May 28, 2025 - Jeremiah 23:5,6 - "The LORD Our Righteousness"

Jeremiah 23:5,6

"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. 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."

Amid great apostasy and political upheaval, Jeremiah received from the LORD a message of hope—rooted not in national reform or human effort, but in the sovereign grace and will of God to save a remnant by the work of a coming Redeemer-King. The kings of Judah had failed. The shepherds of Israel had scattered the flock. Judgment was sure. Yet, the promise of a coming King—a righteous Branch from David—shined like a beacon in the darkness. This King would not merely be a reformer; He would be righteous. He would not simply restore political order; He would reign and prosper, executing true judgment and justice. And He would be called by this Divine and saving name: THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.

This prophecy looked far beyond the return from Babylonian captivity or the installation of a better Davidic ruler. Its ultimate fulfillment is in the Person of the LORD Jesus Christ, the true and eternal King of Israel. The LORD Jesus, “made of the seed of David according to the flesh” (Romans 1:3), is the righteous Branch foretold by Jeremiah. He came not to make men righteous by moral instruction, nor merely to demonstrate righteousness by example, but to earn and establish a righteousness equal to that of God Himself—for His people, whom the Father chose before the foundation of the world, according to His grace in Christ Jesus (Romans 11:6).

This passage declares the truth that is at the very heart of the Gospel—the justification of sinners by the righteousness of the LORD Jesus. For sinners who have no righteousness of their own, who stand condemned by the law, Christ is given as THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. This is not a righteousness infused or enabled, but imputed. It is the very RIghteousness of God revealed in the Gospel (Romans 1:17)—a perfect Righteousness, established by the obedience and death of Christ, reckoned to the account of all who are in Him by sovereign election and revealed by faith. This RIghteousness was accomplished at the cross. There, “the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:6), and there He bore the full weight of God's justice in their stead. As it is written, “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” (2 Corinthians 5:21). This is substitutionary Righteousness—according to God’s eternal covenant of grace—not earned by the sinner but freely given for Christ’s sake. It is His righteous obedience unto death that justifies: “Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Romans 3:24).

When Jeremiah says, “Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely” (Jeremiah 23:6), he is declaring more than national peace. He is foretelling the salvation of God’s elect in Christ—the spiritual Israel—who are saved from wrath and brought into the everlasting safety of union with Christ. These are they who call Him by faith, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. They do not boast in their obedience, decisions, or supposed “free will,” but glory in the cross, where the LORD Himself became their righteousness. God has not left salvation in the hands of men, nor based it upon their worthiness or will. He has provided all in Christ. The righteousness we could never produce, God has provided through the life, death, and resurrection of His Son. And this RIghteousness is given—not to all indiscriminately—but to those whom the Father gave to the Son before the foundation of the world: a definite people, a chosen Israel, who are called and justified in time.

So may we who are God's chosen, bought, and sought children rejoice in Him Who is all our Wisdom, Righteousness, Sanctification, and Redemption (1 Corinthians 1:30). Our standing before God does not rise or fall with our feelings, failings, or frames of heart or mind. Feelings come and feelings go, and feelings are deceiving. It rests on the LORD Jesus Christ alone. He is THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS—not merely a helper of righteousness, but the very Foundation and Substance of it. This is the Gospel: that in Christ, the sinner is declared righteous before God, fully accepted, eternally saved, and completely loved forever—all of grace, all for His glory.

We can then say with the prophet Isaiah, in faith and thanksgiving: “Surely, shall one say, in the LORD have I righteousness and strength” (Isaiah 45:24). The full verse reads: “Surely, shall one say, in the LORD have I righteousness and strength: even to him shall men come; and all that are incensed against him shall be ashamed. Righteousness and strength are found only “in the LORD,” which is a foreshadowing of the Gospel truth fulfilled in the LORD Jesus Christ at the cross. Christ established the only righteousness that satisfies God’s justice for sinners and fulfilled it at the cross. He bore the shame and wrath due to His elect, and in Him are the strength and grace to save to the uttermost all who come to God by Him, having already accomplished their redemption and justification at the cross (Hebrews 7:25).

Therefore, the phrase “in the LORD have I righteousness and strength” finds its fulfillment exclusively in the finished work of the LORD Jesus at the cross, where Christ the LORD our Righteousness (Jeremiah 23:6)—both justified and sanctified His people. All who are “incensed” against Him—those who reject His Person and work—are put to shame, for they seek righteousness elsewhere and find none: “For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth” (Romans 10:3–4).