character sketch of righteous man
Answers
Answer: Are you righteous—truly righteous? Are you righteous not only outwardly in your external behavior, but also in your heart and soul—the inward part of you? Jesus Christ spoke of the judgment scene, with the saved on His right hand and the lost on His left. He describes the great parting of the ways after the judgment itself: “These [on the left] will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life” (Matthew 25:46). Only the “righteous” will receive eternal life in God’s eternal kingdom (v. 34). Will you be among the righteous?
What is righteousness? The Greek dikaiosune means “the character or quality of being right or just.”[i][i] It means “righteousness, uprightness, equity.”[ii][ii] Richards says that dikaiosune means righteousness, uprightness; dikaios means just, upright, righteousness; and the verb dikaioo means “to pronounce or to treat a person as righteous,” “to acquit,” or “to vindicate.”[iii][iii]
God has absolute righteousness and He becomes the perfect standard of this quality. This is true in the Old Testament, where God is called “the righteous God” (Psalm 7:9; Isaiah 45:21), and in the New Testament where God is “righteous” (John 17:25; 1 John 1:9; Revelation 16:5) and will judge in righteousness (Acts 17:31; Romans 2:5; 2 Thessalonians 1:5). The Lord Jesus is also the standard of righteousness for He is called “Jesus Christ the righteous” (1 John 2:1; cf. v. 29; Acts 3:14; 7:52) and “the righteous Judge” (2 Timothy 4:8). Because God is righteous and the basis of righteousness, His Word also is righteous for it partakes of His own righteousness. His judgments “are righteous altogether” (Psalm 19:9). The psalmist affirmed, “The sum of Your word is truth, and every one of Your righteous ordinances is everlasting” (119:160).
Since God is righteous and Christ Jesus is also righteous, we are required to be righteous in our own character. In fact, it is essential that we seek personal righteousness and live a righteous life. Jesus said, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied” (Matthew 5:6). He went on to say, “Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (v. 10). The righteous Lord expressed this well when he declared, “Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you” (6:33). God classifies people as either “righteous” or “unrighteous” (5:45). John the baptizer was called “a righteous and holy man” (Mark 6:20). Zacharias and Elizabeth were called “righteous in the sight of God” (Luke 1:6). It is utterly important that God pronounces us righteous or upright in our character for only the righteous will receive eternal life and the kingdom of God (Matthew 25:34, 46). Significantly, the “fine linen” that the redeemed ones wear in heaven are “the righteous acts of the saints” (Revelation 19:8b).
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