Another attribute of God is righteousness. God is righteous as well as holy. Whereas holiness is related to God’s inward nature, righteousness is related to God’s outward acts, ways, actions, and activities. Everything God does is righteousness. Hence, the righteousness of God is what God is in His action with respect to justice and righteousness. God is just and right. Whatever God is in His justice and righteousness constitutes His righteousness.
“If you have known that He is righteous, you know also that everyone who practices righteousness has been begotten of Him” (1 John 2:29). The word “righteous” here refers to the righteous God in 1 John 1:9 and to Jesus Christ the Righteous in 2:1. God is righteous in the blood of Jesus to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness, and our Lord Jesus is the only righteous Man among all men. His righteous act (Rom. 5:18) on the cross fulfilled the righteous requirement of the righteous God for us and all sinners.
The divine love, the divine light, the divine holiness, and the divine righteousness are the main factors of the Ten Commandments. The Ten Commandments portray God as being a God of love and light and as being holy and righteous. Love, light, holiness, and righteousness, God’s attributes, are the characteristics of the picture of God portrayed in the Ten Commandments. The expression of the kingdom of God is in these divine attributes.
The kingdom of God has its expression not only in the divine attributes but also with human virtues, in particular with the virtues of righteousness, meekness, mercy, and purity.
In Matthew 5:6 the Lord Jesus says, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” “Righteousness” here refers to being right in our behavior. This righteousness is related to what we are inwardly. This is indicated by the fact that we are told to hunger and thirst for righteousness so that we may be satisfied.
The righteousness in 5:6 is actually Christ Himself. It is the surpassing righteousness (v. 20), the righteousness on the highest plane, that can be attained only by Christ. Because He is the One who produces this highest righteousness, we need to seek Him. To hunger and thirst for righteousness is actually to hunger and thirst for Christ Himself. If we seek righteousness by hungering and thirsting for Christ, we shall be satisfied. We shall receive what we are seeking.
In Matthew 5:10 the Lord again speaks of righteousness. “Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of the heavens.” The whole world lies in the evil one (1 John 5:19) and is filled with unrighteousness. Every aspect of the world is unrighteous. Therefore, we need to pay a price for the righteousness we are seeking for the kingdom of the heavens. If we hunger and thirst for righteousness, we shall be persecuted for the sake of righteousness.
Matthew 5:10 tells us that those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness are blessed, “for theirs is the kingdom of the heavens.” If we seek righteousness at a cost, suffering persecution for it, the kingdom of the heavens becomes ours. We are in its reality now, and we shall be rewarded with its manifestation in the coming age.
In Matthew 5:20 the Lord Jesus speaks of the surpassing righteousness we need to enter into the kingdom of the heavens. “I say to you, that unless your righteousness surpass that of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall by no means enter into the kingdom of the heavens.” In this verse righteousness does not refer to the objective righteousness, which is the Christ we receive when we believe in Him that we may be justified before God (1 Cor. 1:30; Rom. 3:26). It refers to the subjective righteousness, which is the indwelling Christ lived out of us as our righteousness that we may live in the reality of the kingdom today and enter its manifestation in the future. This subjective righteousness is not obtained merely by fulfilling the old law, but by completing the old law through the fulfillment of the new law of the kingdom of the heavens, the law given by the Lord Jesus in Matthew 5. This righteousness of the kingdom people, according to the new law of the kingdom, surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees according to the old law. It is impossible for our natural life to gain this surpassing righteousness; it can be produced only by a higher life, the resurrection life of Christ. This righteousness, which is likened to the wedding garment (Matt. 22:11-12), qualifies us to participate in the wedding of the Lamb (Rev. 19:7-8) and to inherit the kingdom of the heavens in its manifestation, that is, to enter into the kingdom of the heavens in the future.
To enter into the kingdom of God requires regeneration as a new beginning of our life (John 3:3, 5), but to enter into the kingdom of the heavens demands surpassing righteousness in our living after regeneration. To enter into the kingdom of the heavens means to live in its reality today and to participate in its manifestation in the future.