| E-MAIL SERVICE | Sign me up to receive the daily Word of Righteousness free via my E-mail address! ( ONLY AVAILABLE IN ENGLISH ) | |
| ARCHIVES | I want to check out the daily Words of Righteousness for any of the last fourteen days or from previous weeks. ( ENGLISH ONLY ) | |
| FEEDBACK | I have a question or comment about today's Word of Righteousness. ( ENGLISH AND SPANISH ONLY ) | |
| BOOK LIST | I would like to see the complete book list of the Words of Righteousness author Robert B. Thompson. (SOME SPANISH TITLES AVAILABLE ) |
The Daily Word of Righteousness
Why Has God Justified Us?
So, my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God. (Romans 7:4)
We have been justified by faith. But for what purpose? Today we would say we are justified for the purpose of going to Heaven when we die. Where in the New Testament is residence in Heaven presented as our goal? It is possible we do not understand the purpose for our being justified by faith.
The Lord Jesus Christ kept the Law of Moses perfectly. The reward for keeping the Law of Moses perfectly is righteousness, and life in the Presence of God.
The Lord Jesus earned righteousness and life, but He did not spend it. He put it in the bank to be drawn on at a later time. Then He experienced for a brief season the penalty for breaking the Law of Moses, which is separation from the Presence of God. He became sin for us.
The righteousness and life that Christ earned are still in the Bank of Heaven. Whoever wishes to do so may by faith, in the name of Jesus Christ, draw righteousness and life from that account.
We call this being justified by faith. By faith in the Lord Jesus Christ we can receive perfect righteousness in God's sight and eternal life.
In order to be free legally from our own obligation to the Law of Moses we have to count ourselves as having died with Christ on the cross. We portray this death when we are baptized in water.
Many believers have been baptized in water. But not all have counted that such baptism signals the end of their first life, their first personality. They continue in the erroneous belief that God is going to save them as they are. God is not going to save anyone as he or she is. God is going to crucify what we are so He can raise us into a new life in Christ.
Until we and God accept the fact that we have been crucified with Christ we are still under the Law of Moses. We are not free to draw righteousness and life from the Bank of Heaven.
Let us say we have been baptized in water into the death of Christ on the cross and have risen with Him to walk in newness of life. Let us say further that by faith we have drawn righteousness and life from the Bank of Heaven. We now have been justified by faith. God regards us as having fulfilled all the requirements of the Law of Moses.
In order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit. (Romans 8:4)
God has justified us through our faith. But for what purpose?
The traditional understanding is God has justified us that He might bring us to Heaven, there to live forever with the angels. A pleasant thought indeed, but not nearly as pleasant as the truth.
To be continued.