Daniel 9:24
“Seventy ‘sevens’ are decreed for your people and your holy city to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the Most Holy Place.” (NIV)
Today’s Reading: Daniel 9:24 and Romans 3:21-26
The fourth prophecy and purpose of the decree of Daniel 9:24 is to bring in everlasting righteousness. Righteousness is the Hebrew word ṣedeq which defines the objective standard of God. It is the norm. It is everything that is right, just, straight and fully conforms with God’s moral order.
Even though it seems straightforward, righteous is a difficult concept to grasp. We find in Scripture people being described as righteous:
“Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked faithfully with God” (Gen 6:9).
“Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness” (Gen 15:6).
“For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked leads to destruction” (Ps 1:6).
“Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was on him” (Luke 2:25).
“Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective” (Jam 5:16).
Then we also have places in Scripture where people are not able to be righteous:
“There is no one righteous, not even one;
there is no one who understands;
there is no one who seeks God” (Rom 3:11).
“Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin” (Rom 3:20).
So how can it be true that some people are declared righteous and also be true that no one can be righteous? Since the Bible is the inspired Word of God, then it’s not a contradiction. Let’s begin with what righteousness is not. It is not equivalent to sinlessness. A righteous person is not sinless. Abram, Noah and Simeon were not sinless people. But yet they were called righteous.
There must be two types of righteousness then if a person can be righteous and not righteous at the same time. There is a difference between righteous living and righteous standing. Righteous living is ordering our lives to conform to God’s commands:
“The righteous will rejoice in the Lord and take refuge in him; all the upright in heart will glory in him!” (Ps 64:10).
“For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous” (Rom 2:13).
We can live righteous lives but we cannot be righteous on our own:
“If I tell a righteous person that they will surely live, but then they trust in their righteousness and do evil, none of the righteous things that person has done will be remembered; they will die for the evil they have done” (Ezek 33:13).
“I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!” (Gal 2:21).
We are given righteousness through our faith:
“Christ is the culmination of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes” (Rom 10:4).
“I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith” (Phil 3:8-9).
And specifically today, we are given righteousness through our faith in Jesus. Those in the Old Testament were called righteous because of their faith in God and subsequent obedience to God. But they didn’t possess the everlasting righteousness that is only found through faith in Jesus:
“God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor 5:21).
“This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.” (Rom 3:22).
Many scholars believe that this everlasting righteousness speaks of a time when only righteous people exist. After Jesus returns and destroys sin and death, all that will be left are the righteous. And it will be an everlasting righteousness:
“But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells” (2 Pet 3:13).
But we can be righteous today as well if we place our faith in the Righteous One – Jesus Christ and subsequently obey his commands:
“The one who does what is right is righteous, just as he [Jesus] is righteous” (1 John 3:7).
“Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. And the scripture was fulfilled that says, ‘Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,’ and he was called God’s friend. You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone” (James 2:21-24).
Christ in the Old Testament 
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