This wonderful Person fulfilled all righteousness (Matt. 3:15). There is nothing wrong with Him in any aspect. When we look at Him, we see that He is righteous in every way. In fact, righteousness is His very substance. His very name is, “The Lord Our Righteousness” (Jer. 23:6). He is our righteousness because He is so righteous. He absolutely fulfills all of God’s divine, glorious, holy, and righteous requirements. He is so righteous. Our rightness is not absolute. We may be righteous in one aspect, yet unrighteous in another. But Jesus is absolutely righteous in every aspect.
As the righteous One, He was tempted by Satan in the wilderness (Matt. 4:1-11). But Satan’s temptation was God’s test. God put this righteous One under Satan’s temptation. God seemed to say, “Satan, try this One. You tried Adam, and Adam failed. Now try this One.” Satan tried, but this time he failed! Satan tempted Him to abandon His standing of being a man. He said, “If thou be the Sonof God, command that these stones be made bread” (Matt. 4:3). If you or I were the Lord, we would probably have answered his challenge, and turned the stones into bread. But listen to how the Lord Jesus answered. “It is written, Man shall not live....” (Matt. 4:4). It seems that the Lord was telling Satan, “I am a man. Yes, I am the Son of God, but I take the position of a man. Don’t you remember what God said in Genesis 3:15? He said the seed of the woman would bruise your head. Now I have come as the seed of woman. Don’t tempt Me to act as the Son of God. I am the Son of Man, and I have come to bruise you!” Hallelujah! This is Jesus, the seed of woman!
In His answer to Satan, He also told us how He lived by feeding on the Word of God. “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God” (Matt. 4:4). The word that proceeded out of God’s mouth was His nourishment. He was a man who lived by feeding on God’s Word.
It was such a man that eventually became the great light. “The people which sat in darkness saw a great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up” (Matt. 4:16). Before this man came, the whole situation was in darkness. But He came as a great light, shining over all the darkness. Then this great light attracted the disciples (Matt. 4:18-22). When I was young I could not understand why Peter and Andrew, James and John left their fishing and mending works so quickly to follow the Lord. Jesus just asked them to follow Him, and immediately they came. If you or I were to say this, no one would follow us. But the disciples abandoned their works, gave up their father, and their boat, and followed Jesus. Why? It must have been some kind of attraction. This man Jesus was really an attraction. Once Jesus appears, you will be attracted; you cannot escape. He is the great light, and by His shining so many were attracted.
Following this, we have Matthew 5—7, where Jesus gives the teaching on the mount. When He came down He began to travel through the promised land. In all those travelings He behaved in a marvelous way. On the one hand He suffered persecution, but on the other hand He was approved by the religion that existed. However, He was always one with God. There was no discrepancy between Him and God. When the circumstances were poor, He would still thank the Father (Matt. 11:25). When we are in good circumstances, it is easy to thank the Lord, but it is not so easy otherwise. To build up the church, we need such a life. We need a life that is one with God the Father. We need a life that has no discrepancy with God’s work. Our life is not this kind of life. Therefore, we are not qualified for the church building. There is only one life that is qualified, the life of Jesus. Jesus is the life that is absolutely one with the Father. There is no discrepancy between Him and the Father.