"In the LORD all the offspring of Israel Will be justified, and will glory." Isaiah 45:25 NAS

Oh what a feeling it is to be justified. Justification is the best feeling in the world. We have been justified by the grace of Christ as His offspring. We have been set free from the power of sin and death. Nothing compares to the freedom we find in Christ.

The word justified in Hebrew is tsadaq (tsaw-dak') and means to be (causatively, make) right (in a moral or forensic sense). The KJV usage is to cleanse, clearself, (be, do) just (-ice, -ify, -ifyself), (be turn to) righteous (-ness) (1). We have been made right in the sight of a righteous God. We have been turned into a righteous people before God the judge.

This verse talks about the fact that the offspring of Israel will be justified. We are in fact the offspring of Israel if we have confessed Jesus Christ to be our Lord and Savior. Galatians 3:29 says, "And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise." Here in this verse from Isaiah, Israel was freed from their captivity in Babylon. In Christ we were freed from our captivity in sin.

We owed a debt we could not pay. We had a penalty against us. We were guilty as charged. The penalty was death. Remember that Romans 3:23-24 says, "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus." Sometimes we take for granted this salvation we have in Christ.

We forget the degree at which the penalty was paid for us. We were given imputed righteousness for complete justification. Wiersbe's Expository Outlines says this about being justified: "-declared righteous in God's sight through merits of Christ, secure in our position in Christ before the throne of God. Justification is God's righteousness imputed, put to our account. Sanctification is righteousness imparted, or lived out in our daily lives (2)."

It is so easy for us to get caught up in the busyness of life that the cross becomes a pretty gold piece of jewelry around our neck or a nice carved piece of wood hanging on the wall. It becomes a fashion statement instead of a symbol of death and life. We can so easily forget that the cross displays our vertical position of justification giving us the bridge and access to the very throne of God. We also forget that it shows us the horizontal peace and freedom we have in Christ for our daily lives.

We need to take time to remember what it meant for us to be justified. The natural desire in us then will be to do as the last part of this verse says. We will glory in the fact that we have been justified. That means we will sing and celebrate in Christ. We may even make a show and appear as foolish before the world. We are after all citizens of heaven and aliens to this world. Today, take some time to focus on the cross.

Take a moment, take a breather and take a break to simply remember the cost that was paid on the cross. Celebrate in your hearts that you have been justified.

Freely Justified, Walking Sanctified,
Adam

Notes:
(1) Biblesoft's New Exhaustive Strong's Numbers and Concordance with Expanded Greek-Hebrew Dictionary (OT:6663). Copyright (c) 1994, Biblesoft and International Bible Translators, Inc.
[2] Wiersbe's Expository Outlines on the New Testament, Warren L Wiersbe, pg. 371