228. JESUS -THE SALVATION AND RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD

(The Information & Edification Series – Batch 5)

In the Old Testament, a Psalmist, whose identity is unknown, wrote:

• “O sing unto the Lord a new song; for he hath done marvellous things: His right hand, and his holy arm, hath gotten him the victory. The Lord hath made known HIS SALVATION: HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS hath he openly shewed in the sight of the heathen. He hath remembered his mercy and his truth toward the house of Israel: all the ends of the earth have seen THE SALVATION of our God.” (Psalm 198:1-3)

What did the Psalmist mean when he wrote of the Lord that:

1. He hath made known HIS SALVATION: HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS hath he openly shewed in the sight of the heathen?

2. HIS right hand and HIS holy arm hath gotten HIM the victory?

Well, firstly, the Psalmist was prophetically referring to Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the Son of God and God the Son, the perfectly RIGHTEOUS one, who would come to earth through the form of a baby, to save his people from their sins. He was “THE SALVATION of our God” that the people on earth would see and the ‘SALVATION’ and ‘RIGHTEOUSNESS’ that the Lord would make known and openly show in the sight of the heathen.

The Psalmist was therefore alluding FIRSTLY to the entry of Jesus into the world in the form of a baby and that he, the perfectly RIGHTEOUS one, who would be the SAVIOUR of the world, would live among mankind.

SECONDLY, when he stated that the Lord’s right hand and his holy arm hath gotten him the victory, he was referring to how the Lord would solve mankind’s problem of sin, hopelessness, deserved punishment and eternal damnation, by the sacrifice of his own self through death and thereafter, resurrection from the dead.

Similar to what the Psalmist stated, Isaiah the Prophet, in speaking on behalf of God, spoke of the dismal state of mankind who were engulfed in sin, without hope, destined for eternal damnation and therefore in need of a Redeemer (Saviour). Since there was no one who was worthy to redeem them, Jesus, who is God the Son, part of the Godhead and therefore God, would come to earth to save mankind himself, from himself, meaning, from the Judgment of God.

In other words, there was a penalty for mankind’s sins and the one who would one day judge them, in mercy, would first come to pay the price as a substitute, for mankind, although he himself had done no sin and would do no sin. In so doing, he would thereby get the victory, as he would save all those that believed the truth of his testimony, delivering them from his own wrath to come and eternal condemnation.

In this regard, God took on a dual role, as he is both Judge (the one that will one day judge the world of sin and pour out his wrath upon them) but yet Saviour (the one who by his own sacrifice of himself, offers a free grace gift of forgiveness, salvation and redemption to all those who believe on Jesus, while the door of grace remains open).

In this regard, where there seemed to be no solution because no one from among mankind was righteous enough to save mankind, in his love, God sent his son Jesus, who is also God the Son and therefore God, to save mankind. In so doing, Jesus, by his own hand and his own holy arm, attained victory for mankind himself, from his own wrath (the wrath of God that is to come).

Isaiah stated:

• “Yea, truth faileth; and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey: and the Lord saw it, and it displeased him that there was no judgment. And he saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor: therefore HIS ARM BROUGHT SALVATION UNTO HIM; AND HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS, IT SUSTAINED HIM. For he put on righteousness as a breastplate, and an helmet of salvation upon his head; and he put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a cloak.” (Isaiah 59:15-17)

Jesus, who is God, therefore left his lofty place in heaven and came down to earth in the form of a babe and through the passage of a woman, by heaven’s plan and design, to die a sacrificial death for the sins of the whole world, including you and me.

Hebrews 10:5-7 speaks of this when it states of the Godhead’s plan to redeem mankind back to God and save them from his wrath to come and how Jesus (God the Son) was given a body to come to earth to do the will of God the Father in heaven:

• “Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me: In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure. Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God.“

The Psalmist in Psalm 98:1-3 was therefore accurate in his prophetic declaration, when he stated:

• “The Lord hath made known HIS SALVATION: HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS hath he OPENLY SHEWED in the sight of the heathen. He hath remembered his mercy and his truth toward the house of Israel: all the ends of the earth have SEEN the SALVATION of our God.“

For, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, God the Son and the Saviour of the whole world, came down to earth and was SEEN by men, including the disciples. In particular, John, one of Jesus’ disciples, testified of having seen Jesus, who is God the Son. In the Bible, he stated of Jesus, the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, who he saw and interacted with and touched before his death and resurrection and after his resurrection, when he rose from the dead:

• “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have SEEN with our eyes, which we have LOOKED UPON, and our hands have handled, of THE WORD OF LIFE; (For the life was manifested, and we have SEEN it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;)That which we have SEEN and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.” (1 John 1:1-3)

In Revelation 1:8, Jesus, after having ascended back to heaven when he rose from the dead and had appeared to his disciples and to others, appeared to John through an angel with a message for the Churches. In recounting his experience, John wrote what Jesus said about who he was in Revelation 1:8 and 11, clearly revealing his deity. He was and is God. Jesus stated:

• “I am Alpha and Omega, the BEGINNING and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty……I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last…“

Of Jesus coming to earth in bodily form and dwelling among men (who he created) and being seen by them prior to his death and resurrection, John also wrote in John 1: 1-5 and 9-14:

• “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the BEGINNING with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not…That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. HE WAS IN THE WORLD, AND THE WORLD WAS MADE BY HIM, AND THE WORLD KNEW HIM NOT.

• He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. AND THE WORD WAS MADE FLESH, AND DWELT AMONG US, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.”

Jesus, who came down to earth and lived among human beings for a season is the Word of whom John spoke and so the Psalmist was accurate in his prophesy when he wrote:“The Lord hath made known his SALVATION: his RIGHTEOUSNESS hath he openly shewed in the sight of the heathen.“

Jesus was and still is that SALVATION as he still remains mankind’s only solution to sin and escape from eternal damnation and God’s wrath. For, he, being perfectly righteous, is the RIGHTEOUSNESS of God.

Isaiah 53:1-12 declared prophetically of Jesus and of what he would go through when on earth and how he would die in our place, for our sins, so that our souls could be spared from God’s wrath once we believe on Him:

• “Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.

• He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

• But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

• All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken. And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.

• Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.

• He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.“

2 Corinthians 5:21 also states of God the Father’s plan to impute or cover those who believe with the righteousness of Jesus Christ, “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteouness of God IN HIM.“

Having died without sin, in perfect righteousness on our behalf and therefore as our substitute, all who believe the truth that Jesus did not stay dead but rose up again on the third day as he said he would do and confess the truth with their mouth that he is Lord, God has promised that they would be saved from his wrath to come.

Romans 10:4, 9-13 declares:

• “For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth…That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.“

Finally, the Psalmist wrote in advance of God honouring his promise to the Israelites, to send the Messiah, who is Jesus Christ: “He hath remembered his mercy and his truth toward the house of Israel: all the ends of the earth have SEEN the salvation of our God.”

When Jesus was born and lived upon earth, all the ends of the earth did indeed SEE the SALVATION of God, that salvation being embodied in Jesus Christ himself.

This scripture reminds me of the old man named Simeon, who was waiting for the Messiah to come. When Jesus was born, as a child he saw him in the temple and it being revealed to him by the Holy Spirit, that this child, Jesus, was the Messiah and therefore the Son of God and God the Son, although clothed in human form, he stated that he had SEEN the SALVATION of God.

Luke 2:25-32 states:

• “And, behold, there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon; and the same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel: and the Holy Ghost was upon him. And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death, before he had seen the Lord’s Christ.

• And he came by the Spirit into the temple: and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him after the custom of the law, Then took he him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said, Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word: FOR MINE EYES HAVE SEEN THY SALVATION, Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people; A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel.”

Indeed, Matthew 1:18-23, in recounting Jesus’ entry into this world by heaven’s design and in the form of a baby, states:

• “Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost. Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privily. But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.

• And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus: for HE SHALL SAVE HIS PEOPLE FROM THEIR SINS. Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, GOD WITH US.“

IN CONCLUSION

Now that:

• 1. God has openly shown his SALVATION and his RIGHTEOUSNESS in the coming of Jesus Christ upon earth; and that

• 2. In Jesus’ sacrificial death in the place of mankind, the Lord’s own right hand and his own holy arm got him the victory (as a way of reconciliation to God was made possible for mankind by faith in Jesus and consequent forgiveness for sins),

all who would be saved from God’s wrath to come and from their sins, MUST believe that he, Jesus, rose from the dead and confess with their mouth that he is Lord, turning away from sin in repentance and submitting and surrendering all of their lives to his Lordship and leading.

When on earth, Jesus Christ himself stated, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” (John 14:6).

Hence the reason that Acts 4:12 makes it clear of the name of Jesus, that “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we MUST be saved.”

(Written on 31st March, 2022)

Dear Reader, if you found the above Article interesting, informative, beneficial or edifying, you may also be interested in reading the following:

• Note 208 – ‘The Revenger And The City Of Refuge’
• Note 217 – ‘Kiss The Son’

Additionally, under the ‘SINGLE Daughters’ Page:

• Note 90 – ‘Beyond A Doubt, Jesus Is God’
• Note 244 – ‘Are You Trying To Establish Your Own Righteousness?’