In Your Hands

Our Righteousness (Part I)

"And this is his name whereby he shall be called, The Lord our Righteousness." Jer. 23:6

-------

Inside the sanctuary, there is a veil that separates the holy place from the most holy place. It is where the priest sprinkles the blood of the sacrificial animal brought by the penitent sinner. The sin of the penitent sinner was symbolically transferred, particularly, to the veil, defiling the sanctuary. Thus, the sanctuary needed cleansing during the Day of Atonement or Yom Kippur where the high priest entered into the most holy place to minister in behalf of the people.

The sanctuary, with all its services and furniture, points to the Savior. Everything in the sanctuary foreshadowed Christ, our Redeemer, our Hope, our Savior and our coming King.

He is the High Priest that mediates between the sinner and God the Father.

He is the Living water that washes away our sins through baptism.

He is the Lamb of God, as represented by the sacrificial animal, who can take away our sins.

He is the Bread of Life in the table of showbread that can satisfy the spiritual hunger of every soul.

He is the Light of the World that illuminates the darken paths which guide the lost soul.

He is the Aroma of the Father, an incense, ever faithful and available, where penitent soul can have access 24/7 through prayer.

He is the veil, whose flesh was torn, who bore all our sins and died on the cross of Calvary, so that we could be made righteous before the Father.

The veil, that curtain, that linen wall sprinkled with so much blood was the flesh of the Savior, the body of Christ, who bore our sins upon the cross for our salvation.

The wall that separates the holy place from the most holy place is made up of a linen material, not a concrete wall, not bricks, not stone, not cement, not even a wooden wall, but made of a fabric, a linen.

If I am going to build a wall, it is something concrete, hard and permanent. But this material is used in and out of the sanctuary instead, signifying the temporary nature of the sanctuary services, because the permanent realization for our salvation can be found in Christ alone, the Lord of Our Righteousness, in Hebrew, Jehovah Tsidkenu. The God who can right all our wrongs.

This was the promiseof God given to Judah and Israel ... "And this is his name whereby he shall becalled, The Lord our Righteousness."

In the same way, this promise is also for everyone who believes in Christ.

 "For he made him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in him." 2 Corinthians 5:21.

We are God's Righteousness through Jesus. We are Jehovah Tsidkenu. Not your righteousness, not my righteousness, not his or her righteousness, and not even their righteousness. Because human righteousness is filthy as a rag. Everything that we do is defiled by sin.

Remember Adam and Eve after the Fall ? They clothed themselves with fig leaves but God changed them into the skin of animal. For the first time, there was shedding of blood, symbolizing that our nakedness, our sins, could be cleanse only through the blood of Christ, only through His righteousness. The only covering acceptable to God is the robe of His own righteousness. This robe is made from heaven. Not one thread of human effort can be seen in fabric of this robe. Because this robe is the perfect character of Christ.

(to be continued)

Prayer:

Father, we acknowledge that you are our righteouness, our only hope when everything around us is crumbling. We are sinful, as such we deserved to die. But your grace is given upon the human race since the world begun as the same is unfold through the sanctuary service  where the plan of salvation points us only to Christ. Help us to see only Jesus in all the things  that surround us and behold His glory forever. Amen.