The LORD is our righteousness!

“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.’  

(Jer. 23:5-6)

As I have been working my way through Jeremiah, it has been a challenge at times. The Prophets hold a certain mystique about them…that is until you begin to study them. Then you begin to feel the weight and burden that they carried. Many times the word ‘burden’ is actually how their messages were characterized! (Isa 13:1, 14:28, 15:1,17:1, 19:1, 21:1, 21:11, 21:13, 22:1, 23:1, 30:6; Jer. 23:33-38; Eze. 12:10; Nah. 1:1; Hab. 1:1; Zec. 9:1, 12:1, and Mal. 1:1) 

Getting lost in the words is pretty easy to do, when the prophecies are long ago, and to nations long since gone, and in places unfamiliar to us. So studying the prophets themselves can be ‘burdensome’ to us modern Christians! And it is just this work we need to be willing to do.

As I was working my way through I came to chapter 23, verses 5-6 (above) and was tremendously blessed. 

You see, I am also teaching Sunday School to younger teens and we’ve begun to undertake to study of Romans. It was in this context I was thinking about these matters. But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.  (Rom. 3:21-22 a)

I began to think of a hymn we sing in church, Jehovah Tsidkenu. Since you likely haven’t heard of this old hymn, let me clue you in…The name is transliterated Hebrew which means quite literally –

THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS

King David made such a statement as this - Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness! You have given me relief when I was in distress. Be gracious to me and hear my prayer! (Psa. 4:1) It’s as though he says God is the sole reason I have any righteous bone in my body! Isaiah agrees when he says, “Only in the Lord, it shall be said of me, are righteousness and strength; to him shall come and be ashamed all who were incensed against him. (Isa. 45:24)

In these verses we begin to see snippets of the gospel. That is to say, the hope of humanity is in righteousness. But who can claim to be Holy like the Lord? In a word, no one! (See Psa. 14:1-3, 53:1-3; Jer. 17:9-10; Isa. 64:6; Rom. 1:18–20, 3:10-11)

Since we are without hope in ourselves we need a source of righteousness altogether apart from our own hands. Our deeds are not able to plead our case. 

But there is a righteous branch. 

There is a King of holiness through whom all who are saved.

 

We read in Romans that the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ is for all who believe. But what is it we must believe? That our holiness cannot be attained to – it must be granted as a gift of God. Then it is a righteousness which is ours, through gifting. Martin Luther called it an alien righteousness. Jeremiah says it again, In those days Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will dwell securely. And this is the name by which it will be called: ‘The Lord is our righteousness.’ (Jer. 33:16) 

Paul teaches extensively on this, but one of the plainest is in Philippians, Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith. (Phil. 3:8-9. See also1 Cor. 1:30; 2 Cor. 5:21)

Even Peter in his opening lines to his second letter writes, Simeon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ. (2 Pet. 1:1)

The greatest blessing of all is that I can stand complete – whole and perfect – holy, because Jesus’ righteousness was credited to my account!

May this greatly bless you as you ponder this! 

I once was a stranger to grace and to God,

I knew not my danger, and felt not my load;

Though friends spoke in rapture of Christ on the tree,

Jehovah Tsidkenu was nothing to me.

I oft read with pleasure, to sooth or engage,

Isaiah’s wild measure and John’s simple page;

But e’en when they pictured the blood sprinkled tree

Jehovah Tsidkenu seemed nothing to me.

Like tears from the daughters of Zion that roll,

I wept when the waters went over His soul;

Yet thought not that my sins had nailed to the tree

Jehovah Tsidkenu—’twas nothing to me.

When free grace awoke me, by light from on high,

Then legal fears shook me, I trembled to die;

No refuge, no safety in self could I see—

Jehovah Tsidkenu my Savior must be.

My terrors all vanished before the sweet name;

My guilty fears banished, with boldness I came

To drink at the fountain, life giving and free—

Jehovah Tsidkenu is all things to me.

Jehovah Tsidkenu! my treasure and boast,

Jehovah Tsidkenu! I ne’er can be lost;

In thee I shall conquer by flood and by field,

My cable, my anchor, my breast-plate and shield!

Even treading the valley, the shadow of death,

This watchword shall rally my faltering breath;

For while from life’s fever my God sets me free,

Jehovah Tsidkenu, my death song shall be. 

by Robert M. McCheyne (1813–1843)