Tag: Righteousness

The Righteous King Arrives

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The next prophecy used by Handel in the Messiah was in Zechariah 9:9-10.  He only uses a portion of these verses in the script.

Zechariah 9 9“Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!
    Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem!
Behold, your king is coming to you;
    righteous and having salvation is he,
humble and mounted on a donkey,
    on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
10 I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim
    and the war horse from Jerusalem;
and the battle bow shall be cut off,
    and he shall speak peace to the nations;
his rule shall be from sea to sea,
    and from the River to the ends of the earth.”

These words point to Jesus’ coming at a special time.  This is just before the cross and Jesus enters Jerusalem mounted on a donkey.  The people praised Him that Palm Sunday waving branches as they sang His praises.  Matthew 21:7-9 “They brought the donkey and the colt and put on them their cloaks, and he sat on them. 8 Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9 And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting,  “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!”  Zechariah’s words were given hundreds of years before and Jesus fulfilled them exactly!  Zechariah also says that He will be righteous, coming to save and bringing peace to all nations that seek Him.  We see those completely fulfilled in Jesus’ life.   He came as the righteous Lord, Psalm 145:17 “The Lord is righteous in all his ways and faithful in all he does.”.   He came to bring righteousness to us, 1 Corinthians 1:30 “It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.”  He came to bring peace.  John 14:27 “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.  Those that seek Him do not go away empty handed nor empty hearted.

Rejoice today in the righteousness of God, His Peace and  Jesus’ righteousness imparted to you and me to save us from our sins.

Linda

I AM your Righteousness

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Lord RighteousnessOne of the most important Messianic prophesies in the Bible appears in Jeremiah 23.  Jeremiah wrote about the King who would come to reign in wisdom and justice with the power to save.  “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.  In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the name by which he will be called: ‘The Lord is our righteousness.’”  This prophecy was partially fulfilled when Jesus came to be the ultimate sacrifice for our sins and died on the cross and rose from the dead.  There is also a future portion yet to be realized where Jesus will reign with wisdom and justice here in the land.  In the meantime, He is here reigning in our hearts with love, wisdom and justice indwelling us with His Holy Spirit.  His return and reign are still future to us.

God desires for us to be righteous in character through His Son, Jesus.   “But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— 22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,”  Romans 3:21-24   The Lord can be our righteousness through faith in Jesus Christ.  Jesus’ death on the cross and resurrection from the dead imputed His righteousness into our account and gave us life and victory over death when we believe in Him.  Titus 2:13-14 reminds us of our wait for Jesus’ return and what He accomplished when He came, Titus 2 14“waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, 14 who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.”   We are a people He saved for Himself to do His good works and spread the good news of redemption that is available through faith in Jesus.  Jesus is our Righteousness now and forever.  He covers our sins and makes us righteous before our Holy God.  

I am praising and thanking God that He is my Righteousness today.

Linda

 

The reality of my righteousness and God’s Righteousness

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Psalm 119:137-144 focuses on God’s Righteousness as the psalmist says he sees God’s character in His Word.  137 Righteous are you, O Lord, and right are your rules.
138 You have appointed your testimonies in righteousness  and in all faithfulness.   Later in verse 147 he points to the righteousness of God and His Word that is eternal.  Your righteousness is righteous forever, and your law is true.

Why is it important to know that God and His Word are righteous?  Righteous is by definition being morally right, just, virtuous, and upright.  If we do not have  a holy and righteous God, we are lost without hope.  In our sinful state, fallen and alienated by sin, there is no way for us to be made righteous.  God, in His mercy, had a plan to redeem us and make us right with Him.  Jesus was His answer to our sinfulness and through Him He made a way for us to put on God’s righteousness.  Romans 3-22 RighteousnessRomans 3:22-23 ” 22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”   1 Corinthians 1:30 “30 And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption,”  These are just a few of the many verses that speak of Jesus’ work on the cross that imputed God’s righteousness to us.  

The psalmist knew that he was not righteous.  He knew he was sinful and in verse 141 he says “Though I am lowly and despised, I do not forget your precepts.”   He knew the truth of God’s righteousness and the truth of God’s Word as he ends this portion with verse 142, “Your righteousness is everlasting and your law is true.”   He knew that believing that he himself was righteous would lead to wrong thinking, pride, arrogance and self-boasting.  Knowing we can rely upon the rightness of God’s Word, we can depend upon the direction and guidance we receive as we read and study His Word.

Today as you reflect on these verses, think about your own attitude towards righteousness.  Do you assume you are a good person, righteous and worthy of praise from men?  When I begin thinking like that, I am reminded in humility of Isaiah’s words in Isaiah 64:6 ” We are all infected and impure with sin.  When we display our righteous deeds, they are nothing but filthy rags.  Like autumn leaves, we wither and fall,  and our sins sweep us away like the wind.”

Praise be to Jesus, the one who saves and presents us in right standing before God!  Praise be to God that His Word is eternally true and guides us to live as He desires.

Linda

 

I am holy and I share in God’s heavenly calling.

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Because I believe that Jesus died on the cross and rose from the dead, I am holy and I share in God’s heavenly calling.   This claim of faith comes from Hebrews 3:1 “Therefore, holy brothers and sisters, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, whom we acknowledge as our apostle and high priest.”   Our holiness and our heavenly calling both come from and through Jesus.  Scripture teaches that our holiness, purity, cleanness comes through Jesus and His death on the cross.  Romans 3:22 in the Amplified Bible makes it very clear, “This righteousness of God comes through faith in Jesus Christ for all those [Jew or Gentile] who believe [and trust in Him and acknowledge Him as God’s Son]. There is no distinction,”   God is impartial and He desires that all receive His righteous through faith in Jesus.  Our heavenly calling comes through faith in Jesus.  In the gospel’s Jesus’ invitation to follow Him was referred to as a calling.  Matthew 9:9 “The Calling of Matthew : 9 As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him.”  Paul, in speaking to the Ephesians, wrote in 4:1 “As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.”   Peter wrote in 2 Peter 1:3 “His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.”  

holinessSo what does this mean that you are holy and called by Jesus?  The state of being holy before God is life changing.  Because of our imputed holiness, we are spared the wrath of God because of our sin.  When God looks at us He sees the blood of Christ covering us, forgiving us of our sins.  The call to faith that we accepted when we made Christ our Savior and Lord is a life long journey with Jesus.  He transforms us in body and mind to be more and more like Him through the power of His indwelling Holy Spirit.  That heavenly calling sets a path towards eternity with Him.   Are you feeling holy?  Perhaps you need to spend time in prayer and confession for those sins of omission and commission we commit each day.  Are you feeling called?  If you have accepted Jesus as your Savior, YOU ARE CALLED.  Spend some time in prayer and Bible study to see what it is that God Jesus lovewants you to do as you follow Him.  We know for sure we are to tell others of Jesus and show Him to the world by our love.   Remember the author of Hebrews tells us to “fix our thoughts on Jesus”.  He is the source of our power and hope transforming our lives.

JesusFixing my thoughts on Jesus,

Linda