God’s law.
When you read the law you find out where you stand. “Indeed, I know that this is true. But how can mere mortals prove their innocence before God? (Job 9:2) Any righteousness is only by virtue of man’s relationship with God. It must be given him by God.
Paul tells us in Philippians 3 how if anyone could claim self-righteousness it would be himself. He says he count all the righteous things all as rubbish not having a righteousness of his own through the law, but that which is through faith in Christ.
Though I myself have reasons for such confidence. If someone else thinks they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5 circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; 6 as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless. 7 But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8 What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. 10 I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead. (Philippians 3:4-11)
The righteousness that comes from God is by faith. There is the beauty of the prophecy of Jeremiah, “the Lord our righteousness.”
When Jeremiah spoke those prophetic words that was the last king Zedekiah’s final days. But we see in Jeremiah 23 and verse 5, a coming king who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land.
Jesus is our righteousness. The God who is perfectly righteous cannot overlook the sinful condition of man. None of us are capable of righteousness in ourselves. We are a sinner regarded as guilty in God’s sight.
Then where is the hope? The hope is that God provided righteousness. Ever since the fall in the Garden of Eden God has been controlling the events of history which climaxed when his own son Jesus Christ dies on the cross.
For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit. (1 Peter 3:18)
Jesus is the righteous branch promised, Jehovah-Tsidkenu: The Lord is our righteousness. Jesus is worthy to represent us before God. He identifies with us by his humanity, yet he has the distinct righteousness of his deity.
When you put your faith in Christ you receive the righteousness of God. You receive the gift of eternal life.
