God Is Righteous
The subject of this chapter is, The God of the Bible: God is Righteous. I call your attention in the beginning of the consideration of this fundamentally important subject to twelve passages of Scripture that will form the basis of our setting forth of the God of the Bible in this chapter. It was difficult to reduce to even this large number the texts that crowd in upon us when one thinks of this aspect of the character of the God of the Bible, for both the Old Testament and the New Testament are full of this great theme.
You will find my first text in Ezra 9:15:
‘’O Jehovah, the God of Israel, Thou art righteous; for we are left a remnant that is escaped, as it is this day: behold, we are before Thee in our guiltiness; for none can stand be¬ fore Thee because of this.’^
Now turn to the next Book in the Bible, Nehemiah 9:7, 8:
‘‘Thou art Jehovah the God, Who didst choose Abram, and broughtest him forth out of Ur of the Chaldees, and gavest him the name of Abraham, and foundest his heart faith¬ ful before Thee, and madest a covenant with him to give the land of the Canaanite, the
Hittite, the Amorite, and the Perizzite, and the
1 88
Jebusite, and the Girgashite, to give it unto his seed, and hast performed Thy words; for Thou art righteous,”
You will find the third text in Psalms 145: i, 5, 14- 19:
‘T will extol Thee, my God, O King;...
(s)
Of the glorious majesty of Thine honor.
And of thy wondrous works will I medi¬
tate....
(14-19).
Jehovah upholdeth all that fall,
And raiseth up all those that are bowed down.
The eyes of all wait for Thee;
And Thou givest them their food in due sea¬ son.
Thou openest Thy hand,
And satisfiest the desire of every living thing.
Jehovah is righteous in all His ways,
And gracious in all His works.
Jehovah is nigh unto all them that call upon Him,
To all that call upon Him in truth.
He will fulfil the desire of them that fear Him;
He also will hear their cry, and will save them.”
Turn now to Dan. 9: 12-14:
“And He (Jehovah) hath confirmed His words, which He spake against us, and against our judges that judged us, by bringing upon us a great evil; for under the whole heaven hath not been done as hath been done upon Jerusalem. As it is written in the law of Moses, all this evil is come upon us; yet have we not entreated the favor of Jehovah, our God, that we should turn from our iniquities, and have discernment in Thy truth. Therefore hath Jehovah watched over the evil, and brought it upon us; for Jehovah our God is righteous in all His works which He doeth, and we have not obeyed His voice.”
Our next text is Ps. 98: 1-3:
“Oh sing unto Jehovah a new song;
For He hath done marvellous things:
His right hand, and His Holy arm, hath
wrought salvation for Him.
Jehovah hath made known His salvation:
His righteousness hath He openly showed in the sight of the nations.
He hath remembered his lovingkindness and His faithfulness toward the house of Israel:
All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.”
Now turn back two Psalms to Ps. 96: 11-13:
‘’Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice;
Let the sea roar, and the fulness thereof;
Let the field exult, and all that is therein;
Then shall all the trees of the wood sing for joy
Before Jehovah; for He cometh to judge the earth;
He will judge the world with righteousness.
And the peoples with His truth,”
We will turn now to the words of our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, as found in Jno. 17:25:
‘‘O righteous Father, the world knew Thee
not, but I knew Thee; and these knew that
Thou didst send me.”
Now turn to one of the most important passages on this subject to be found in the whole Bible, Rom. 3:21-26:
“But now apart from the law a righteousness of God hath been manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ unto all them that believe; for there is no distinction; for all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God; being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God set forth to he a propitiation, through faith, in His blood, to show His righteousness because of the passing over of the sins done aforetime, in the forbearance of God; for the showing, I say, of His righteousness at this present season: that He might Himself be just, and the justifier of him that hath faith in Jesus.”
The Greek word rendered “just” in the last verse of this passage is precisely the same word that is else¬ where rendered ‘righteous.” It is rendered ‘‘just” in this passage to show that it is from the same root as the word “-justifier,” three words further on.
Now turn to I Jno. 1:9:
“If we confess our sins. He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
The three remaining texts are all from the last book in the Bible, a book the whole theme of which is the righteousness of God. The first of them is Rev. 15: 2-4:
*‘And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire; and them that come off victorious from the beast, and from his image, and from the number of his name, standing by the sea of glass, having harps of God. And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying. Great and marvellous are thy works, O Lord God, the Almighty; righteous and true are Thy ways, Thou King of the ages. Who shall not fear, O Lord, and glorify Thy Name? for Thou Only art holy; for all the nations shall come and worship be¬ fore Thee; for Thy righteous acts have been made manifest
Now turn to the next chapter. Rev. 16:4-7:
“And the third poured out his bowl into the rivers and the fountains of the waters; and it became blood. And I heard the angel of the waters saying. Righteous art Thou, Who art and Who wast. Thou Holy One, because Thou didst thus judge: for they poured out the blood of saints and prophets, and blood hast thou given them to drink: they are worthy. And I heard the altar saying. Yea, O Lord God, the Almighty, true and righteous are Thy judgments.’’
Our final text is Rev. 19:1, 2:
“After these things I heard as it were a great voice of a great multitude in heaven, saying, Hallelujah; Salvation and glory, and power, belong to our God: for true and righteous are his judgments.”
In our first text and in the second, and in many others that I have just read, and in still others that I have been forced to omit, we have been told in so many words that Jehovah, the God of the Bible, the God of both the Old Testament and of the New Testament, is Righteous. In our third text we read “Jehovah is righteous in all his waysf and in our fourth text it is said that *Oehovah, our God, is righteous in all His work, that He doeth.” Heaven and earth, men and angels, inspired legislators, prophets psalmists, apostles and our Lord Jesus Himself, join in one great and triumphant Hallelujah Chorus that Jehovah our God the Almighty, the God of the Bible, is a Righteous God.
11. What Does ‘’Righteous” Mean?
We come now to the all-important question. What does the word Righteous mean as used in the Bible? We go, of course, to the Bible itself for an answer to that question. The only definitions of Bible terms that are of any real value are Bible definitions. And the Bible defines in a very clear and very definite and very explicit way just what ‘’righteous” means.
Turn to Ezek. 18:5:
“But if a man he just, and do that which is lawful and right”
Here the word “just,” instead of “righteous” is found in both the Authorized Version and Revised Version, but it is the same word in the Hebrew which is elsewhere translated “Righteous.” Let me stop here a moment to say that right through the Old Testament, in both versions, the same Hebrew word is some¬ times translated “righteous” and sometimes “just,” and that also right through the New Testament the same Greek word is sometimes translated “righteous” and sometimes “just.” “Righteousness” and “Justice” are not two different attributes of God; but the two different words are used for precisely the same thing. “Righteous” is the preferable word as it conforms more exactly to the exact derivation of the word. But to go back to the definition of “Righteous” in Ezek. 18:5, which we have just read, we see that to he Righteous is to have that character that leads one to always “do that which is lawful and right” We find practically the same definition of “Righteous,” but partly in a negative form, in Zeph. 3:5:
“Jehovah in the midst of her is righteous; He will not do iniquity; every morning doth He bring His justice to light, He faileth not.”
The Hebrew word translated in the Old Testament sometimes “righteous,” and sometimes “just,” according to its etymology, means “right,” or “straight.”
The etymology of our English word Righttons^ is precisely the same. The Greek word used in the New Testament, and translated sometimes ‘‘Righteous,” and sometimes “Just,” means according to its etymology that which is conformed to custom or usage. But the Greek word as used in the New Testament derives its significance from its being used in the Greek translation of the Old Testament that was in common use in our Lord’s day and the days of the apostles (The Septuagint) to render the Hebrew word meaning “Right” or “Straight.” The ^^Righteousness“’ or ^’Justice“” of the God of the Bible, therefore, is that attribute of God that leads Him always and under all circumstances, to do that which is Wight’ or ‘’straight.“”
The Righteousness of God is not to be limited, as is so often done in modern Theological usage, to God’s punitive justice. God’s punitive justice is, as we shall shortly see, only one manifestation of the “Justice” or “Righteousness” of God; and it is not the manifestation of God’s Righteousness that is most prominent in the Bible usage of the w’ord.
God’s Righteousness is closely akin to His Holiness, but they are not exactly the same. Holiness seems to have more reference to God’s character as He is in Himself: Righteousness to His character as manifested in His dealing with others.
III. How the Righteousness of God Manifests Itself.
This brings us directly to the question, and it is a tremendously important question, “How does the Righteousness of God manifest itself f“” Here we must walk very carefully and go by the Book itself every step of the way. There are many preachers and theologians and dreamers of many kinds who do not go by the Book, but chase the iridescent but unsubstantial bubbles blown by their own scintillating fancies and wind up in “No Man’s Land.” But let us turn to the Book of God and then we will get somewhere. Indeed we will find ourselves in a country fine and fair, lying down in “green pastures,” and “walking beside the waters of quiet rest.”
I. First of all, the Righteousness of God manifests itself in His loving righteousness and hating iniquity. Read Ps. 1 1: 4-7:
“Jehovah is in His holy temple;
Jehovah, His throne is in heaven;
His eyes behold, His eyelids try the children of men.
Jehovah trieth the righteous.
But the wicked and him that loveth violence His soul hateth.
Upon the wicked he will rain snares;
Fire and brimstone and burning wind shall
be the portion of their cup.
For Jehovah is righteous; He loveth righteousness:
The upright shall behold His face.”
God is infinitely Righteous, therefore He loves righteousness with an infinite love, and hates iniquity in all its forms with an infinite hatred.
It is thought by some that since God is Love, there can be no such thing as hatred of any kind in God. Ah, it is just because God is Love, infinite Love, that
He hates with infinite hatred all that harms those whom He loves. He hates sin with infinite hatred because He loves the sinner with infinite love. I hate tuber¬ culosis with intense hatred because I love my daughter upon whom the foul thing has fastened itself, and the Righteous God not only loves righteousness with infinite love, but hates all iniquity with infinite hatred, both because He is Righteous and because He is love. The hatred of sin of the Righteous God of the Bible is as intense as is His love of Righteousness. This sweet, sentimental, sickish, silly, palliating palaver about sin that is so common to-day among a certain type of would-be social philosophers and ethical teach¬ ers arises from a sad lack in their moral make-up, a lack of real. and Godlike righteousness; they are moral anaemics. A really righteous man, a man of Godlike righteousness, hates sin as really and as intensely as He loves righteousness.
2. In the second place. The Righteousness of God manifests itself in His visiting upon sinners the punishment due to their sins. This great fact, which we all do well to always bear in mind, comes out again and again in the Word of God; for example, turn to Ex. 9: 23-27:
^‘And Moses stretched forth his rod toward heaven; and Jehovah sent thunder and hail, and fire ran down unto the earth; and Jehovah rained hail upon the land of Egypt. So there was hail, and fire mingled with the hail, very grievous, such as had not been in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation. And the hail smote throughout all the land of Egypt all that was in the field, both man and beast; and the hail smote every herb of the field, and brake every tree of the field. Only in the land of Goshen, where the children of Israel were, was there no hail. And Pharaoh sent, and called for Moses and Aaron, and said unto them, I have sinned this time: Jehovah is right¬ eous, and I and my people are wicked.’^
The same important truth is also found in II Chron. 12: 5, 6:
“Now Shemaiah the prophet came to Rehoboam, and to the princes of Judah, that were gathered together to Jerusalem because of Shishak, and said unto them, Thus saith Jehovah, Ye have forsaken me, therefore have I also left you in the land of Shishak. Then the princes of Israel and the king humbled them¬ selves; and they said, Jehovah is righteous.” Daniel proclaims the same truth in Dan. 9: 12-14:
“And He hath confirmed His words, which He spake against us, and against our judges that judged us, by bringing upon us a great evil; for under the whole heaven hath not been done as hath been done upon Jerusalem. As it is written in the law of Moses, all this evil is come upon us; yet have we not entreated the favor of Jehovah, our God, that we should turn from our iniquities, and have discernment in Thy truth. Therefore hath Jehovah watched over the evil, and brought it upon us; for Jehovah our God is righteous in all His works which He doeth, and we have not obeyed His voice.”
We find it set forth in a most vivid and impressive way in the last book in the Bible, Rev. 16:5, 6:
“And I heard the angel of the waters saying, Righteous art Thou, Who art and Who wast, Thou Holy One, because Thou didst thus judge: for they poured out the blood of saints and prophets, and blood hast Thou given them to drink: they are worthy T
Since God is Righteous we may set it down as absolutely certain that if we sin we must suffer, and suffer for every sin we commit. This universe in which we live is governed at all times and under all circumstances by a God Who is absolutely, unwaveringly and unceasingly Righteous. So it is certain that by any wrong act on our part, great or small, that we commit, we are bound to be losers. In every instance a right¬ eous God must and will visit upon every sinner, the punishment due his sin.
3. In the third place, the Righteousness of God manifests itself in His bestowing upon the righteous the reward due their faithfulness. This, we are told over and over again in God’s own revelation of Him¬ self. the Bible, in a variety of phraseology, but with one meaning, e. g., we read in H Tim. 4:8:
“Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteo’us Judge, shall give to me at that day; and not to me only, but also to all them that have loved His appearing.”
Turning back to the Old Testament we read in I Kings 8:32:
“Then hear Thou in heaven, and do, and judge thy servants, condemning the wicked, to bring His way upon His Own head, and justifying the righteous, to give Him according to His righteousness”
And the Psalmist sings in Ps. 7:9-11:
“Oh let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end, but establish Thou the righteous:
For the righteous God trieth the minds and hearts.
My shield is with God,
Who saveth the upright in heart.
God is a righteous Judge,
Yea, a God that hath indignation every day.”
While we may be sure that if we sin we shall suffer, because God is a Righteous God, we may be equally sure that if we do any righteous act, great or small, we shall not miss our full reward. As our Lord Jesus put it in Matt. 10:42:
“And whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only, in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you he shall in no wise lose his reward.”
4. In the fourth place, Th,e Righteousness of God is manifested in His protecting and delivering His people from all their adversaries. The Book of Psalms is especially rich in the setting forth of this precious truth. Read Ps. 98: 1-3:
“Oh sing unto Jehovah a new song;
For he hath done marvellous things:
His right hand, and His Holy arm, hath
wrought salvation for Him.
Jehovah hath made known His salvation:
His righteousness hath He openly showed in the sight of the nations.
He hath remembered His lovingkindness an(f His faithfulness toward the house of Israel;
All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.’’
Now read Ps. 103:6:
“Jehovah executeth righteousness, and judgment for all that are oppressed.^^
Turn to Ps. 129: 1-4:
“Many a time have they afflicted me from
my youth up.
Let Israel now say.
Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth up:
Yet they have not prevailed against me.
The plowers plowed upon my back;
They made long their furrows.
Jehovah is righteous:
He hath cut asunder the cords of the wicked.” Turning now to the New Testament we read in II Thess. 1:6, 7:
“If so be that it is a righteous thing with God to recompense affliction to them that afflict you, and to you that are afflicted rest with us, at the revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven with the angels of his power in flaming fire.”
In modern theological discussions we hear more of the Justice, or the Righteousness, of God in its relation to the punishment of sinners; but in the Bible we read more of it in its relation to the protection of His people. In modern usage, the Righteousness of God is more frequently held up as an attribute of God at which sinners should tremble; but in the Bible it is constantly dwelt upon as an attribute of God in which His people should rejoice and be confident. This we see, for example, in Ps. 96: 11-13:
‘’Let the heavens he glad, and let the earth rejoice;
Let the sea roar, and the fulness thereof;
Let the field exult, and all that is therein;
Then shall all the trees of the wood sing for joy
Before Jehovah; for He cometh to judge the earth;
He will judge the world with righteousness,
And the peoples with His truth.”
The prophet Jeremiah, even though he is oftentimes called “the weeping prophet,” sings the same song of optimistic confidence in the Righteous God Who protects and delivers His faithful people from all their adversaries and oppressors.
We read in Jer. 9:24:
“But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he hath understanding, and knoweth Me, that / am Jehovah, Who exerciseth lovingkindness, justice, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith Jehovah.”
Turn to the Psalms again, Ps. 116:5,
“Gracious is Jehovah, and righteous;
Yea, our God is merciful.
Jehovah preserveth the simple:
I was brought low and he saved me.”
Again the sweet singer of Israel chants the same paean of triumphant praise in a righteous God in Ps. 145: 15-19:
‘‘The eyes of all wait for Thee;
And Thou givest them their food in due
season.
Thou openest Thy hand,
And satis fiest the desire of every living thing. Jehovah is righteous in all His ways,
And gracious in all His works.
Jehovah is nigh unto all them that call upon Him,
To all that call upon Him in truth.
He will fulfil the desire of them that fear Him;
He also will hear their cry, and save them.” And the song of both Moses, the stern law-giver, and of the Lamb, the gracious Saviour, as described in the last book in the Bible, has the same jubilant confidence in a Righteous God. We read in Rev.
15:3:
“And they sang the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are Thy works, O Lord God, the Almighty; righteous and true are Thy ways, Thou King of the ages.”
Even the Righteousness of God in the punishment of the sinner is frequently spoken of in its relation to and its connection with the deliverance and the avenging of His people. This we see in II Thess. i: 4-7:
“We ourselves glory in you in the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and in the afflictions which ye endure; which is a manifest token of the right¬ eous judgment of God; to the end that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer: if so be that “f, is a right¬ eous thing with God to recompense affliction to them that afflict you, and to you that are afflicted rest with us, at the revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven with the angels of His power.”
Read also Rev. 19: i, 2:
“After these things I heard as it were a great voice of a great multitude in heaven, saying, Hallelujah; Salvation, and glory, and power, belong to our God: for true and righteous are His judgments; for He hath judged the great harlot, her that corrupted the earth with her fornication, and He hath avenged the blood of His servants at her hand”
Read still another passage in this last book in the Bible, whose theme is very largely the Righteousness of God. Rev. 16:4-7:
“And the third poured out his bowl into the rivers and the fountains of the waters; and it became blood. And I heard the angel of the waters saying, Righteous art Thou, Who art and Who wast, Thou Holy One, because Thou didst thus judge: for they poured out the blood of saints and prophets, and blood hast Thou given them to drink: they are worthy. And
I heard the altar saying, Yea, O Lord God, the Almighty, true and righteous are Thy judgmentsT
Here it is the vindication and the avenging of His people, rather than the suffering of the wicked, that is the prominent thought.
5. In the fifth place. The Righteousness of God is manifested in God’s always keeping His promises to the very letter. The Levites in Nehemiah’s day saw that and declared it way back there, twenty-three hundred years ago. They sang to Jehovah in Neh. 9: 7, 8:
^‘Thou art Jehovah the God, Who didst choose Abram, and broughtest him forth out of Ur of the Chaldees, and gavest him the name of Abraham, and foundest his heart faithful before thee, and modest a covenant with him to give the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, and the Perizzite, and the Jebusite, and the Girgashite, to give it unto his seed, and hast performed Thy words; for Thou art right¬ eous,”
Every promise of God is absolutely sure; for He is a Righteous God, therefore He will keep His every word and ftdfil His every promise to the last letter.
“How firm a foundation, ye saints of the
Lord,
Is laid for your faith in His excellent
Word!”
Why? Because God is Righteous, and therefore He will not, and He cannot lie.
6. In the sixth place, Righteousness of God is manifested in His proznding a propitiation when sin was forgiven and in His justifying him that hath faith in the substitute Saviour Who made the propitiation.
We read in Rom. 3:25, 26:
‘’Whom God set forth to he a propitiation, through faith, in His blood, to show His righteousness because of the passing over of the sins done aforetime, in the forbearance of God; for the showing, I say, of His righteousness at this present season: that He might Himself be just, and the justifier of him that hath in JesusS
God is a Righteous God and therefore must punish sin, for that is the right thing to do. Therefore, if the sinner himself is forgiven, the punishment of his sins must fall somewhere else; it must fall upon a lawful substitute. There is but one Person in all the universe upon whom the punishment could justly fall and Who could at the same time be a sufficient sacrifice; that is, the Only One Who is at the same time both God and Man, Jesus Christ our Lord. We saw in the eighth chapter, the chapter “God is Holy,” that the atonement made in the death of Jesus Christ finds its first demand in the infinite Holiness of the only true God, the God of the Bible; but it also finds its demand in the infinite Righteousness of God. A Right¬ eous God must punish sin, because that is the right thing to do; and therefore, if you and I are spared, Jesus Christ must bear the penalty in our place. This is beautifully brought out way, way back, twenty-six hundred years ago, in those very dark and unenlightened ages, when “our wonderful modern universities” were not even dreamed of, in Isa. 53:6:
*‘A11 we like sheep have gone astray: we have turned every one to his own way; and Jehovah hath made to strike on Him the iniquity of us all,”
But that is not all. Since Christ Jesus has borne the penalty of the sins of all who put their confidence in Him as their Substitute Saviour, God, because He is Righteous, must justify every one who has faith in Jesus. So, in the atoning death of His Son, Who is God manifest in the flesh, God is seen as Just (or Righteous) and the Justifier (or the One Who declares righteous) of every one who believes in Jesus. Oh, how glad I am that the God of the Bible, the Only true God, is Righteous. That fact makes me absolutely sure that God has absolutely nothing in His account books against me; for Jesus Christ settled my account, and a righteous God will not ask that the same account be settled twice. Do you take that ii 7. Just once more, in the seventh place, The Rigmeousness of God is manifested in the immediate forgiveness of the sins of every believer in Jesus Christ, when he confesses his sins to God. John states this definitely and clearly and beautifully and forcefully in what was perhaps the last book to be written of all the sixty-six books that make up the Bible, I John. Read I Jno. 1:9:
“If we confess our sins. He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
The Authorized Version reads that God is “Faith¬ ful and just,” but the word translated “Just” in this verse is precisely the same word that is elsewhere translated “Righteous,” and it should be so translated here. Not only the faithfulness of God but the Righteousness of God is pledged to the forgiveness of every sin of the believer the moment he confesses it to God. Many a Christian wanders in darkness and gloom for days, because in a moment of weakness he has permitted some sin to come into his life. That is entirely un¬ necessary. The moment we discover that we have sinned we should hurry away to God {not hurry away from God; no, hurry away to God) and fully, and freely and frankly confess our sin to Him, without any attempt at self-justification or at palliation of our wickedness, and then know that God has put away that sin forever, and then — praise God! — there is not one smallest cloud between us and God, for fellowship is completely restored just as if we had never sinned; for God is Righteous and has pledged Himself, and pledged His Word, and pledged the atoning blood of Jesus Christ to forgive our every sin the moment it is confessed to Him. Thus we can walk in the cloud¬ less sunshine of fellowship with the God of the Bible every day and every hour, no matter how weak we may be, or how sad our fall may have been.
“And He walks with me.
And He talks with me,
And He tells me that I am His friend.”
Oh, let me read it once more from the sure Word of God, I Jno. 1:9:
“If we confess our sins. He is faithful and Righteous to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.^*