“He shall pray unto God, and he will be favourable unto him: and he shall see his face with joy: for he will render unto man his righteousness.” (Job 33:26 AV)
A great verse implicating the imputation of the righteousness of God on sinful mankind! Even in Job’s day, they understood there was nothing man could bring to God that would earn him an audience. For thirty chapters or so, Job and his three friends tried to make sense of the trouble Job was experiencing. In and out of the argument over Job’s character, they went. The three friends would argue that there was something in Job’s life that warranted his circumstances. Job’s defended himself and rightfully asserted sin was not the cause. It took a young man, Elihu, to steer the misunderstanding back to truth. It wouldn’t matter how righteous or unrighteous Job was, it has been and always will be the righteousness of God that opens the door to His throne. If God looks favorably on man, it will primarily be because He has imputed His righteousness to the humble penitent. Not because of some inherent righteousness the penitent possesses. The verse above is profoundly true.
The grace God bestows to impute His righteousness on the soul of the sinner escapes understanding. We can understand the academics of it. We can imagine standing before a judge, having been found guilty, yet forgiven under the law because his son serves our sentence. The mechanics of imputation are not at issue. What we have a hard time grasping is the extent of this imputation. To think that God would place upon His own Son the entire sin debt of the world is too great to fathom. What makes this even more incomprehensible is the nature of the relationship between God and those for whom His Son died. The Bible states every soul becomes an enemy of God when he or she chooses to live in sin. Because our sin is so great, we are at enmity, or and enemy of God. We have made ourselves that way. We curse God. We hate God. We rebel against God. We do whatever we can to state our independence from God and seek ways in which we offend Him! Deliberately. Yet, He still sent His Son, who willingly died for us, that the wrath of God would be satisfied. The spilling of His blood cleansed us from all sin. Past, present, and future. What's more, because we are made clean by the blood of Christ, the Father placed upon us the righteousness of His Son. Therefore, when God looks upon the repentant sinner who has trusted the sacrifice of Jesus, He does not see a filthy sinner, but a sinner created in the image of His holy sinless Son!
Elihu may have been full of himself. He was a young man who thought he had all the answers. He is so wrong and disrespectful; he has little of value to share. Yet, God gives him a pass. Perhaps God took pity on Elihu because of his youthful arrogance. Life would teach him some hard lessons. However, even the brash and ignorant can say a right thing or two. And on the imputation of the righteousness of God, he was spot on. If God is favorable to us, it is because of what Jesus Christ has done. If there are blessings to enjoy, it is all because Jesus died for us. If there is anything redeemable, or anything of any worth, it is because of what Jesus did and not what we are. If there are any compliments – JESUS! If there are any successes – JESUS. If there is any depth of character, and virtue, or any righteousness – JESUS! It is all because of Him!
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