This is part 10 of a 10-part series. View the entire series here.
“And this will be His name: ‘The Lord Is Our Righteousness.’” – Jeremiah 23:6a NLT
In this verse, Jeremiah is prophesying about the coming Messiah—Jesus. Through Him, God’s righteousness will be imparted onto His people. In Hebrew, the phrase The Lord Is Our Righteousness can be translated as Jehovah-Tsidkenu.
Maybe you’ve heard the word righteousness mentioned in churches or other Christian circles, but you’ve never really understood what it means. Or maybe you know the dictionary definition, but you wonder, am I even capable of being righteous, or is God the only One who is truly righteous?
Righteousness, as the Bible describes it, means being in right standing with God, obeying His Word, and living out His will with purity and integrity.
If that sounds impossible, it’s because it is––at least perfectly. We’re not capable of being truly righteous on our own. Romans 3:10 says, “No one is righteous—not even one” (NLT). No amount of good works, or anything else we could do in our own strength, will ever meet God’s standard of righteousness.
But praise God that He never asks us to meet this impossible standard on our own! Praise God He’s given His Son, Jesus Christ, to be our righteousness. Through His life, death, and resurrection, His righteousness is given to us—at the very moment we repent of our sin, turn from our old ways, and surrender our lives to Him. When we are born again in Christ, our hearts and minds are made new.
Because we are “the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21 ESV), we are called to live in a way that reflects God’s holiness. His righteousness in us, along with the Holy Spirit, is what enables and empowers us to do that. Isaiah 61:3 says, “In their righteousness, they will be like great oaks that the Lord has planted for his own glory” (NLT). When we love God with all our hearts and minds, obey His commands, and love our neighbors as ourselves, we bring honor and glory to His name. We demonstrate God’s great love to the world—even if it means we’re misunderstood or persecuted.
“For the time is coming,” says the Lord, “when I will raise up a righteous descendant from King David’s line. He will be a King who rules with wisdom. He will do what is just and right throughout the land. In that day Judah will be saved, and Israel will live in safety” (Jeremiah 23:5-6 NLT).
Jeremiah is reassuring the exiled Israelites that this King will one day reverse and restore the harmful effects of the nation’s disobedience and idolatry. And that promise lives on for us, too. One day God will establish a Kingdom with no end, where all who are in Him will live with Him in glory forever.
