Matthew 13:17—“For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them.”
In this verse, when Christ uses the phrase “righteous men” He is referring to those that adhered to the Old Testament commandments of God and sought to walk after God. They did not have the completed Word of God, those that did only had part of the Word on scrolls, and many had only received the commandments of God because their elders passed down God’s Word through oral recitation. Take, for instance, Job.
Job is the first book of the Bible to be inspired by the Spirit, recorded by man and preserved until the completion of God’s word. Job didn’t have the Commandments that Moses brought down from the mountaintop. Job had no Psalms or Proverbs. Many of the prophecies from God in the Old Testament that gave the children of Israel hope of the Messiah were not yet even given to man at this point. So what instruction did Job have in righteousness? Well, God taught Adam how to make sacrifice unto God and someone had taught Job the same lesson as proved by the accounts of his daily sacrifices to God. We know that Job could have heard about the great flood and how Noah found grace in the eyes of God for not turning himself over evil like the rest of the world. We know that he could have heard an account of what led to man’s sin in Eden. Furthermore, through that story passed down by generations to Job, he may have even heard the first promise from God concerning Christ’s coming. We will never know for certain, this side of Heaven, what Job had been taught; but this much we can be certain of: Job did not have nearly as much instruction as any member, past or present, of the Immanuel Baptist Church.
Through the completed word of God, as Jesus said in Matthew 13:17, we can hear the things that Job longed to hear and see accounts of things Job could only have faith would come. In our day, barring anything pertaining to events that will take place after the rapture, we can look back through the ages and see every prophecy and promise of God fulfilled. We have the whole council of the Word that God has delivered unto man at our fingertips, everything that we need to live as God would have us to live.
So why isn’t there someone that possesses Job’s uprightness and fear of God on each street corner? Where are the Abrahams in each subdivision that give glory to God while following after God with such faith that each one of their steps is imputed with righteousness by God? Why aren’t there Davids on ever hill of every pasture singing of their love for God while they tend to the business of their Heavenly Father? Where are those like Zerubbabel and Jeshua to rebuild houses devoted unto God; like Ezra to remind the children God of God’s Word which they had forgotten; and, like Nehemiah to rebuild walls with one hand while contending with the enemies of God with the other hand?
There should be more people walking in the righteousness of God today than ever before! Those that have power of God on their life in such strength as to be cause enough for a sinner to know that they need to repent unto God. Those that walk into their closet and move the heart of God with the prayers offered up unto Heaven. There should be, but there aren’t. Why? I can’t tell you. If we neglect our responsibilities, any number of things could be our impediment for living with the righteousness of God apparent in our lives. The Devil always has another Delilah, another fire to deny Christ beside, another piece of fruit with promises that God wasn’t telling us the truth.
I can’t tell you what is impeding each person’s individual path, but I can tell you the cause of why they let something impede them. Jesus told us in Matthew 5:6 that those that hunger and thirst for righteousness will be filled. The reason we aren’t filled with righteousness is because we are more satisfied with the taste of unrighteousness. People will offer up “reasons” as to why they can’t live for God, but their words actually reveal what they desire more than God.
Don’t mistake this devotion as humanism that says Man can become righteous or as heresy claiming that man can attain righteousness through works. Reread this devotion if you thought I claimed that, because I assure you that I didn’t. What I did say is that those who hunger and thirst for God’s righteousness and follow after Him in faith can be robed in Christ’s righteousness, have righteousness imputed unto the for the Savior’s sake and can be filled with righteousness by God to show it openly before men. So why is our generation of saints filled with less righteousness that the last generation of the Church? Ask yourself, “What’s my excuse?” If you desire to find the righteousness of God you will be filled, so why don’t we desire it?
Your fellow servant in Christ,
Bro. Jordan Foster
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