Righteousness Restored
E. W. Kenyon is one of my favorite authors. I remember the first time I read his book Jesus the Healer, his teaching strike me as being like what the gospel writer described about Jesus’ teaching: it was with great authority. It is an understatement to say that I was in awe. I have never read anyone more certain of his own words than Kenyon was. Today, to conclude our present series, I would like to quote Kenyon from one of his other books The Two Kinds of Righteousness (in italics below).
Sin consciousness was born at the Fall. It was manifested in Adam’s fear to meet God and his desire to cover his nakedness. (Genesis 3)
Our human ancestor Mr. Adam got us all into this fix. It was all his fault really. Ever since then all man wanted was to get rid of this feeling of falling short. There is always a gnawing feeling inside of not being good enough. That’s why religion was invented – to get us back to feeling right again, doing our utmost to reach certain set standard that we think might find God’s approval. This is the righteousness of Religion (the Pharisees). But alas, this is not good enough. Not according to God.
Jesus the Son of God came in the flesh to show them why it is not good enough. He practically said that all that religion did couldn’t hit the mark and never will. He told them what it means to be truly good in God’s eyes. This is the righteousness of the Law. Mind you, Jesus didn’t ask us to meet God’s approval by doing what the Law truly says. He was merely showing us the standard we need to fulfill if we want to meet God’s approval by the Law. No amount of effort from us could be good enough to meet that standard.
It was to fix this age-old problem – the fix that Adam got us into – that Jesus showed up. He did all that need to be done to give us His righteousness. He said He had finished His work (John 19:30).
The Revelation of God and the development of that Revelation have been to one end – to restore Righteousness to man.
The meaning of Righteousness in this sense is the ability to stand in the presence of God without the sense of sin, guilt, or inferiority.
This Righteousness that is revealed is the Righteousness that the believer receives in Christ.
In a nutshell, this is what His Righteousness is all about. Have you received His Righteousness? It’s free!
(To claim your free gift, click here. You may want to let me know after receiving it, let me share your joy!)
Scripture Link: BibleGateway.com
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