Righteousness Established

 

ÒThe LORD is well pleased for his righteousnessÕ sake; he will magnify the law, and make it honourable.Ó (Isaiah 42:21)

 

The Lord Jesus Christ came into this world to fulfil all righteousness, not for himself, but for us (Matt. 3:15; 5:17). — ÒThe LORD is well pleased for his righteousnessÕ sake; he magnified the law, and made it honorable.Ó Our Savior did for us exactly what Daniel 9:24 said he would do. He finished the transgression and made an end of sin for us, putting away our sins by the sacrifice of himself. He made reconciliation for iniquity by satisfying the justice of God as our Substitute. And he brought in everlasting righteousness by his obedience to the will of God in all things as our Representative and Federal Head. By his obedience to the will of God as our Representative and Substitute, the Lord Jesus Christ brought in an everlasting righteousness of infinite worth and merit for GodÕs elect (Heb. 10:5-14).

 

         According to the Book of God, it is the life obedience of Christ unto death that constitutes that righteousness, with which we are clothed, that righteousness we are made to become before God (Rom. 5:19. His death washed away our sins, and his life covers us from head to foot. His death was the sacrifice to God, and his life is the gift to man, by which all GodÕs elect have satisfied the demands of the law.

 

      Only in this way is it possible for the law to be honored and our souls accepted by God. Many who appear to be perfectly clear about the merits of ChristÕs death do not seem to understand the merits of his life. Remember, from the moment that our blessed Savior broke his motherÕs womb, until the hour that he ascended up on high, he was at work for his people. From the moment that he was seen in MaryÕs arms, until the moment that he was in the arms of death, when Òhe bowed his head and gave up the ghost,Ó he was performing the work of our salvation.

 

         The Lord Jesus Christ completed the work of his obedience in his life, and said to his Father, ÒI have finished the work which thou gavest me to doÓ (John 17:4). Then, he finished the work of his atonement in his death. And, knowing that all things were accomplished, he cried, ÒIt is finishedÓ (John 19:30). Throughout his earthly life, the Savior was spinning the fabric of that royal, priestly garment in which we are robed, and in his death he dipped that garment in his blood. In his life he was gathering precious gold, and in his death he hammered it out to make for us a garment of wrought gold. We have as much to be thankful for in the life of Christ as we do in his death. In his life Christ Jesus rendered perfect obedience to the law as our Representative. And in his death he satisfied the claims of the law as our Substitute. Therefore, the prophet of God declares of Christ, ÒThis is the name whereby he shall be called, the Lord our Righteousness,Ó and of us, ÒThis is the name whereby she shall be called, the Lord our Righteousness

 

         That is the message that is set before us in 2 Corinthians 5:21. The Lord Jesus Christ is our only righteousness, and it is our joy to confess that he is. — ÒOf him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the LordÓ (1 Cor. 1:30-31).

 

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