“The days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will raise up to David a righteous Branch, a King who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land. In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. This is the name by which he will be called: The LORD Our Righteousness.” (Jeremiah 23:5-6)
You ever feel like if Judgment Day were a test and if your good outweighed your bad, you’d be declared righteous? Well let’s put those thoughts to rest.
There’s no way I’ll ever be righteous on the basis of my own merit. You either. Remember what the apostle Paul wrote to the Romans?
But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. (Romans 3:21-24)
Some things worth highlighting in this passage.
- Righteousness is “apart from the law” — there is no amount of “good” we can do that will get us into Heaven.
- That said though, there is nothing in this passage, or any other, that promotes the idea that there is nothing we “have to do” in order to be saved. Some say you must “ask Jesus into your heart” — that is something you do. Not a meritorious work, but something you do. Others say you must be baptized — that is something you do. Again, not a meritorious work, but something you do. I happen to belong to this second crowd, but either way, there is still something we “must do” — not in order to merit salvation, but in order to accept salvation.
- “Righteousness…comes through faith…to all who believe.” I don’t have time in this post to fully address this, but I didn’t want to ignore it. Faith is more than mental assent, and always requires obedience. Always has; always will.
- “All…fall short of the glory of God.” This pretty well speaks for itself.
- “All…are…justified freely by his grace through…Christ Jesus.” Finally, we get to the point of this. No matter how bad a sinner I am, once I turn to Jesus, I am justified by His righteousness, not mine.
That is indeed the point of Jeremiah’s prophecy, and of Paul’s declaration — Jesus is The LORD Our Righteousness. Jehovah-Tsidkenu.