Righteousness
Noah was a righteous man. When we speak of deliverance Noah was the first example in scripture of judgment and deliverance. We live in wicked times by any account where the fear of the Lord has been relegated to religion. People of faith have been declared by the ruling authorities as non-essential. Even the simplest choice of whether to inject fetal tissue derived experimental ineffective vaccinations is being attacked. At the core of this is the spiritual reality of true righteousness.
The question is what true righteousness is. We read the Apostle Paul who informs us that righteousness is not of works but of faith.
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written: “BUT THE RIGHTEOUS ONE WILL LIVE BY FAITH.”” (Romans 1:16-17)
Faith reveals righteousness. Faith as we know is Emunah, and means to trust at its core. We open our heart to the one in whom we trust. In that lace we hear, sh’ma, the voice of the One who makes us One with Him. In this place true righteousness is revealed.
“But it is due to Him that you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption,” (1 Corinthians 1:30)
In the place of oneness, echad, righteousness is revealed to us and through us, which is also known as wisdom.
“The mouth of the righteous utters wisdom, and his tongue speaks justice. The Law of his God is in his heart; His steps do not slip.” (Psalms 37:30-31)
This is the revelation of righteousness. What we know in our heart is what is expressed by our speech and forms the basis of our faith.
In keeping with our mode of inquiry, let’s look at the Hebraic word root and its composite letters.
The Hebrew for righteous is made up of 3 characters, the Tzadi, the dalet, and the Kuf. The first letter the Tzade, in the original pictogram is the picture of a swimming cell, like a sperm cell in search for mating with the ova in the mother’s womb. The second letter the dalet is the symbol for a door swinging open. To me when this letter is in a word it involves a choice. Look with me at Revelation 3:7-8:
“"And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: He who is holy, who is true, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, and who shuts and no one opens, says this: 'I know your deeds. Behold, I have put before you an open door which no one can shut, because you have a little power, and have kept My word, and have not denied My name.” (Revelation 3:7-8)
There are doors that are ours to walk through but we have to have the power to walk.
The third character is the “Kuf”. The ancient pictogram is of the sun rising or setting on the horizon. This represents the transition into or out of a new day. The composite meaning is the active word seed that is passing through an open door and brings to light a new day, with new possibilities or alternatively closes out a day that is done in our lives.
Here’s a verse that displays the picture of righteousness:
“"But for you who fear My name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings; and you will go forth and skip about like calves from the stall.” (Malachi 4:2)
The “sun” of righteousness is the picture of a new day with a healing that liberates a joy that is described like skipping calves freed from the stall.
Picture it in your mind, there is a seed, a word of God, Swimming to the womb of your heart to unlock your destiny. This is righteousness. Ok Let’s look at some verses in this perspective.
One of the most important discussions on righteousness is in the conversation between Paul and the Roman Believers.
“For what does the Scripture say? "ABRAHAM BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS CREDITED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS."” (Romans 4:3)
This is of course a quote from Genesis 15:6 and it relates to the promise of an heir through Sarah’s womb, long after their bodies should have been incapable of getting pregnant and delivering a son of promise. This contrast between the natural understanding and the spiritual reality is a cornerstone of righteousness. It is built on trust, what we call believing, in Hebrew the amen.
When we speak to one another and try to convince the other of something that they don’t already believe and trust in, there must come a point where they say, “I believe you”. The listener has become convinced of the truth that has been spoken.
In Abraham’s case this trust in God’s promise was “credited to him as righteousness”. What is a credit? It is a deposit on future expenditures. It can also be a compensation for a past charge. If you bought something and return it, you receive a credit to offset the purchase. But in Abraham’s case he had not incurred a charge with God that his trust would erase. No. Abraham hadn’t purchased anything. All he had to stand on was a promise. When Abraham chose, opened the door in his heart and life to the promise, he received the promise as a credit in his account with God.
The credit was a deposit by God that would bring a new day, a new reality, the birth of Isaac. For time’s sake, let’s skip down a few verses in Romans 4:13
“For the promise to Abraham or to his descendants that he would be heir of the world was not through the Law, but through the righteousness of faith.” (Romans 4:13)
This is important understanding of righteousness. Even though the law of God is God’s spoken word, it doesn’t produce righteousness by just obeying it. Why not? Because the heart must trust and be convinced for it to be credited as righteousness.
As Paul explains, Torah reveals sin by defining it. It doesn’t heal sin. Sin is only healed by trust. A simple analogy might help here. I can know what is important to you and even force myself to do it. BUT that is entirely different than if I surrender my heart in trust to you and in that place what you want is also what I want.
When my heart is surrendered, it is no longer “I” who is acting but “the seed in me that I have received in trust, or in faith”. Paul describes this reality in Galatians 3:19-21
“"For through the Law I died to the Law, so that I might live to God. "I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me. "I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly."” (Galatians 2:19-21)
The life of the law or Torah, the life of a follower defining righteousness on their obedience. We have seen a lot of this “righteousness” when we lived in Israel. Believers felt they were more righteous if they added the Jewish practices to their faith. This kind of thinking always produces arrogance and shame for those who seem to fail in their ability to “keep” the Sabbath, or “keep” any Rabbinic codes.
This is because righteousness, is not of the law, even though the Torah itself is righteous. The Torah just brings us to the point of death. The letter kills.
“who also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.” (2 Corinthians 3:6)
The Torah give us the standard of sinlessness and then provides for accountability. Yet, its very nature precludes it as a method of righteousness. It is pure and we are not. Therefore, we need a Savior to provide an avenue of righteousness. The Torah shows us freedom, but it is the death of Yeshua that makes it possible to enter that freedom. Through righteousness, the seed that allows us to open the door that brings us to a new day, the time of light and order in our lives, both now and forever.
Yeshua is both the seed of righteousness and the gateway to that same righteousness.
“So Jesus said to them again, "Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. "All who came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. "I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.” (John 10:7-9)
As the expressed image of the door to righteousness He brings us into a new day.
Activation: True righteousness comes by faith, trust. Ask the Lord what you have been doing i your own strength keeping your own law. Release it to Him.
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