Jeremiah 23:5 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth.

6 In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.

Jeremiah 33:14 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will perform that good thing which I have promised unto the house of Israel and to the house of Judah.

15 In those days, and at that time, will I cause the Branch of righteousness to grow up unto David; and he shall execute judgment and righteousness in the land.

16 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.

17 For thus saith the LORD; David shall never want a man to sit upon the throne of the house of Israel;

Acts 2:29 Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day.

30 Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne;

31 He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption.

32 This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses.

Romans 10:4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.

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

II Corinthians 5:21 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.

Philippians 3:7 But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.

8 Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,

9 And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:

Revelation 3:12 Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.

MEMORY VERSE: And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. —Revelation 19:8

CENTRAL THOUGHT: The name, Jehovah Tsidkenu, the Lord our Righteousness, was fulfilled in Jesus Christ, who was the righteous branch that ascended to David’s throne, died in our stead so we might be made righteous in Him, writes upon us His Name and the name of the new Jerusalem, and grants that we may be clothed in the white linen of His righteousness.

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WORD DEFINITIONS

Jeremiah 23:5 “I will raise unto David a righteous branch”: a prophecy of Jesus Christ, who was of the lineage of David.

Romans 10:4 “End”: termination; fulfillment; aim; purpose.

Philippians 3:8 “Count them as dung”: rubbish; garbage.

Revelation 19:8 “Saints”: set apart; sacred; holy. “Different from the world, because of likeness to the Lord” (HELPS Word Studies).

LESSON BACKGROUND AND APPLICATION

The prophecy given by Jeremiah has its roots in the promise that God gave to David in II Samuel 7:12-16, Psalm 89:3-4; 34-37 and Psalm 132:11-12. “Of the fruit of thy body will I set upon thy throne.” We can read its fulfillment in the words the angel Gabriel said to Mary when he appeared to announce that she would be the mother of the Messiah. “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 1:32-33). Peter also, in the verse in our lesson from Acts chapter 2, spoke to the Jews on the day of Pentecost concerning Jesus’ death and resurrection and applied these Old Testament promises to Him. It is very clear that the apostles applied these prophecies, not to a future millenial reign, but right then, in the establishing of His church at Pentecost.

Isaiah prophesied of the branch that would grow out of the roots of Jesse in the first verse of Isaiah 11. This is interesting, because he also calls the Messiah, in verse 10, a “root” of Jesse. In the book of Revelation, Jesus calls Himself “the root and offspring of David” (Revelation 22:16). So Christ is root and branch—spiritually, David originated in Christ, and in his physical lineage, Christ came from David! The prophet Zechariah also mentions the Branch, pointing forward to Jesus Christ (Zechariah 3:8; 6:12-13).

The prophet Jeremiah speaks of Jacob, or Israel being given the title “The Lord our Righteousness.” Where may we find this fulfillment in scripture? The passage in Revelation 3:12 is very clear. Those who overcome will be have not only God’s name, but the name of the city of God, the new Jerusalem, divinely inscribed upon them Israel’s new name, “The Lord our Righteousness” and God’s name, “The Lord our Righteousness.” How may one overcome and acquire this new name? “They overcame…by the blood of the Lamb” (Revelation 12:11). Our memory verse mentions the spiritual clothing of the Lamb’s bride, fine linen, clean and white, which is the righteousness of saints. Where do the white linen robes come from? They “washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb” (Revelation 7:14).

Paul in I and II Corinthians gives the blessed truth that Christ is made unto us holiness and righteousness, and that He, who had no sin, was made sin “for us,” that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.

Paul gave his personal testimony in Philippians 3. He was without fault as a Pharisee; blameless concerning the righteousness of the law. Remember? Jesus told His disciples that they could not enter the kingdom of heaven unless their righteousness exceeded the righteousness of the Pharisees. So what was a man to do? If you fulfilled all the law, but that wasn’t enough, what then? “Christ is the end (fulfillment) of the law for righteousness.”

So a man’s own righteousness which he could acquire by doing everything he was supposed to do, is, in Isaiah’s words, “filthy rags,” and in Paul’s words, “rubbish. Garbage.” But Christ’s righteousness, given to us by His own blood, is portrayed as “fine linen, white and clean.”

There is one name we must have to enter heaven, and when He looks at our ID we’d better have it written there: Jehovah Tsidkenu. Jehovah is my righteousness.

—Sis. Angela Gellenbeck

DISCUSSION:

1. Line of David: Who is the King that would reign on David’s throne?
2. Jesse: Who is the Branch that would come from this root?
3. Root: From whom did Jesse descend, as spoken of in Isaiah and in Revelation?
4. The End: Who is the fulfilment of the law, and is made unto us righteousness, so we may be the righteousness of God in Him?
5. All That Matters: Paul’s righteousness was rubbish, so what kind of righteousness did he desire?

COMMENTS AND APPLICATION

“He is here spoken of as the Lord our Righteousness. He is so our Righteousness as no creature could be. His obedience unto death is the justifying righteousness of believers, and their title to heavenly happiness. And their sanctification, as the source of all their personal obedience is the effect of their union with him, and of the supply of this Spirit. By this name every true believer shall call him, and call upon him. We have nothing to plead but this: Christ has died, yea, rather is risen again; and we have taken him for our Lord. This righteousness which he has wrought out to the satisfaction of law and justice, becomes ours; being a free gift given to us, through the Spirit of God, who puts it upon us, clothes us with it, enables us to lay hold upon it, and claim an interest in it. The Lord our Righteousness is a sweet name to a convinced sinner; to one that has felt the guilt of sin in his conscience; seen his need of that righteousness, and the worth of it” (Matthew Henry’s Commentary).

As in so many names we have studied in this series, we find the true depth of meaning and spiritual application of Jehovah Tsidkenu as it points to Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. It is only by His blood shed on the cross that He becomes holiness and righteousness to us. Praise the Lord for this blessed name we have in Christ!

—Sis. Angela Gellenbeck

REFLECTIONS

I’m very impressed with the quote from Matthew Henry, “This righteousness … becomes ours … through the Spirit of God, who puts it upon us, clothes us with it, enables us to lay hold upon it, and claim an interest in it.”

A common doctrinal error of our modern age is the teaching that salvation is merely a state of trusting in the righteousness of Jesus Christ and His atonement on the cross for our sins while we ourselves remain in an unrighteous condition. Everybody sins more or less every day, they say, but if you trust in Christ, His righteousness is imputed to you instead of your sins. But this is far from what the scriptures in today’s lesson teach! Christ didn’t come all the way down from His glorious home in Heaven and pay such an awful price for our redemption just to leave us to wallow around in the same fallen nature we were born with, imagining that because we believe in Him He counts us as righteous, and that someday, when He comes back, we are going to receive an actual moral transformation. No indeed! By virtue of His atonement, the “messenger of the covenant,” the Holy Spirit (Malachi 3:1-3), can come into the temple of our body, if we meet the conditions, and take possession of our body, soul, and spirit in such a way that the righteousness of Jesus Christ will be imparted to us NOW in a REAL sense.

The attributes of God’s nature, so contrary to who we naturally are in the flesh, can only become natural to us through the supernatural endowment of power from on high. By imparting to us the virtue of Jesus’ sanctifying blood, the Spirit covers our souls with the garment of God’s own righteousness—“fine linen, clean and white.” He makes us real saints, who share His identity and His name!

—Bro. Harlan Sorrell