157. Righteous and Heirs
Isaiah 60:21 Thy people also shall be all righteous: they shall inherit the land for ever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified.
The people of God, the Church, the believers in Jesus Christ, will all be righteous. Jesus earned the righteousness of God for us and gave His righteousness to all. Those who believe in Christ have the righteousness of God as their possession for all time and eternity. The promise is personal: “You are righteous!”
All those in the kingdom of God are righteous, and, of course, this is the way it must be. Only perfect and complete righteousness can be allowed in God’s eternal presence. Everyone in the kingdom is, and must be, righteous. And this is the promise. All are. Certainly our righteousness is an alien righteousness. It doesn’t come from us nor is it ever possible to establish our own. Romans 10:2-3: “For being ignorant of the righteousness that comes from God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. For Christ is the end of the law for everyone who believes.”
As a holy people, a righteous church, all the citizens of the kingdom are children of God: each one shall inherit the land forever. The “land” is the kingdom of God and all that God is and all that God gives. The “land” was first promised to Abraham and his descendants, who are children of Abraham by faith in Christ. Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness. And the believer’s faith is counted as righteousness. We have the land as an inheritance imperishable in the heavens.The Promised Land, the Paradise of God, is ours forever, and we shall inherit it upon death. This Land is also ours now, today, before we die, because Jesus died to give it to us. It is within us (“The kingdom of God is within you.”) and it is entered by faith every time we hear the Gospel. Then at the End, after we die and rise again, all the sin and evil of the world and our flesh will be forever gone and the only thing left is the kingdom of God and the righteousness of God that is in us, though presently unseen. Revelation 11:15: “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.” Then God will be glorified and He will be all in all.