KING OF RIGHTEOUSNESS
‘Being by interpretation King of Righteousness.’
Righteousness and peace, as Delitzsch has it, form, in the Old Testament prophecy, the characteristic of the times of the Messiah. Just as He is entitled King of Righteousness, so He is called also King of Peace. As King of Righteousness:—
I. He exhibited in Himself absolute and perfect righteousness.
II. He stood forward and made the demand upon man that he should seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness as being the grand thing that God demands.
III. Knowing that man could never give to God that absolute righteousness that He required, He, as God manifested in the flesh, in His great goodness, actually allowed Himself to be taken to the Cross, there to purchase righteousness.
IV. He ascended to the throne of His Father in heaven and received a gift from the Father, a promise God had made to Him if He would be faithful to all as Provider.
V. When He shall come again it will be in majesty, to judge the quick and the dead; and He will establish throughout the length and breadth of the world the Kingdom of Righteousness. Again and again we read in the prophecy of Isaiah such expressions as ‘Establish His house in Righteousness,’ and so forth.
Rev. Prebendary Webb-Peploe.