The Foundation of God’s Throne

“Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne; Lovingkindness and truth go before You” (Psalms 89:14, Scriptures from NASB unless noted).

— Ernie Kuenzli

As one of God’s four attributes, righteousness is synonymous with our Heavenly Father. The entire plan of salvation is a testimony of His righteousness, in dealing with both the angelic and earthly creation.

Righteousness is translated from the Hebrew word tsedaqah (Strong’s 6666) which means justice, righteousness in government, as God’s attribute, in a cause, truthfulness, as ethically right or as vindicated or in acts. Tsedaqah is derived from the Hebrew root word tsadaq (Strong’s 6663) which means to be just, righteous, to do, bring, or declare justice or to justify or make righteous.

God’s righteousness is first explicitly declared in Genesis 18:19, where we learn that keeping “the way of the LORD [is] by doing righteousness and justice.” However, the righteousness of God was implied earlier when He first gave man a commandment to follow (Genesis 2:16-17) and then executed the prescribed punishment when it was transgressed. “Then to Adam He [God] said, ‘Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, “You shall not eat from it”; Cursed is the ground because of you … By the sweat of your face You will eat bread, Till you return to the ground … For you are dust, And to dust you shall return’” (Genesis 3:17-19).

God thinks, speaks, and acts according to a set of fixed principles based on justice and equity for all. Though He has the power to act, God constrains Himself by these principles. For all intelligent creatures in His realm, God provides everlasting life based upon their living in harmony with these principles.

The Psalmist declared, “For the LORD is righteous, He loves righteousness” (Psalm 11:7). “For Your righteousness, O God, reaches to the heavens, You who have done great things; O God, who is like You?” (Psalms 71:19). “His righteousness endures forever (Psalms 112:3). “The LORD performs righteous deeds and judgments for all who are oppressed” (Psalms 103:6).

God’s Righteousness Revealed Through His Plan of Salvation

Since Lucifer’s rebellion and Adam’s disobedience, a portion of God’s creation has been out of harmony with His righteous principles. Consequently, while dealing with the rebellion, God has been methodically educating the angels and mankind about the benefits of following principles of righteousness and providing an opportunity for the disobedient ones to come back into harmony with Him by being conformed to His principles. Through His plan, “the LORD has made known His salvation; He has revealed His righteousness in the sight of the nations” (Psalms 98:2). God has been teaching all, “Righteousness delivers from death. The righteousness of the blameless will smooth his way … The righteousness of the upright will deliver them” (Proverbs 11:4-6).

God demonstrated His righteousness through the giving of His Law to Israel. The Law revealed that among mankind, “THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE; THERE IS NONE WHO UNDERSTANDS, THERE IS NONE WHO SEEKS FOR GOD; ALL HAVE TURNED ASIDE … THERE IS NONE WHO DOES GOOD, THERE IS NOT EVEN ONE” (Romans 3:10-12). Our Lord Jesus confirmed this at his first advent when he said, “No one is good except God alone” (Luke 18:19).

God’s Righteousness Through Christ

Because every member of the human race was fallen, the Law revealed that no one was perfect, and hence equal to Adam. “No man can by any means redeem his brother or give to God a ransom for him” (Psalms 49:7). “For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemneds in in the flesh” (Romans 8:3). “But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons” (Galatians 4:4-5).

God’s righteousness was demonstrated by sending His only begotten son as His agent to bring mankind back into harmony with His righteous principles. This is prophesied in Jeremiah 23:5-6). “‘Behold, the days are coming,’ declares the LORD, ‘When I will raise up for David a righteous Branch; and He will reign as king and act wisely and do justice and righteousness in the land. In His days Judah will be saved, And Israel will dwell securely; and this is His name by which He will be called, ‘The LORD our righteousness.’” The phrase “The LORD our righteousness” is translated from the Hebrew phrase, yehovah tsedeq, meaning “the existing One’s” justice, rightness, or righteousness. The righteous branch God sent to earth as a ransom for Adam and subsequently raised from the dead is our Lord Jesus Christ. Raised as a priest and king after the order of Melchizedek, our Lord will save Judah and under his protection, Israel will dwell securely.

This title was given to our Lord in the context of Jeremiah’s prophecy regarding the upcoming destruction of Judah. Here, through Jeremiah, God reprimands the shepherds (leaders) of Israel for their lack of care for the nation. “What sorrow awaits the leaders of My people — the shepherds of My sheep — for they have destroyed and scattered the very ones they were expected to care for … Instead of caring for My flock and leading them to safety, you have deserted them and driven them to destruction. Now I will pour out judgment on you for the evil you have done to them” (Jeremiah 23:1-2 NLT).

God’s righteousness led Him to intervene and rectify this situation. After removing the failing shepherds and punishing the nation through the diaspora, “I [God] will gather together the remnant of My flock from the countries where I have driven them. I will bring them back to their own sheepfold, and they will be fruitful and increase in number. Then, I will appoint responsible shepherds who will care for them, and they will never be afraid again. Not a single one will be lost or missing. I, the LORD have spoken!” (Jeremiah 23:3-4 NLT). The righteous Branch God would raise would be these responsible shepherds’ chief.

God’s Righteousness Toward the Church

In Jeremiah 23:4, God spoke of appointing responsible shepherds (plural) who would care for Israel. The implication is that Christ would have associates who would assist him in gathering the nation and bringing it back into harmony with God. Jesus mentioned this in Matthew 19:28 when “Jesus said to them, ‘Truly I say to you, that you who have followed Me, in the regeneration when the Son of Man will sit on His glorious throne, you also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.’”

This title, “The Lord Our Righteousness,” is extended from our Lord to his body members, the little flock, by the Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 5:21. “He [God] made Him [Jesus] who knew no sin to be sin [offering] on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” Through our faith in Jesus as a ransom for Adam, and by consecration being baptized into Jesus’ death, the righteousness of Christ is imputed to us. “But now … the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe” (Romans 3:21-22). Our goal is to “be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith” (Philippians 3:9).

Our Lord’s work as the righteous Branch makes it possible for his body members to become “the Lord Our Righteousness.” The prophet Zechariah writes, “Thus says the LORD of hosts, ‘Behold, a man whose name is Branch, for He will branch out from where He is; and He will build the temple of the LORD. Yes, it is He who will build the temple of the LORD, and He who will bear the honor and sit and rule on His throne. Thus, He will be a priest on His throne, and the counsel of peace will be between the two offices’” (Zechariah 6:12-13). Not only does our Lord, the Branch, become the priest upon his throne, forever after the order of Melchizedek as God proclaimed in Psalms 110:4, but he builds the church as a temple of the LORD, as Paul expressed in 2 Corinthians 6:16: “For we are the temple of the living God; just as God said, “I WILL DWELL IN THEM AND WALK AMONG THEM; AND I WILL BE THEIR GOD, AND THEY SHALL BE MY PEOPLE.”

God’s Righteousness Toward Israel

The title “The Lord Our Righteousness” is not limited to the Christ, head and body. In Jeremiah 33:14-16, the prophet Jeremiah extends it to fleshly Israel. “’Behold, days are coming,’ declares the LORD, ‘when I will fulfill the good word which I have spoken concerning the house of Israel and the house of Judah. In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch of David to spring forth; and He shall execute justice and righteousness on the earth. In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will dwell in safety; and this is the name by which she will be called: the LORD is our righteousness.’”

Israel and Judah will be brought back in harmony with God and His principles of righteousness under the New Covenant through the work of our Lord and the church. The prophet Jeremiah writes in Jeremiah 31:33-34: “’But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,’ declares the LORD, ‘I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,’ declares the LORD, ‘for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.’” Through the work of the New Covenant, God will take away Israel’s sin and write His righteous Law on their hearts.

The context of Jeremiah 33:14-16 indicates that this demonstration of God’s righteousness to, and subsequent blessing of Israel, is part of God’s promise to heal the nation. Jeremiah 33:5-8 says, “While … I have hidden My face from this city because of all their wickedness: Behold, I will bring to it health and healing, and I will heal them; and I will reveal to them an abundance of peace and truth. … I will cleanse them from all their iniquity by which they have sinned against Me, and I will pardon all their iniquities by which they have sinned against Me and by which they have transgressed against Me.” God adds in verse 9, “It [Israel] will be to Me a name of joy, praise, and glory before all the nations of the earth which will hear of all the good that I do for them, and they will fear and tremble because of all the good and all the peace that I make for it.” God’s righteous blessing to Israel will awe the rest of mankind and, ultimately, prompt them to seek God’s righteousness for themselves.

Regarding Israel, Jeremiah adds, “They shall be My people, and I will be their God; and I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear Me always, for their own good and for the good of their children after them. I will make an everlasting covenant with them that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; and I will put the fear of Me in their hearts so that they will not turn away from Me” (Jeremiah 32:38-40). God will teach His righteousness to Israel, putting it in their heart, and as a result, they will become and remain God’s people.

God’s Righteousness Toward All Mankind

Finally, through the work of the New Covenant, the phrase “The Lord Our Righteousness” becomes extended to all the members of the human family who come back into harmony with God through Christ’s earthly kingdom. The prophet Isaiah brings this to our attention in Isaiah 45:20-25: “Gather yourselves and come; Draw near together, you fugitives of the nations … Who has announced this from of old? Who has long since declared it? Is it not I, the LORD? And there is no other God besides Me, a righteous God and a Savior; There is none except Me. Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth; For I am God, and there is no other. I have sworn by Myself, The word has gone forth from My mouth in righteousness and will not turn back, that to Me every knee will bow, every tongue will swear allegiance. They will say of Me, ‘only in the LORD are righteousness and strength.’ Men will come to Him, and all who were angry at Him will be put to shame. In the LORD all the offspring of Israel will be justified and will glory.”

Not only fleshly Israelites, but all who come to God in Christ’s kingdom through Israel will become taught God’s righteousness. Only the proud will be cast out (Matthew 8:11-12). Those who say “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; that He may teach us concerning His ways and that we may walk in His paths,” will learn God’s righteousness from “the law [that] will go forth from Zion and the word of the LORD [going forth] from Jerusalem” (Isaiah 2:3).

In this way, In this way, both seeds of the Abrahamic promise, spiritual as well as earthly, will demonstrate the righteousness of God, receiving life through their submission to and coming into harmony with that righteousness. They will then become the righteousness of God through Christ Jesus. God will restore the lives of both groups by guiding them in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake (Psalms 23:3).