ON THE VANGUARD

JEHOVAH TSIDKENU
"'The days are coming,' declares the LORD, 'when I will raise up to David a righteous Branch, a King who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land. In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. This is the name by which he will be called: The LORD Our Righteousness.'"
Jeremiah 23:5-6

When God made Adam and Eve, He gave them a simple instruction to not eat of a certain tree within the Garden of Eden. Through trickery and doubt, and a little word play, the serpent had convinced Eve who then convinced Adam that this instruction was a hoax and punishment would not come. But punishment did come, in the way of sin. It was this sin that separated man from God due to the lose of righteousness within God's sight. Simply put, because man did not keep God commands, man could no longer be within God's perfect presence.
In Leviticus 11:44a, we read the words of God as given to Moses. "I am the LORD your God; consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy." But as man had made a separation and Jesus had not yet come to die in our place, how could this happen? In reading the scriptures we see where God had stepped into covenant with His people.
First in the Adamic covenant (Gen 3:21), we see where God fashioned clothes for Adam and Eve. This action could not have been done unless God also shared with them the importance of forgiveness and the offerings for sin that He desired. The Noahic covenant wold follow where God placed a rainbow in the sky following Noah's sacrifice, promising at that time that never again would He allow a flood to cover the entire earth (Gen 9:12-15). In the Abrahamic covenant God promised the descendants of Abraham the Promised Land (Gen 15:18-21). Within the Mosaic covenant God had the Israelites consecrate themselves as God chosen people and gave them the Ten Commandments. Finally, in the Davidic covenant, God vowed to give David a son who would succeed him and build the Temple, as well as have a kingdom that would be established forever (II Sam 7:4-17). This covenant was fulfilled as we see in Matthew 1 the ancestry from Adam to Joseph, the earthly father of Jesus Christ.
But how does all this fit in with righteousness and the words penned by Jeremiah? The righteous branch that Jeremiah spoke of in the line of David was Jesus Christ. Up until Jesus' death on the cross all sins were covered by sacrifices and scapegoats. But Jesus did an awesome thing in giving up His life in that He, knowing NO sin, became sin for us. We were unrighteous, and our deeds were are soiled as dirty rags. Even in our sacrifices we were not able to be fully whole. Then Jesus, the spotless lamb, took our sin and erased it. It is when we confess our sin that we are made righteous again.
Romans 7:14-24 reminds us that there is nothing good or righteous in us. I thank God, however, that I have been made righteous through His Son. I am able to declare God as my Jehovah Tsidkenu - my God of Righteousness. Put on this breastplate of His righteousness as written of in Ephesians 6, and join me ON THE VANGUARD!