Thursday

Related Verses
Matt. 6:33
33 But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

2 Cor. 5:21
21 Him who did not know sin He made sin on our behalf that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

Matt. 5:20
20 For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall by no means enter into the kingdom of the heavens.

Eph. 4:22-24
22 That you put off, as regards your former manner of life, the old man, which is being corrupted according to the lusts of the deceit,
23 And that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind
24 And put on the new man, which was created according to God in righteousness and holiness of the reality.

Related Reading
The Father’s kingdom is the reality of the kingdom of the heavens today, the reality of the church life today, and will be the manifestation of the kingdom of the heavens in the coming age. The Father’s righteousness is the righteousness expressed by the keeping of the new law of the kingdom…This righteousness is Christ, who is lived out by the kingdom people. Since the kingdom people seek first the kingdom and the righteousness of their heavenly Father, not only will His kingdom and His righteousness be given to them, but also all that they need will be added to them. (Life-study of Matthew, p. 264) 

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Love is God’s nature, holiness is God’s disposition, and glory is God’s own being. Righteousness, however, is God’s procedure, His way, and His method. Since God is righteous, He cannot love man merely according to His own love. He cannot grant man grace merely according to what He wants. He cannot save man merely according to His heart’s desire. It is true that God saves man because He loves man. But He must do so in a way that is in agreement with His own righteousness, His own procedure, His own moral standard, His own way, His own method, His own dignity, and His own majesty. 

God must save us while preserving His righteousness…God could save us immediately with His love. But He must also save us very righteously. 

If God were to judge sin mercilessly, He would be without love. But if He were to let man’s sins go without judging them, He would be without righteousness. Because God loves the world and, at the same time, He is righteous, He had to send the Lord Jesus to us. Because He is righteous, He had to judge sin. Because He is love, He had to bear man’s sins for him. I must emphasize these two statements: God must judge because He is righteous. And God bears man’s judgment and punishment because He is love. Without judgment, we see no righteousness; with judgment, we see no love…He manifests both His love and His righteousness in Jesus Christ.

The cross is where God’s righteousness is manifested. The cross shows us how much God hates sin. He is determined to judge sin. He was willing to pay such a great price as to have His Son nailed on the cross…Because God was not willing to give up His righteousness, He preferred to have His Son die rather than give up His righteousness. 

The cross is also the place where God’s love is manifested. The burden for our sins should be on us. If we do not bear it, it is unrighteous. But to bear such a burden is too much for us. For this reason, He came and bore it for us. That God was willing to bear the burden shows His love. That God actually did bear the burden shows His righteousness. For God to have us bear the punishment is righteousness without love. For God to have us not bear the punishment is love without righteousness. Because He takes away the punishment and bears it for us, there is both righteousness and love. Hallelujah! The cross meets the requirement of righteousness and the requirement of love. 

God has made the Lord Jesus sin [2 Cor. 5:21]. Originally the Lord Jesus was without sin at all; He had nothing to do with sin. Now God has judged Him as though judging sin itself…“that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”…When people see us, they see God’s righteousness. We, the sinners, through the Lord Jesus becoming sin for us and through His bearing of our sins to forgive us, have now become the righteousness of God in the Lord Jesus Christ. We are the living righteousness of God walking on earth. In Christ we are the representatives of God’s righteousness. (CWWN, vol. 28, “The Gospel of God (1),” pp. 80-82, 85-86, 96) 

Further Reading: CWWN, vol. 28, “The Gospel of God (1),” ch. 5