The Pulpit Commentary — Jeremiah — Volume 1 — Section 522

any of his obscure descendants could possibly answer to this name of " the Lord onr Righteousness." Both alike affirm that the promised Messiah is meant and to him along can it belong. And that our Lord Je_sus was that Messiah the Sc;·ipturos con- stantly assert. He was" the Root and the Offspring of David," was born" of the house nnd lineage of David" according to the flesl1. He was the tender Shoot1 the Sprout that sprang from the original root when all the stock and branches of the stately tree thnt hnd once grown on that root had died down, decayed, and disappeared, But he was more !ban the Branch of Jesse: he was the Lord from heaven, the Son of God. Therefore to speak of him as Jehovah is consistent with all the Scripture representa- tions of his Divine dignity. A.nd although the day of his complete triumph has not yet come, nor is his kingdom fully set up, still we clearly see its beginnings, its adrnnce, audits continual growth, so that it is not hard to believe in all those comincr glories of his reign on which the ancient prophets, as Jeremiah here, loved to dwelE On all these grounds, therefore, we claim this high and sacred title for the Lord Jesus Christ. He the Church bas held all along is "the Lord our Righteousness" whom the inspired prophet foretold. A.nd- • II. Tms NAME IS ALTOGETHER APPROPRIATE TO HIM. Not because or the righteousness of his character alone, nor either because of the happy condition to which he would one day bring the Jewish people. We believe that he will do for them all that is here said. \Ve see no objection to the taking of the promises made concern- ing them in their literal meaning. But if this were all that is contained in this name, then St. Paul could not be justified in claiming, as he perpetually does, the righteous- ness of Christ to be to and upon all them that believe. This view is limited to no one age, r.o one country, no ono people, but reaches out to all everywhere and of every age. But the true justification of this glorious title lies in such facts as these: 1. The Lord Jesus makes us righteous in God's esteem. God ever demands righteousness. It is his incessant appeal here in all these prophecies. But it is here that men have ever failed. They have evaded this Divine demand, and have endeavoured to substitute all manner of things in its place, and so to compensate for it. They have refused nothing so long as they might be let off this. Hence the word of the Lord, "There is none righteous, no, not one." It is iu this emergency that "the Lord our Highteousness" comes forward, takes up our case, and causes us to be esteemed righteous before God-causes us to be looked upon as what we really are not; as righteous when there is much unrighteousness in us all, and scarce aught else in some. Of course this is objected to and cavilled at not a little, and many fail to see how it can righteously be. But all the wbile the like is occurring every day. Does not the government of a land continually do things which involve the whole people of the land, although many of them may entirely disapprove? Still it is the whole·country that is regarded as acting by and through its government. And yet we assent to this arrangement, this principle of representation, as equitable, just, and necessary. And not merely in dealings between man and man, but in those between God and man, this same principle of representation may be seen perpetually at work. .Assuredly the whole human race was represented in its first parents, and God held it to be so, so that the consequences of their actions have passed over to their pos- te:rity right down to the present day. And in each family the head of it involves all the members, so that there are many innocent victims of their fathers' sin, and more, we trust, who a.re recipients of favours won by their fathers' virtues and obedience to God's will rather than their own. It is the principle of representation again. Is it, then, a thing to wouder at that a good and gracious God should devise another system of representation to meet and counteract that which has wrought so much ill? 'l'hat is, is it to be wondered at that the Lord Jesus Christ should be constituted as much the Head and Representative of his people as Adam was constituted the head and represen- tative of all who have descended from him; that there should be a second A.dam as well as a first, and that Christ should be that second Adam, as St. Paul declares he is? Surely there is nothing unreasonable in all this. It is in harmony with what we per- petually see. A.ad if he who is our Representative desired so to be, as our Lord did- for he yearned to draw all men unto and into him-surely this, his own desire, makes his being coustituted our Representativfl more reasonable still. And because he qualified himself for this office so perfectly. He ea.me and;wo.s one of us, lived our CH. xxm. i-!0.] THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET JERE~lIAH. .529