The Gospel Message of Righteousness. 

The Father is Righteous.

O Righteous Father, the world has not known You, but I have known You, and these have known that You have sent Me. John 17 :25.

Jesus Christ could have said, O Father, but by prefixing his Father with the word Righteous, Jesus was declaring one of the many attributes of Almighty God.

When speaking of the attributes of the Father, one cannot single out one virtue over another; they are all intertwined in the character and nature of our Heavenly Father.

It is written in the scriptures that the Lord is righteous in all of His ways, and Holy in all of His works.(Psalms 145: 17.)

Meaning of Righteousness.

Herein is a truth that must be firmly established in the lives of believers: the Father’s righteousness is His Holiness in action. Almighty God’s righteousness is also His cause or standard of justice. Therefore, Almighty God’s righteousness, being His justice, is the attribute that always leads Him to do that which is right.

Our heavenly Father, being righteous, cannot deviate from His high and lofty standard without compromising His character; because of this, He must not let any evil go unpunished.

The justice of our heavenly Father that is administered through His righteousness allows Him to reward those who have been faithful to Him,  through working His righteousness in their lives and also allows Him to bring His judgment to bear whenever and wherever His laws are breached.

Jesus Christ And The Righteousness Of The Father.

Jesus Christ ministered through righteousness, which is perfectly revealed at His baptism by John the Baptist. Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptised by him. And John tried to prevent Jesus, saying, “I need to be baptised by You, and are You coming to me?”But Jesus answered and said to him, “Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he allowed Him.

When Jesus had been baptised, He came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”Matthew 3:13-17.

There were untold prophetic statements concerning the incarnation of Jesus Christ. It had been prophesied that the Messiah, the one who was to be revealed, would bring forth judgment to the people through righteousness. ( Psalms 72:2. )

Through these divine utterances, the entire ministry of Jesus Christ would be unfolded into the midst of the people, thus when they heard Jesus speak, and when they saw the open evidence of His works, they would or should have gained the revelation that this was the promised Messiah who was to come.

For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son:  That all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent Him. Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on Him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.

Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live. For as the Father hath life in Himself; so hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself, and hath given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of man.

Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation. I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me. John 5:22-30.

Jesus Christ proclaimed that He judged in line with the will of His Father and that judgment was to lead people into the knowledge of the will of the Father who sent Him into the world.

There were numerous confrontations that Jesus had with the religious hierarchy. The subject of judgment cropped up on several occasions, and when Jesus Christ judged any situation, it was always in line with the righteous judgment of the Will of the Father.

Jesus had brought deliverance to the impotent man at the pool of Bethesda, because this healing was wrought on the Sabbath, it raised an angry response from the religious leaders.

Moses therefore gave unto you circumcision; (not because it is of Moses, but of the fathers;) and ye on the sabbath day circumcise a man.  If a man on the sabbath day receive circumcision, that the law of Moses should not be broken; are ye angry at Me, because I have made a man every whit whole on the sabbath day? Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.

You judge after the flesh, I judge no man. And yet if I judge, my judgement is true, for I am not alone, but I am with the Father that sent Me. John 8 : 15 -16.

When Jesus said I judge no man, He was saying the Pharisees were passing judgment by what they saw, but Jesus would pass judgment on what was in the will of the Father. His judgment would always be in line with the revealed word of the Father.

You pass judgment according to human standards. I do not judge anyone the way you do it. When I pass judgment, my judgment is through the Father’s righteousness, through how the Father sees things, so I judge.

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. John bore witness of Him and cried out, saying, “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me is preferred before me, for He was before me.’ ”And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace. For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him. John 1:14-18.

As previously stated time and again during His redemptive ministry, Jesus fully exemplified the prophetic utterances unveiled to the nation of Israel in highlighting the ministry of the promised Messiah.

One such declaration affirms that the works and miraculous ministry of Jesus Christ were foreordained and anointed of the Father:  Mercy and truth are met together. Righteousness and peace have kissed each other. Truth shall spring out of the earth, and righteousness shall look down from heaven. Righteousness shall go before him, and shall set us in the way of his steps. (Psalms 85 : 10-11, 13.)

Grace is mercy in action. Righteousness and peace were fully manifested to the race of humanity through Jesus Christ. Therefore, truth could spring forth through the humanity of Jesus, exhibiting the righteousness of the Father, and in doing so, Jesus Christ would set the acceptable life of righteousness that the Father desired to be in those who would follow Jesus Christ in the earth.

Righteousness is the standard of living that the Father desires for those who will live their lives in the kingdom of God on the earth. Through Jesus’ finished work of redemption, the world would be brought under the conviction of the Holy Spirit as he moves with the word of the Father on the earth.

But now I am going to him who sent me, and none of you asks me, where are you going? But because I have said these things to you, grief has filled your heart. But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I am leaving. For if I do not leave, the Helper will not come to you, but if I go, I will send him to you.

And He, when He comes, will convict the world regarding sin and righteousness and judgement, regarding sin, because they do not believe in Me, and regarding righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you no longer are going to see Me, and regarding judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged. John 16: 5-11.

We receive in the fullness of the earthly ministry of Jesus Christ that every word He spoke, every act of mercy, every touch of His hand, every step that He took, was the open manifestation of the righteousness of the Father.

Jesus Christ could openly declare that in and through everything that He executed in his ministry of salvation was pleasing to the Father. He who sent me is with Me. He has not left Me alone, because I always do what pleases Him. John 8 : 29.

Jesus Christ’s whole ministry was the revelation of the importance of righteousness. Jesus declared: I can of mine own self do nothing. As I hear, I judge. And my judgment is just, or My judgment is through My righteousness, because I do not seek My own Will, but the will of the Father who has sent Me. John 5 : 30

In Jesus’s obedience to consent to being baptised by John the Baptist in the Jordan River, He was fully exemplifying the righteousness required by those who desire to fulfil the prescribed will or purposes of the Father. Jesus Christ was setting the mark, the standard through which every believer must adhere to in and through their lives.

The word righteous in this incident speaks of the attainment of the state of how a person ought to be. Further, it means to meet or comply with a precept or command. This is very important, throughout the course of His entire life and ministry, Jesus was working through his standing of being the righteousness of His Father’s desire.

Every mile that Jesus Christ walked. Every word that He spoke and every healing work of the mercies of His Father were the manifestation of the acceptable will of His Father.