LIVING WORD DEVOTIONAL
By Pastor Mensa Otabil
Friday 3rd December 2021
JEHOVAH TSIDKENU
Scripture Reading: Jeremiah 23:1-8
In His days Judah will be saved, And Israel will dwell safely; Now this is His name by which He will be called: THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. Jeremiah 23:6
This passage from Jeremiah chapter 23 is a part of a Messianic prophecy about the future rule of the ‘Righteous Branch of David’ – Jesus Christ. This prophecy also introduces us to a name of God ‘The Lord our Righteousness’ – Jehovah (YHWH) Tsidkenu.
Under the Law, people hoped to become righteous by observing all of its requirements. However, this prophecy from Jeremiah noted that in the days of Jesus Christ, the Lord would be our Righteousness. That means our righteousness would not come from ourselves but from the Lord.
What does it mean when we say the Lord is our Righteousness?
• The Lord is Righteous. That is His nature. Everything He does is right and He is right at all times. There has never been and there will never be a moment in which God does something wrong. The Lord is just in all His dealings with us. This is a comforting truth – that in all our dealings with Him, we can trust Him to do what is just and right every time.
• The Lord determines what is Righteous. He sets the standards for what is right and wrong. We live in an era where right and wrong have been made subjective and relative to the individual. But it is God – not a man, not a group nor an institution – that determines what is right from what is wrong in the world.
• The Lord makes us Righteous. In Christ, God reached out to us to make us righteous. Christ became sin for us and gave us His righteousness. We can by no human effort attain a right standing with God. We only become righteous when we believe in what Christ has done for us.
The Lord our Righteousness is another of God’s gracious revelations of Himself to us. May it inform how you relate with Him.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, you are Righteous in all your ways. Thank you for bringing me into a right relationship with you. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
