Tag: The LORD our Righteousness

Jehovah Tsidkenu – The LORD our Righteousness – Part 2

It was the curse of the white van. It seemed that every time a ministry team or missionary would come through town and went to see the Gateway Arch, they would park on the same stretch of street near the Arch and someone would break into their van. One time a missionary family had their van stolen from this spot other times the personal items of ministry team members would be stollen. 

This stretch of street was bad enough to get people to start recommending that groups skip their planned visits to this national monument. And who could blame them.

Since then the parking arrangement in this part of downtown has improved a lot and criminal activity has gone down, but the reputation has stuck.

Jeremiah was the prophet of God in a time when there was a stunning amount of unrighteous and corrupt leadership, but he also preached for God in a land consumed by this unrighteousness, a land known for this unrighteousness.

The depth of this sin caused God’s judgement to come on them and to send them from this land into captivity in a strange land. But He wasn’t done with them.

God would bring them back from captivity. He talks about this return in Jeremiah 33:8-9:

“8 And I will cleanse them from all their iniquity, whereby they have sinned against me; and I will pardon all their iniquities, whereby they have sinned, and whereby they have transgressed against me. 
9 And it shall be to me a name of joy, a praise and an honour before all the nations of the earth, which shall hear all the good that I do unto them: and they shall fear and tremble for all the goodness and for all the prosperity that I procure unto it.” 
Jeremiah 33:8–9

Judah and Jerusalem wouldn’t be stuck with the curse of this bad name. They would be known from this time forward for the LORD’s Righteousness. Let’s take a step back and see this in the outline of this chapter.

Righteous Place

The land would be re-inhabited – Jer 33:1-13

God would bring the people back. He would restore health (v.6), joy, and gladness (v.11).

The land would be named for The Lord’s Righteousness – Jer 33:14-22 

 God would bring them back to the land and the once wicked city would be called “The LORD our Righteousness”

In this place the leadership of David’s line and the ministry of Levitical priests would as surely be maintained as day and night would continue to follow each other.

The ultimate fulfillment of these promises will be seen in the Millennial reign of Jesus in Jerusalem. Revelation 20:1-10 tells about the 1000 year reign of Christ, though the prophets give many more details. Satan will be bound and mankind will be ruled by The Perfect King. But men will still rebel against God, proving our sin nature. Satan will be loosed and the final battle will be fought. Revelation 21:1-5 gives the conclusion of this battle telling of  Jesus’ Final victory.

The LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS, Jesus Christ (see the previous article) will win this final battle and rule the new creation in perfect righteousness for eternity.

How does this affect how we pray?

We look for and long for a place of perfect righteousness under leadership that is perfectly righteous. The time for that hasn’t come, but hope isn’t lost.

We won’t find the answer to this hope in human government or even permanently in this world, but this is where we are in now. God chooses to use corrupt human governments to accomplish His will, in places with bad reputations.

We are not defined by the level of justice of the nations in which we live. We have the opportunity like Jeremiah did to call on God and to intercede for our nation and for others in the world.

While Jeremiah was left to rot in prison God gave Jeremiah one of the great prayer promises of the Bible.

“Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.” 
Jeremiah 33:3 

God wanted Jeremiah and by extension the people of Judah to pray beyond what they thought was possible. He promised to answer them, and to show them the answer beyond what they could imagine.

We may never know in this life the impact of our prayer on the lands where God has placed us. Never lose hope. Never stop praying for your authorities or for your neighbors. God, Who is perfectly just, is able to change their hearts or use them in His perfect purpose. God is able to change the reputation of a place, to heal the broken, to make the worthless priceless. This can feel impossible, but the invitation from God to prayer includes the impossible.

“Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.” 
Jeremiah 33:3

Studying and Application:

1. What is the “reputation” of the place you live in? Can you think of a few ways that you could pray for your area? (Suggestions: That God’s work and will would go forward. That people would receive the message of the gospel and be saved. That law enforcement would be effective in responding to and preventing crime.) 

2. List a few neighbors, acquaintances, or co-workers that you know need to be saved. Pray for an opportunity to witness to them. (Be ready for God to answer this request.)

3. Review your prayer list. Take a minute to add any new requests now.

Jehovah Tsidkenu – The LORD our Righteousness – Part 1

Jeremiah, the prophet, found himself in the middle of a world that was consumed by corruption and wickedness. Jeremiah watched as his nation was conquered and carried away into a strange land as punishment for their wickedness. Still the leadership didn’t learn. They remained wicked, corrupt and godless he was even arrested and held in prison as a corrupt rulers attempted to silence the prophet of God.

It was in these terrible circumstances that God gave Jeremiah these messages and revealed God’s chosen leader “THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS”

Righteous Leadership

Judah had a leadership problem – Jer 23:1-4 

“Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! saith the Lord.” 
Jeremiah 23:1

These pastors are the leaders of Judah (one of the tribes of Israel), the guiding influences that are so inherently trusted. Judah’s trust was misplaced in these men. They had destroyed and driven away the flock and God promised to punish them for these actions.

God promised them a Leader (Jehovah Tsidkenu) – Jer 23:5-8

 Under the leadership of “THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS” Israel would remember the return from captivity like they had the Exodus from Egypt. They would be regathered from the scattering that the unfaithful leaders had caused. Once they were regathered they would know true, righteous leadership.

Who is this Leader? The New Testament gives us greater insight into the identity of this Leader.

Jesus is our righteousness:

“But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:” 
1 Corinthians 1:30

Jesus is righteousness to the believer. 

“For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”
2 Corinthians 5:21

Jesus became sin for us “that we might be made the righteousness of God in him”. What a beautiful thought! Our place of rightness with God isn’t through our merit, it’s through the person of Jesus Christ.

We aren’t promised wise or righteous leadership in this life. In fact the example of scripture and all of history is that you can count on leadership to be unrighteous, unfair and self serving.

This is why an understanding of the leadership of Jesus is so comforting. He is always righteous and is the way for us to be made righteous.

Pray with Jesus’ Righteous Leadership in Mind

As we pray, we may be praying for the infant struggling with a major health problem and think, “That’s not right.” We my be petitioning the throne of grace for a missionary imprisoned for serving God and think, “God, wouldn’t he be able to serve you better if he were free?” We may mourn with the child who survived when her parents were killed in a drive-by-shooting while her sister clings to life in the hospital and cry out, “Father, what about this is just?”

But in this honesty, mourning, and pleading don’t lose sight of the fact that Jesus is the King. He will reign and set everything right.

Isaiah described the world that Jesus will reign in as king in a couple different passages. Take a few minutes to read Isaiah 11:1-10 and Isaiah 65:17-25 (a few verses will be selected for summary).

“4 But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, And reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: And he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, And with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked.  
5 And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, And faithfulness the girdle of his reins.  
6 The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, And the leopard shall lie down with the kid; And the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; And a little child shall lead them.” 
Isaiah 11:4–6 (emphasis mine)

What a joy to see the justice that Jesus will bring as King. He will bring perfect righteousness to the government of men through His Millenial reign, and then into eternity. The results of this everlasting righteous leadership are seen in Isaiah 65.

“17 For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: And the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind. 
18 But be ye glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create: For, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy. 
19 And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people: And the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying.” 
Isaiah 65:17–19

Later in this passage it describes what prayer will be like:

“And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; And while they are yet speaking, I will hear.” 
Isaiah 65:24

Our perfectly righteous King will know our requests and answer them before we even have a chance to pray about them. Fellowship with God will be perfected.

Studying and Application:

  1. Think through the injustice you see in the world. How does this prompt you to pray?
    • Tell God about the things you see that aren’t “right”, trust them to His righteous care.
  2.  How does 1 Timothy 2:1–2 emphasize praying for our leaders?
    • Make a list of your local, state, and federal government officials and purpose to pray for them at least once a week. Try to meet some of your local or state leaders to ask for prayer requests.
  3. Review your prayer list. Take a minute to add any new requests now.