«　WEEK 2　DAY 5　»

　　Jer. 23:5-6 …I will raise up to David a righteous Shoot; and He will reign as King and act prudently and will execute justice and righteousness in the land….And this is His name by which He will be called: Jehovah our righteousness.

　　33:16 In those days Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will dwell securely; and this is the name by which she will be called: Jehovah our righteousness.

　　Jehovah our righteousness [in Jeremiah 23:6] refers to Christ in His divinity, and a righteous Shoot (v. 5), to Christ in His humanity. The name here indicates that Christ, as a descendant of David, is not merely a man but is also the very Jehovah who created the heavens and the earth, selected Abraham, established the race of Israel, and was the Lord of David, the One whom he called Lord (Matt. 22:42-45; cf. Rev. 5:5; 22:16). (Jer. 23:6, footnote 1)

　　Our in Jeremiah 23:6 indicates that Christ becomes one with us to be our righteousness (1 Cor. 1:30; 2 Cor. 5:21). Christ is made our righteousness based on His redemption. As the righteous Shoot (Jer. 23:5), Christ came in the flesh as the descendant of David to die on the cross and shed His blood in order to wash away our sins and accomplish redemption (Eph. 1:7; Heb. 9:22; 1 Pet. 1:18-19). With His redemption as the basis, we can believe into Him to receive God’s forgiveness (Acts 10:43), and God can justify us (Rom. 3:24, 26), make Christ our righteousness, and clothe us with the robe of righteousness (Isa. 61:10). This opens the way for Christ as the embodiment of the Triune God (Col. 2:9) to enter into us as our life (Col. 3:4a), our inner law of life (Jer. 31:33), and our everything, to dispense Himself into our entire being for the accomplishing of God’s eternal economy. (Jer. 23:6, footnote 2)

　　God would never give up His elect yet distracted people. While He was condemning, punishing, and chastising Israel, He intended to be incarnated as a Shoot unto David so that He could be His people’s righteousness. Based on Christ’s coming as Jehovah to be their righteousness, the evil race of Israel can be restored. Eventually, Israel will manifest Christ, who is their righteousness, as their centrality (their being) and their universality (their expression). This manifestation will consummate in the New Jerusalem (Rev. 21:12). (Jer. 23:6, footnote 3)

　　The third matter in the kernel of the book of Jeremiah is what Christ is to us….Although Christ is God, He became a Shoot, or Sprout, of David [Jer. 23:5]. This means that He was incarnated to be a descendant of David. As a Shoot, the Sprout, of David, Christ is tender, living, and fresh. Christ, the righteous Shoot of David, is called Jehovah our righteousness. In our fallen condition we are corrupt, sinful, deceitful, incurable, and unchangeable. How could we ever be righteous before God? In ourselves this is impossible, but we can become righteous in Christ….Based upon Christ’s redemption, God is able to forgive our sins, to forget our sins, and to justify us. Furthermore, with the redemption of Christ as the foundation, Christ Himself has become our righteousness. Not only have we been justified by God, but God has given Christ to us to be our righteousness (1 Cor. 1:30). It is a wonderful fact that Christ has become one with us to be our righteousness.

　　Outwardly, we are justified, having Christ as our righteousness, but inwardly we are still empty. Therefore, we need Christ to be something else to us. We need Christ as the divine life, the divine life that is wrought into our inner being (Jer. 31:33). This life is a law which works in us to dispense into our being all that God is in His rich being. As a result of this dispensing, this transfusing of God Himself into us, we are no longer empty. On the contrary, we are filled with the dispensing Triune God. (Life-study of Jeremiah, pp. 261-262)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of Jeremiah, msg. 2; Life-study of Isaiah, msg. 47