Kingdom of God is Righteousness and NOT of this World

 

• Is the World Righteous? - The answer is a resounding, NO! Why is this? Once mankind fell into sin in the Garden of Eden, the whole human race became infected with sin. Man's heart is desperately wicked and deceitful. Isa 1:3-6 paints a despicable, but very accurate, portrayal of the “inner picture” of those who were “identified outwardly” as the “people of God”. The big problem that man faces in his inability to see his own sinfulness. He is blinded to it. In fact, he actually thinks he is “righteous”, or “good”. Worst of all man perceives that God is well-pleased with him. How utterly foolish man is! One common aspect of all the pagan religions and false gospels of the world is the notion that man must do something to gain favor with whomever or whatever they worship. However, the Bible says clearly and repeatedly that there is nothing we can do to get ourselves Right with God. God describes the spiritual covering of unbelievers as “unclean” and man’s attempts at being “righteous” are like “filthy rags” in His sight. The fact remains that man cannot be righteous by anything he does on his own. By God’s standard of righteousness even the most moral person is looked upon by God as desperate sinner on his way to Hell. The Bible teaches that no one is good enough in himself to go to Heaven. On the contrary, we are all sinners, and we are all guilty before God.

Rom 3:10-11 “As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth , there is none that seeketh after God.”
 
Jer 17:9 “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?”

Isa 1:3-6 “The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider. Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the LORD, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward. Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment.”

Job 15:14 “What is man, that he should be clean? and he which is born of a woman, that he should be righteous? Behold, he putteth no trust in his saints; yea, the heavens are not clean in his sight? How much more abominable and filthy is man, which drinketh iniquity like water?”

Rom 1:28-31 “And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient; Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful.”

Isa 64:6 “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.”

Rom 1:17-18 “For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.18For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;” 

• God and His Kingdom are Righteous and NOT of This World -  Righteousness is a magnificent attribute of God. It is an aspect of His basic nature, the very character of God and encompasses everything He says and does.. The Bible is replete with references to God’s Righteousness. In fact, the Bible indicates that one of His names is Righteous, or Righteousness, as we find mentioned in the New Testament in 1 John 2:1. The Righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ and His everlasting Covenant of providing His Salvation is announced in Isa 61. God the Father continues to highlight the work of God the Son even further in Heb 1:8-10.

Rom 14:17 “For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.”

 

 Psa 11:7 “For the righteous LORD loveth righteousness; his countenance doth behold the upright.”
Psa 145:17 “The LORD is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works.”
Psa 119:144 “The righteousness of thy testimonies [God’s Word – the Bible] is everlasting: give me understanding, and I shall live.”
1 John 2:1 “My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.”
Isa 32:17-18 “And the work of righteousness [salvation] shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever. And my people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation [Christ's Kingdom], and in sure dwellings, and in quiet resting places.”
Psa 119:142 “Thy righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and thy law is the truth.”
Jer 23:5-6 “Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch [Lord Jesus], 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.”
Heb 1:8-10 “But unto the Son he [God the Father] saith, Thy throne, O God [the Son], is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom. Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee [Christ] with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. And, Thou, Lord [Christ], in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands.”

Jer 9:24 “But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the LORD which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the LORD.”
2 Pet 3:13 “Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.”

 

Isa 45:19-23 “... I the LORD speak righteousness, I declare things that are right. Assemble yourselves and come; draw near together, ye that are escaped of the nations: they have no knowledge that set up the wood of their graven image, and pray unto a god that cannot save. Tell ye, and bring them near; yea, let them take counsel together: who hath declared this from ancient time? who hath told it from that time? Have not I the LORD? And there is no God else beside me; a just [Righteous] God and a Saviour; there is none beside me. Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else. I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.” 

 

 

 

 

• Can Men be “Made” Righteous? If so, How? - Man is in desperate need of a righteousness which can qualify him for Heaven. Only the righteousness that God gives as a gift can accomplish that. Those who are declared “righteous” in the Bible is not because they have done something good. They have been made righteous by God Himself. This righteousness has been given to them when they were given eternal life, and eternal life is likewise a gift from God. In Rev 19:8  the righteousness that is being mentioned is speaking about salvation, and it is compared to clean, white linen – a symbol of purity – a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. 1 Pet 3:18 serves to identify Christ’s redemption for His people, who are referred to as the “unjust”, from sin, spiritual death, and Hell. Here we see the greatest exchange that has ever taken place in this universe. Here we see Righteous God, Who is holy, pure, and sinless become unholy, impure, and sinful. Simultaneously, we see unrighteous unsaved man, who by nature is unholy, impure, and sinful become holy, pure, and sinless by the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ that is given, or imputed, to him. God Makes His People Righteous by becoming sin for them. One day God will destroy this present universe by fire and create New Heavens and a New Earth where only God and His people will live forever in righteousness. Isa 54 has much to say about the eternal church, and sums up that fact in verse 17 “No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD.”

 

Tit 3:5 “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost.”
Rev 19:8 “And to her [the Bride of Christ] was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.”
1 Pet 3:18 “For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit”
2 Cor 5:21 “For he [God the Father] hath made him [God the Son] to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”
 

Isa 61:10-11 “I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of [Christ's] righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels. For as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth; so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations.”
Php 3:8-9 “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, 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…”
Rom 1:17-18 “For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.18For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;”
 

Isa 46:13 “I bring near my righteousness; it shall not be far off, and my salvation shall not tarry: and I will place salvation in Zion for Israel [Elect of God] my glory.”