¹⁰ “… and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you no longer see Me…”

Righteousness in God’s terms resides not in a set of precepts, but in the life and person of Jesus Christ. He is the “Holy and Righteous One” (Acts 3:14-15). While the religious leaders judged Him to be aligned with Satan (Luke 11:15), God judged Him to be “my beloved Son in whom I am pleased” (Matt 3:17). But He was rejected and executed as a violator on the shameful and cursed cross (Gal 3:13). By all accounts, He was considered an unrighteous person, because after all, look at how His life ended! Death is the great consequence of sin. The scripture makes this very clear: “The soul who sins will die” (Ezekiel 18:4). “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men …” (Rom 1:18). Did not Job’s friends reason that way—bad stuff doesn’t happen to righteous people, but to sinners. By that logic, Jesus was a sinner.

Yet, the story doesn’t end there. His resurrection vindicated His relationship with the God of Abraham and Moses. He was “… declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead, according to the Spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Rom 1:4). This was not a new religion that existed in violation of the Mosaic covenant. His death was a complete and absolute fulfillment of God’s purposes on earth, a fulfillment of the righteousness required by the Law. Since death could not hold Jesus down, it had no absolute control over Him, and therefore proves that He was not unrighteous, but perfect righteousness.

Going back to the Father (what we call the Ascension) would further indicate that Jesus was righteous because He is fully accepted by God. That is why later John could write, “In Him there is no sin” (1 John 3:6). So while the religious leaders declared Him to be worthy of punishment befitting a violator of the Mosaic Law, and therefore presumably under God’s judgment, the reality was just the opposite—Jesus is fully accepted by the Father. How ironic that the demons, with whom Jesus was assumed to be in alliance, could declare: “You are—the Holy One of God!” (Luke 4:34). The demons knew, God knew. But the religious leaders did not.

The Holy Spirit used Peter in his second convicting Pentecostal speech to point out this central sin: “You disowned the Holy and Righteous One” (Acts 3:14–15). He is the one who can and will bring awareness that the real issue of sin is rejecting His righteousness in Christ.

Lord, I believe in the righteousness of Your perfect Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.