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"I have sworn by Myself, the Word is gone out of My mouth in righteousness,
and shall not return, That unto Me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear"
(Isa. 45: 23).
"Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him the name which is
above every name; that in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven,
and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that
Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father" (Phil. 2: 9-11).
The Lord is Sovereign. "This God is our God."
#10.
The righteousness of God.
pp. 86 - 89
We have learned that God is sovereign and unaccountable to any for His actions.
Unless we were also assured from His Word that He is wise, holy, righteous and kind,
such absolute sovereignty would be terrible to contemplate. God, the Sovereign Ruler of
all, though unaccountable to any creature, is so right and true in Himself, that it is
revealed that there are some things that even He "cannot" do, though the highest
archangel would not dare to say, "What doest Thou?" He "cannot lie" (Titus 1: 2); He
"cannot deny Himself" (II Tim. 2: 13); He "cannot look upon iniquity" (Hab. 1: 13). It is
impossible for God to be wrong, or to do wrong. "A God of truth, and without iniquity,
just and right is He" (Deut. 32: 4*). He is "just and right".
Let us consider for a moment this fact and its implications--that God is righteous.
We must first get some understanding of the terms used. "Right" in Deut. 32: 4 is the
rendering of the Hebrew word yashar. This word is part of the name given to Israel in
Deut. 32: 15, the name meaning, if the termination is a diminutive, "The little
righteous people". We have also "the book of Jasher" (Josh. 10: 13). This is probably
more correctly rendered by the LXX (Complutensian Edition) Tou Bibliou Tou Euthous,
"The right or correct book". It is further explained by Josephus as "The writings laid up
in the Temple".
The primary meaning of yashar is "straight":--
"I will make the crooked places straight" (Isa. 45: 2).
"The kine took the straight way . . . . . and turned not aside to the right hand or to the
left" (I Sam. 6: 12).
Notice that yashar, "straight", is used in opposition to "crooked" and
"turn aside".
This is its essential meaning.
[NOTE: * - For the place of this verse in Deut. 32: the reader is referred to article #3 in
the series "Fundamentals of Dispensational Truth" dealing with this great chapter.]