The Righteousness of Saints Part IV

 

The Righteousness of Saints Part IV

 

Revelation 19:8

 

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.

 

“But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets” (Romans 3:21). The law and the prophets give witness to the righteousness of God which is manifested and established by the doing and dying of our Lord Jesus Christ as He is the one and only Mediator between God and men, as it is written: “ For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (I Timothy 2:5). Mary, the mother of Jesus, is no mediatrix. Dead saints, martyrs, and angels, are not mediators. Only Christ Jesus is the Great High Priest and the eternal Substitute and Surety of the people of God who stood in their room and stead as a convicted, condemned, sentenced, and executed, felon. He stood in their law place before a thrice holy God and has borne the curse of the law in their stead (Galatians 3:13). Christ Jesus was made sin for the election of grace that they might be made the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ, 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” (II Corinthians 5:21). Witness to the righteousness of God was given in the promise of the Seed of woman in the first book of the law (Genesis 3:15). The prophets also give witness to the righteousness of God (Daniel 9:24).

 

In Part III of this title attention was given to the first of the prophesied accomplishments of Messiah through Daniel’s prophesy, which was: “to finish the transgression” (Daniel 9:24). Messiah accomplished this while He was in our midst as the Seed of woman sent from God to save the people whom God has (1.) loved from everlasting (Jeremiah 31:3; John 17:23-24), (2.) elected in a covenant of pure grace and grace alone (Ephesians 1:3-7; II Timothy 1:9; Romans 8:28-39), (3.) predestinated to the adoption of children and conformation to the image of Christ (Ephesians 1:5; Romans 8:29), (4.) given to Christ Jesus the Messiah as His bride (John 17:2, 9, 11, 23-24; Revelation 21: 9-11; Ephesians 5:25-31), (5.) and whom Christ Jesus espoused without beginning in covenant union and took for His own (Hosea 2:19-20; II Corinthians 11:2). In this article other accomplishments that were promised in the witness of the prophet Daniel will be considered, such as “to make an end of sins” (Daniel 9:24).

 

Christ Jesus has finished the work of making an end of sins by justifying the entirety of the election of grace. Christ has justified the church of God by His bloody death, as it is written: “Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him” (Romans 5:9). And again: “Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; to declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus” (Romans 3:24-26). The bloody death of Jesus Christ was an expiation for the sins that were charged to Him. The Holy Ghost has declared by the prophet Ezekiel “the soul that sinneth, it shall die” (Ezekiel 18:4). The law of God is satisfied, made propitious, toward the offender when the sentence of death is accomplished either in the sinner or his Surety. The apostle refers to the bloody death of Christ here “in the same light in which it is uniformly considered in this Epistle, as an expiation of sin. By enduring, in the room of His people, death as a curse, He has converted death into a blessing to them. They need no longer be afraid of it. They may look forward to it with tranquility, and even desire. They may say, O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord” (I Corinthians 15: 55-58) (Dr. John Brown of Edinburgh).

 

By faith, the righteousness of God is apprehended, it is seen by the eye of faith and understood through faith, for “through faith we understand” (Hebrews 11:3). “And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding” (I John 5:20). When the righteousness of God is seen and understood through faith it becomes evident that those who see and understand are justified through faith for faith is the gift of God and it is given to those who are justified by the blood of the Lord Jesus. Justification is by the imputation of the “righteousness of God” (Romans 1:17) to the account of elect sinners, according to the will of God. The righteousness of God is received by faith and where faith is there is first the gift of eternal life for “the dead know not any thing” (Ecclesiastes 9:5). Eternal life is the reward of perfect righteousness and perfect righteousness is by imputation of God the Father which is the righteousness of saints, and was established by Jesus Christ through His cross death.

 

Christ Jesus was sent into this world by God the Father “to make an end of sins”. Our Lord Jesus has accomplished the task which no one else between the eternities was qualified to undertake. Only one of the Three Divine Persons was made flesh, God the Son, the Word, “was made flesh” (John 1:14). And accordingly was prepared to be the Divine Substitute for sinners who are men and who are members of the election of grace. Our Lord Jesus has made an end of sins by enduring the curse of the law for the elect of God, that is, for us, (Hebrews 6:20) through bearing our sins in His own body on the tree. As it is written: “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree” (Galatians 3:13) and it is written: “ Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed” (I Peter 2:24). Our Lord Jesus acted “by Himself” in all that He did as the Surety of the New Testament, as it is written: “Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high” (Hebrews 1:3).

 

Christ Jesus purged the sins of God’s elected, redeemed, and predestinated, children of the everlasting covenant of grace (Ephesians 1:3-7). These particular members of the body of Christ (the church of God) will infallibly be brought in the glory of God to the “marriage supper of Lamb” as it is written: “And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God” (Revelation 19:9). Reader we should notice; it is not said that Christ Jesus purged the church of God from their sins. The people of God are still sinners in their own persons while they live on the earth, even the apostle Paul said: “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” (Romans 7:24). And the Prophet Isaiah said: “But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away” (Isaiah 64;6). David lamented his condition thus: “Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me. Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest. Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me” (Psalm 51:1-5).

 

Our Lord Jesus Christ had sin laid on Him, as it is written: “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:6); but Christ Jesus had no sin in Him: “ And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin” (I John 3:5). And so it is clear that as the Divine Substitute for sinners and as the Surety of the New Testament, Christ Jesus bore our sins on Him, or “in His own body on the tree” (I Peter 2:24). Christ Jesus had sin on Him at His death but never had sin in Him.  All the sons of Adam in this world have sin in them; but the elected, redeemed, and regenerated, children of God have no sin on them, as it is written: “Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin” (Romans 4:8).  Sins are not imputed to the children of God, because all their sins have been already borne by the Lamb of God who taketh away the sin of the world of the elect of God (John 1:29).

 

 Christ Jesus purged our sins, not us from our sins.  Some may object, saying, Christ has saved His people from their sins (Matthew 1:21). This is true, Christ Jesus saved His people from their sins by purging their sins, removing the guilt of their sins, and making their sins white as the snow, as the prophet Isaiah has written: “ Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool” (Isaiah 1:18). David saith: “Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation: and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness” (Psalm 51:14). The question becomes: how can God make sin to be without guilt?

 

God the Father imputed the guilt of the body of Christ (the church of God) to Christ (Isaiah 53:6). The Deity accounts the Head and the body to be (1.) one Christ, as it is written: “For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ” (I Corinthians 12:12). (2.) One “perfect  man”: “Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:13). (3.) One “new man”, “Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace” (Ephesians 2:15).

 

The Head of the body was charged with the iniquities of the body, because of the eternal union of the Head and the body. Divine Justice accounts Christ Jesus and the church which He has purchased with His own blood to be one entity, as one new man hidden in mystery in the Old Testament (Ephesians 3:1-11). And because of the union of the Head and the body, the sins of the body were accounted the sins of the Head of the Body. In the Psalms, the Lord Christ (Acts 2:36) owns the sins of His body (the church of God) as His own saying: “For mine iniquities are gone over mine head: as an heavy burden they are too heavy for me. My wounds stink and are corrupt because of my foolishness. I am troubled; I am bowed down greatly; I go mourning all the day long. For my loins are filled with a loathsome disease: and there is no soundness in my flesh” (Psalm 38:4-7). And in another of the Psalms: “ Save me, O God; for the waters are come in unto my soul. I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing: I am come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me. I am weary of my crying: my throat is dried: mine eyes fail while I wait for my God. They that hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of mine head: they that would destroy me, being mine enemies wrongfully, are mighty: then I restored that which I took not away. O God, thou knowest my foolishness; and my sins are not hid from thee. Let not them that wait on thee, O Lord GOD of hosts, be ashamed for my sake: let not those that seek thee be confounded for my sake, O God of Israel. Because for thy sake I have borne reproach; shame hath covered my face. I am become a stranger unto my brethren, and an alien unto my mother's children. For the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up; and the reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon me” (Psalm 69:1-9). And in the twenty second Psalm we hear the voice of the Lord Christ throughout the entire Psalm, let the reader study the contents thereof.

 

The Psalms show us the heart of the Redeemer as He was cursed and endured the curse of the law for the people of God whom the Father had loved in Christ and chosen to eternal life. The guilt of the sins of the body of Christ (the church of God) was laid on Him (Isaiah 53:6) and He bore our sins in His own body of the tree (I Peter 2:24). Christ Jesus took the place of the guilty. Guilt deserves a curse, Christ Jesus endured that curse for those who are in eternal union in Him, and put away sin by the “sacrifice of Himself” as it is written: “For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us: nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with blood of others; for then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation” (Hebrews 9:24-28).

 

In the judicial economy of the word of God, sin cannot be charged to both the sinner and the Surety of sinners. Sin must be imputed to either one or the other. Sin must be imputed to the principal or the Surety, but never to both. Sin being imputed to the Surety of sinners, necessarily removes the guilt of sin from the sinner. In the judiciary of God, the Surety becomes the guilty one, and the sinner is “justified freely” as it is written: “ Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Romans 3:24). Christ Jesus had sin imputed to Him of His Father, He had the sin of the church of God on Him at His death and His blood washed that sin from Him When He said “it is finished” (John 19:30). It was “through the blood of the everlasting covenant” (Hebrews 13:20) that Christ Jesus was raised from the dead. Our Lord Jesus Christ called the blood of the everlasting covenant “My Blood of the New Testament” as it is written: “For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins” (Matthew 26:28). Christ Jesus washed the sin of the church of God, which the LORD had laid on Him, from Himself with His own precious blood, which was God’s blood, as it is written: “Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood” (Acts 20:28). Christ Jesus was justified from the sins that were laid on Him by His Father through His death, As it is written: “He is near that justifieth me; who will contend with me? let us stand together: who is mine adversary? let him come near to me. Behold, the Lord GOD will help me; who is he that shall condemn me? lo, they all shall wax old as a garment; the moth shall eat them up” (Isaiah 50:8-9). When our Lord Jesus appears again in this world it will be without sin unto salvation, as it is written: “So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation” (Hebrews 9:28).

 

 

Christ Jesus is set forth in the word of God, in promise, prophesy, type, and finally in Person and He is the propitiation who makes satisfaction to the law and justice of God. Where the justice of God is made propitious there is no offense remaining, where there is no offense there is no guilt and sin has reached its end. Moreover, “sin is the transgression of the law”, as it is written: “Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law” (I John 3:4). And as we have observed in Part III of this title the law is nailed to the cross of Jesus Christ and taken out of the way, and therefore where there is no law, there can be no transgression and  there can be no sin. Because: “Unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled” (Titus 1:15). “Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, for whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for menstealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine; according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust” (I Timothy 1:9-11). The saints of God are purified by faith, as it is written: “And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure” (I John 3:3). Men do not purify themselves by their own works, that is, by anything that they do: it is Christ that “justifieth the ungodly” (Romans 4:5).

 

AJ Ison  

 

See the writer’s blog at www.hebrews915.blogspot.com hear the true gospel preached at www.13thstbaptist.org webcasting live at listed service times.