“The LORD is our righteousness.”
Jeremiah 23:6
Encapsulated in this simple phrase (two words in the original Hebrew – YHWH Tsidqenu) is the quintessence of the kind of faith which pleases the Living God. He is our righteousness. He took our punishment. He was justified when He rose from the dead. He saved us from His judicial wrath. He bestows this free gift of eternal salvation upon all who would believe in Him. He brings new birth to our darkened hearts and minds. He regenerates, draws, converts, restores and blesses the believer. Indeed, it is exactly as Paul said:
“For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do.”
Romans 8:3 (ESV)
Our righteousness, our acceptance, our standing, our confidence – all of these things stem alone from what He first did for us in the person of the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ of Nazareth, son of Abraham, son of David, son of God.
I first believed these words on September 13th, 2005 in the quietness of my bedroom as I reflected on the enormity of my sins and transgressions, my wanton lifelong rebellion against the Living God. I never sought Him. I never wanted Him. I hated Him without a cause. How could a God like this love a wretch like me? There was not a law I had not broken — lies, deceit, fornication, blasphemy, idolatry and worse. How can He simply wipe the slate clean, wash me on the inside, and make me, even me, His very dwelling place on earth?
YHWH Tsidkenu. The LORD is our righteousness. It was not I who did it. It was not I who worked it. It was not I who won it, who bled it, who suffered it, who died it. It was all Him. YHWH is our righteousness. Because I don’t have any.
This is the start of the narrow road. I stumbled on it more than once, and stumble still. But do you know whose hand is always open to halt me before I fall? His. I am no-one special. I am not the brightest star in heaven. That honour belongs to One. He who lives in me does the works.
That is what this site is about. Will you join me on the journey? It is the most treacherous it has ever been: betrayal within and dangers without. The world crumbles beneath our feet, the path narrows. Yet my eyes look upon that ancient hill, the Prince of Glory crowned with victory there. My fingers trace the doorway to His empty tomb; He has risen indeed!
All praise, glory, honour and power be to Him who rules in heaven forever and ever.
Who Am I?
G’day, my name is Josh. I’m currently an unemployed post-graduate theological student from Sydney, Australia. I used to drive buses and preach in churches, but because I chose not to subject myself to a bioweapon masquerading as a vaccine I am no longer ‘permitted’ to do both. I denounced the leadership of my last two churches (North Strathfield-Concord Presbyterian and Ermington Baptist) as well as the creationist organisation CMI for their complicity in the crimes of the COVID era. They sadly did not, and still do not, listen. I am now a member of Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Confessing Church.
I have been faithfully married since 2010 to my beautiful wife Pru who has her own fair share of trials and struggles. Please pray for her to endure to the end amidst a life of terrible pain and hopelessness.
I otherwise have an interest in catastrophism, theology, Hebrew and Greek exegesis of the Holy Scriptures, hermeneutics, eschatology, and, much to the horror of many, biblical mythology. Before you go and have a knee-jerk reaction to the latter, I would strongly encourage you to consider your definition of ‘mythology’ to see whether it is the same as my own:
Mythology – a kind of storytelling, be it written or oral, whereby ancient cultures remembered significant and often catastrophic historical events, often understood to be the activities of divine beings. These stories were passed down the generations, occasionally changed or adapted to new events and cultural exchange.
Looking forward to the discussion.