Jeremiah 23:6 In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.
Righteousness, His title.
Our verse today gives us one of the many names of God, “He is called THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.” A title is given to reveal the nature, and work of a person. God has many titles, one is Jehovah, meaning the self-existent God, the I AM—ever-present, self-sufficient, eternal, all-powerful, head, former, and sustainer of all things. Words fail to grasp God’s nature fully, but absolute authority, absolute power, absolute wisdom, absolute presence, and absolute benevolence are as close as we will get today. The Name given to him here is Jehovah our righteousness, or yehôvâh tsedeq. He is righteous, which is a wonderful truth. If he were not, he would be the cosmic tyrant that some paint him to be, but he isn’t. He is all-righteous, and his righteousness is all-powerful, all-sufficient, all-benevolent since it comes from such a God. All God’s attributes are subject to his nature, and his nature is eternal. What I mean is his judgment is righteous because he is righteous, his wrath is righteous because he is righteous, and His forgiveness and mercy are also righteous because he is righteous. He is too good to be bad, and so much wisdom can be found in the question that Abraham asked, “Shall not the judge of all the earth do right?” This is a wonderful truth, but our verse does not say that he is righteous, but that he is our righteousness, this is a far greater truth! That is his title because he did not come to make himself righteous, no work needed to be done to accomplish that task, but the work that must be done was for us to be made righteous. So the title fits him well because righteousness is his nature and righteousness is his work.
Righteousness, His Nature
He became sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. As a law in mathematics, what is done to one side of the equation must be done to the other. If we were going to be placed into Christ, then by God’s divine wisdom and structure of all things, he had to be placed into us, our life, our experience so that he might taste our suffering and become our great high priest, touched with the feeling of our infirmities, and so he was. Yet all the sufferings and temptations he endured were not enough to erode his righteous nature for he was "tempted in all points, yet without sin." His righteousness was sufficient for every curse word flung at him, sufficient for every temptation Satan could muster, sufficient for betrayal, beatings, scourgings, false accusations and even unto the death of the cross. You can see how his righteousness was sufficient to carry him through his life here on earth, but now let’s consider the other side of the equation, us being placed in him. If all the temptation Satan and the world could throw at him were not enough to erode his righteousness, do you suspect that your sins are greater than his righteousness? Perhaps you are a murderer, didn't his righteousness remain intact as he was hung on the cross? Perhaps you are a curser, didn't his righteousness remain intact as he was cursed? Perhaps you are an abuser, didn't his righteous nature remain spotless as he was abused? So then you being placed in him is the death of all your unrighteousness. Us being placed in him could never defile him but makes us righteous. No matter the depth of sin you came with to the fountain of life, the fountain is deeper still and sufficient to wash away even the filthiest of stains. “But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound," and if his righteousness was sufficient to carry him through this life and into the next then it is sufficient to do the same for you!
Righteousness, His Work
Righteousness is not just a title, or his nature but His work. While he was here on this earth, his life was spent fulfilling the Law. He was accused of breaking the law but he testified that “I came not to destroy the law, but to fulfill it,” and fulfill it he did, being the fullness of all things. He went about doing good, the Bible says. He was angered by hypocrisy, he was compassionate to the lost and weary, he was the manifestation of God’s holiness, he was God in the flesh, Emmanuel. From birth to death, he was here to accomplish his work of righteousness, and when it was accomplished he gave up his spirit to the Father, “It is finished.” He had wrought righteousness in his life, in his death, and three days later all of his righteousness was proven and vindicated by the resurrection. These are his works of righteousness done for us in the past. His work as our Savior is done, yet there is still an office that he serves us in. He is our great high priest, and to this day he stands as our righteousness in heaven, “When we sin we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” He will always be what he has always been, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. His work was our righteousness and his work in the presence of God is still our righteousness. All-powerful, all-sufficient, all-encompassing righteousness from the eternal God, given to all who are in Christ. Come to the fountain that makes men clean and he too will be "THE LORD YOUR RIGHTEOUSNESS."
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