Yahweh Our Righteousness
Jeremiah 23:5-6; Romans 3:21-26; 10:1-4, 9-10
“Yahweh Our Righteousness.” The sovereign and powerful God is defined by righteousness. Not only is He the source of righteousness, He is righteousness. In this text, Jeremiah prophesies of the coming of the Messiah, and he tells us that His name is the Lord Our Righteousness. During this time of year especially, we are reminded that this prophecy was fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ. In this act, the sending of His Son, we see that God keeps His promises. And in Jesus’ life, we find the characteristics of justice and righteousness lived out.
By sending a Savior who exhibits righteousness, and because we have seen God’s righteous dealings with His people, we understand how much God values justice and righteousness. As His followers, we should not only place a high value on these qualities, but also show the same justice and righteousness in whatever role we find ourselves. As we read about leaders in our communities and our nation – secular, political, and, yes, even religious – it seems that power and money are often more highly valued than justice and righteousness. God has called His followers to be different, a peculiar people. We show our difference by seeking righteousness above things valued highly by the world.
Even as we seek to be right and just, we recognize that all have sinned, and we are neither just nor righteous on our own. The only way we are justified, the only way we can become righteous, is through faith in Jesus Christ. In the past, righteousness was gained by observing the law (which, in Romans 3:20, we are told is impossible). But now there was a way that was possible!
Paul shared about this righteousness that was provided by God in the person of His Son. To this point, Jews relied on themselves and their efforts in keeping the law to become righteous. They established elaborate rituals and a network of laws in order to keep the law that had been given to them. What they did not understand was that God established the standard of righteousness, and there was absolutely nothing they could do on their own to reach that standard.
The Law was no longer enough then, and is no longer enough now. Today, we cannot trust our own “moral code.” We cannot try to set our own standard of righteousness. It did not work for the Jews, and it will not work for us. For the Jews in Paul’s time, and for us now, the only way to become righteous is to trust and believe in Jesus alone.
Register– Lessons in the BSL series for the winter quarter are being written by Laurie Register, executive director-treasurer of Woman’s Missionary Union, SCBC.