Longing for Righteousness (Matthew 5:6)
‘Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they shall be satisfied.
The Bible often uses the experiences of hunger and thirst to describe spiritual needs. For example, the author of Psalm 42 likens his longing for God to that of a deer panting after water. Similarly, in Psalm 63, the author likens his longing for God to a traveller passing through a desert and who is longing for water. In Psalm 107:9, the psalmist says that God ‘satisfies the longing soul, and the hungry soul he fills with good things.’
In Isaiah 55:1-3, the Lord uses this imagery while giving a gracious invitation to sinners: ‘Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labour for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live; and I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David.’
We know that despite their unpleasantness, hunger and thirst are signs of health. Physically, they are evidences that we are in need of provision. Not to have them usually accompanies an illness. They illustrate what we most desire.
Sometimes we ask a child, ‘What would you like to be when you grow up?’ Or we may ask a friend, ‘Is there one place you would really like to visit before you are unable to do so?’ If you were to ask a lover of Jesus what they would most like to have or see, we have the answer in this verse. The answer is righteousness.
Why do they desire it? There are several answers to this question. One answer is that they have discovered that they are personally unrighteous. Another reason is that they have discovered that other people are unrighteous. A third reason is that despite many good intentions it is impossible to create a righteous society. Something or someone spoils it all.
How did they discover that they were personally unrighteous? The answer is that the Holy Spirit told them. They did not discover it through any inner voices or things like that. Instead they discovered themselves when the Holy Spirit spoke to them from the Bible. They came across the gospel in one way or another, felt themselves drawn towards it and decided to read the Bible to see what it says. They discovered the Bible was like a mirror that showed who they were very accurately. Statements that they would have dismissed as fanciful a few weeks previously now spoke with clarity. They were discovering that they were sinners, and a sinner is an unrighteous person.
How did they discover that other people were unrighteous? The answer is that the Holy Spirit told them. Without having to point a figure at anybody and ask searching questions, they discovered from the Bible that by nature no-one is righteous, that everyone goes astray. They realise that everyone is like a lost sheep without a shepherd.
How did they discover that it is impossible to create a righteous society? The Holy Spirit revealed it to them from the Bible as he explained from there why things go wrong in the most ideal of situations. Is that not the message of Israel to the world? Does their history not tell us that even having the best of guides to kick off your national career does not bring about a perfect society? Moses and Joshua will have to stand up and say that it cannot be done. Does their history not tell us that even having the wisest of kings did not produce for them a perfect society? Solomon, the beloved of the Lord, will have to stand up and say that it cannot be done. Does their history when they had a very good king and a very godly counsellor not tell us that even that combination cannot bring it about? Hezekiah the king and Isaiah the prophetic counsellor will have to stand up and say it cannot be done.
Life would be bleak and unpromising if that was all that we could say. Is there nothing to excite us about the possibility of having righteousness instead of unrighteousness? We know the answer to such a question. The gospel of Jesus is all about righteousness, whether we think about it from the point of view of the past, or of the present, or of the future.
Righteousness when we believe
As we have noted already, the gospel of Jesus is concerned with providing righteousness. The first aspect of righteousness that we must grasp is what is called imputed righteousness, which basically means that the righteousness of another is reckoned to our account. When the Holy Spirit shows us our unrighteousness, he does so to prepare us for discovering the righteousness of Another, that is the righteousness of Jesus.
The righteousness of Jesus is the perfect life that he lived when he was here on earth. In order to produce that righteousness, Jesus had to obey God fully and continually throughout the years that he was here. He had to love God with all his heart, soul, mind and strength, and his neighbour as himself. Jesus was not merely sinless, he was righteous. Every second of his life was marked by perfect obedience whether he was with friend or foe or neither. His obedience was not dependent on the pleasantness of his circumstances. On the cross, he continued to love God and his neighbours.
His perfect life was lived on behalf of sinners. All sinners are welcome to receive its benefits, but it is only given to those who repent of their sins and trust in Jesus. We can only be justified by faith, although it is important to realise that it is not our faith that is our justification. God the Father responds to a sinner’s faith in Jesus by giving to that sinner as his or her standing before God the perfect life of his Son. This is part of what has been termed The Great Exchange. Our sins were reckoned to Jesus and he paid the penalty that they deserved when he suffered on the cross.
How can we hunger and thirst after this kind of righteousness if we already have it because we have believed in Jesus? The illustration of physical expressions of desire should be fulfilled in us wanting to know more about the righteousness that Jesus worked out. This is one of the many functions of the four Gospels. In them, we observe occasions when Jesus was fulfilling the law on our behalf; they are examples of him doing so. We can feast on his love, on his mercy, on his promises. Just as with the supply of physical food, there does not need to be new items every day. Instead we can enjoy the same spiritual food of the righteousness of Jesus in a fresh way every day.
Righteousness after we believe
Another name for this is sanctification, the process by which God makes his people holy. There are four details about it that we can observe. The first is that the attainment of this aspect of righteousness is progressive. No one, not even the apostle Paul, attained this righteousness in another way. And it never becomes perfect in this life. In a real sense, the important detail here is that of direction rather than looking for perfection. Are we walking in the paths of righteousness as Psalm 23 describes the way the sheep are led by the Good Shepherd? Some may walk quicker than others for a time, but the important matter is to be walking on the right paths and in the right direction.
The second detail to note is that practical righteousness is produced in believers by the Holy Spirit. He comes to indwell them when they initially believe in him. Because he had regenerated them, they have new life in their souls. The first effect of him being there is faith in Christ, and that is followed by them having a range of new desires and character traits. The characteristics that the Spirit produces are listed by Paul in his well-known verses in Galatians 5:22-23 about the fruit of the Spirit: ‘love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.’ They are infallible signs that the Holy Spirit is at work producing personal, progressive holiness in believers.
The third detail is that practical righteousness is in conformity to the requirements of the Word of God. It is in the Scriptures that we find the instructions, illustrations and promises connected to the living in ways that please God. There sometimes is a danger that we put the opinions and suggestions of others above clear statements in the Bible. It is always the case that biblical instructions obeyed through the working of the Spirit in redeemed hearts will produce practical righteousness.
Christlikeness is the fourth detail that matters for living in a righteous way. Paul informed the Christians in Rome that God’s purpose for them was that they would be conformed to the image of Christ. While there is obviously an aspect of this conformity that will not occur until believers are perfect in holiness there is also the aspect that they will become more and more like Jesus in daily life. This current conformity will not be perfect, but it will be real.
Righteousness at the return of Jesus and after
Peter tells us that the eternal abode of the people of God is the new heaven and new earth in which righteousness will dwell (2 Pet. 3:13). Believers will be sinless and productive. They will not be hindered in expressing dedicated obedience to the will of God. Their affections will be perfect, as will their thoughts and actions. They will never sin again, not even once. Nothing in themselves and by themselves will bring disappointment, frustration and sorrow. Instead they will have holy desires, holy thoughts, holy habits and holy anticipations. Righteousness will be everywhere.
Application
One question that we can take from this beatitude concerns our goals in life. What are our priorities? What do we want for ourselves and for others? Jesus here by referring to hunger and thirst is explaining what our goal in life should be. The goal is to have a righteousness to satisfy us. We will have an imputed righteousness that satisfies when we believe in Jesus and we will have personal, perfect righteousness in the world to come.
Today, the best of believers often find themselves in Romans 7, where Paul speaks about the wretched man (himself). His words express deep longing when he says that he wants deliverance from his wretchedness. Spurgeon pictures a man speaking about himself: ‘These inward corruptions, these evil imaginations, they will kill me, I cannot bear them. God has taught me to love what is good and now to will is present with me but how to perform that which is good, I find not. Even my prayers are interrupted by wandering thoughts and my tears of repentance have sin mixed with them.’ Spurgeon then comments, ‘Beloved, I understand that faintness and sinking, that groaning and pining. But, nevertheless, you are blessed, for the text says it, and it is a very remarkable saying, “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness.”’
In what ways can we be satisfied in this life when we hunger and thirst after righteousness? We have already mentioned the first, receiving the imputed righteousness of Christ. Second, we can speak to God about it, which is a great privilege, and then be drawn by him to his promises which are very satisfying. Third, while we realise that we are not perfect, this desire tells us that we are different from others, and the presence of this desire is evidence of the working of the Spirit, and that is satisfying.