#DailyDevotion Obtain The Righteousness That Stands Before God
Oct. 7th
Read Deut 6:10–25
Deu 6:20-25 “When your son asks you in time to come, ‘What is the meaning of the testimonies and the statutes and the rules that the LORD our God has commanded you?’ (21) then you shall say to your son, ‘We were Pharaoh’s slaves in Egypt. And the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand. (22) And the LORD showed signs and wonders, great and grievous, against Egypt and against Pharaoh and all his household, before our eyes. (23) And he brought us out from there, that he might bring us in and give us the land that he swore to give to our fathers. (24) And the LORD commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the LORD our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as we are this day. (25) And it will be righteousness for us, if we are careful to do all this commandment before the LORD our God, as he has commanded us.’
The Lord, Jesus, had brought the Israelites from Egypt and was about to usher them into the land he had promised the fathers of the Israelites. As he sends them into the promised land he gave them the commandments, the statutes and prescriptions as to how they should live in the land the Lord God was giving to them. It would be a land already cultivated and built upon. It wouldn’t be like when people came to the New World and had to start off from scratch. As they were living in the way of the Lord, their sons would ask them, ‘What is the meaning of the testimonies and the statutes and the rules that the LORD our God has commanded you?’ and they would recount all the Lord had done for them.
These commandments, rules and regulations were there that they might fear the Lord (hate evil Pr. 8:13), which is for their good always. Jesus did not mean this Law for their harm but their good, always. If they lived in the Law, then He would preserve them in the land. Now verse 25 is the kicker though. Living the Law of Moses would be their righteousness. But we know, no one could live out that law as the Lord intended. So it brought them only death and destruction.
But even under the righteousness of the Law of Moses there was this concerning Abraham, “Gen 15:6 And he believed the LORD, and he counted it to him as righteousness.” David knew this and said, Psa 35:24 “Vindicate me, O LORD, my God, according to your righteousness, and let them not rejoice over me!” Jeremiah also said, “Jer 23:6 In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the name by which he will be called: ‘The LORD is our righteousness.’” So even in the Old Testament we see there are two kinds of righteousness; a righteousness of obeying the Law of Moses and a righteousness which is not our own, but the Lord’s which is credited to us by faith.
St. Paul sees this when he says, “Rom 3:21-22 But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— (22) the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe….” Again he writes, “Rom 3:26 It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.” St. Paul particularly remembers Abraham when he writes, “Rom 4:5 And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness,…” When St. Paul considered the righteousness which was his under the Law of Moses he wrote, “Php 3:8-11 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord…(9) and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, …”
Lord Jesus, grant unto us the righteousness which is by faith in you that we may live out your righteousness in our lives. Amen.