The Daily Word of Righteousness

Grace, and the New Covenant, #6

In those days shall Judah be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely: and this is the name wherewith she shall be called, The LORD our righteousness. (Jeremiah 33:16)

If "The Lord our righteousness" does not mean we are righteous by identification with Christ, what then does it mean? It means we become righteous with His righteousness because the Spirit of God slays our wicked adamic nature and creates Christ's Substance and Virtue in its place. There is a new creation in which all things are of God.

The new covenant actually is Christ conceived and formed in us.

What a vast difference there is between the two concepts! One gives us a legal righteousness with no real change in our personality. The other offers total transformation such that we are changed from an adamic man to a life-giving spirit, having been formed in the moral image of Christ and brought into untroubled union with the Father through Christ.

These are not the same concept. Only one of the two will change us into the image of Christ. The other is a kingdom in word only.

For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. (Romans 8:29)

The words of Jeremiah sound foreign to us because of the myths and errors that have accumulated in Christian theology and liturgies. Is there any place in the New Testament, other than the Book of Hebrews, where we find the same orientation of the Christian Gospel to the people of Israel?

And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end. (Luke 1:31-33)

Again, the emphasis on the Jewishness of the Gospel:

Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed his people, And hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David; As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began: That we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us; To perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant; The oath which he sware to our father Abraham, That he would grant unto us, that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear, In holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of our life. (Luke 1:68-75)

The above prophecy given by the father of John the Baptist is a perfect representation of the purpose of God in the Christian Gospel.

Salvation is raised up in the house of God's servant, David.

The Christian salvation is the redemption that has been announced from the beginning by God's Prophets.

The purpose of the Gospel is to save us from our enemies so we can serve God without fear.

It is God's will that we walk before Him in holiness and righteousness all the days of our life.

To be continued.