- 19. Overflow with Righteousness
Isaiah 10:21-22 The remnant shall return, even the remnant of Jacob, unto the mighty God. For though thy people Israel be as the sand of the sea, yet a remnant of them shall return: the consumption decreed shall overflow with righteousness.
The remnant is the relatively small group of believers in the Lord that become the faithful church of the New Testament. The historical context refers to the remnant of faithful Jews who return from Exile in Babylon. The prophetic context refers to all the faithful believers who return to the Lord by faith in Jesus Christ.
What will happen to God’s people is that consumption, or destruction, will result in righteousness. The historical “consumption” was the punishment of God by using the Babylonians to take away everything from the people of God because of their unfaithfulness and sin. But there will be a return to the Lord, for they never lost the Lord and His Word. The people would learn their lesson and return to believing in the One True God. Then the end result of the “destruction” would be overflowing righteousness, which means faithfulness to the One God. That “One God” faith would be so deeply ingrained by the time of Christ that they could not accept Jesus of Nazareth as God.
However, through the consumption (destruction and judgment) of Jesus on the cross there came an overflowing of righteousness. The blood of Jesus flowed out into the forgiveness of sins, which made believers righteous. This overflowing of righteousness spread to many believers in Christ, which is the Church. The promise is this: judgment results in righteousness. All our sins and all evil was judged in the death of the innocent Son of God on the cross; then in the resurrection of Jesus there was an overflowing of righteousness to all who were led to accept Jesus as their Savior through the Gospel.
Practically, the same kind of experience happens to us throughout our life as the difficulties, trials, troubles, bad things, injustices, adversities, pains, and problems caused by sin come upon us as consumption. In our distress we return to God again and again in repentance and faith in the gospel of Christ. This repentance produces an overflowing of righteousness in the penitent believer. We are justified by faith in the innocent, bitter sufferings and death of Christ for us. In forgiveness we rise from our knees and march onward toward the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. The result of the promise: God declares you righteous!