Jesus as Righteousness
Righteousness is a rather abstract concept. A Bible dictionary will tell you that righteousness is the state of one who is as he or she ought to be. To be the way you ought to be, that’s righteous. Even people who have walked with the Lord for many years know that they are not righteous and sometimes I think the longer you walk with the Lord the more you realize you are not righteous.
It is good to know that Jesus is our righteousness, because we haven’t got any of our own. We are not the people we ought to be. He, on the other hand, was exactly who He was to be. Jesus talked to His disciples on one occasion and said that He always did the things that pleased His Father. (John 8:29) Jesus is our righteousness because He was perfectly what God intended Him to be.
Most of us would be quite content to say “I do a few things that please the Father.” We all find our level of comfort in terms of our spiritual growth. None of us can say, “I always do what pleases the Father.” Even if we could say, “I mostly do what pleases the Father,” we would grow so spiritually proud that we would fall into sin. Then we’d be unrighteous all over again.
Picture yourself going to the bank to get a loan for a large purchase. You fill out the form with all your financial details. You try to make yourself look financially sound and worth taking a chance on. But the bank manager looks at it and says “I'd really like to give you the loan, but you are not a good risk. However, if you find a guarantor who will sign for you, I’d be happy to give you the loan - not because you are any good, but because the guarantor is good.” So you visit all your friends and relatives until somebody finally agrees to sign. You don’t measure up. You are not who you need to be financially to get the loan. But somebody else can sign for you and on that basis you get the money.
That is just like what Jesus does for us, we go to God and say “We’d like to approach you. We want to know You and receive the blessings You offer.” But God says, “You are such a sinner there is no way that can happen. But, if you accept my Son, Jesus, and His death on your behalf, then I will give you all His righteousness and you can bring that to me and then I can receive you.” We become acceptable to God because it is not our own righteousness we bring (remember we haven’t any); it’s His righteousness. Recognize that Jesus is our righteousness and then live every day knowing that all of this is applied to us.
Ron Hughes
© May 2007
