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Deuteronomy 33:19
They will summon peoples to the mountain and there offer sacrifices of righteousness; they will feast on the abundance of the seas, on the treasures hidden in the sand.”
Deuteronomy 33:18-20 (in Context) Deuteronomy 33 (Whole Chapter)

This is an interesting verse on righteousness.  When I first read it, I had a clear “feeling” of what “sacrifices of righteousness” meant, but defining it “in words” was more difficult.

Deuteronomy 33:18-19 (New International Version)
   

 18 About Zebulun he said:
       “Rejoice, Zebulun, in your going out,
       and you, Issachar, in your tents.

 19 They will summon peoples to the mountain
       and there offer sacrifices of righteousness;
       they will feast …

Jesus told us that without man to bear witness of God, the very rocks would cry out.  I believe they do, through the evidence for Evolution.  Rocks indeed.  For if Evolution happened, then it was according to God’s plan, design, and will; the earth apparently believed God where many of us today do not… and the earth obeyed.

When I was writing about the order of God’s promises and your acceptance of them yesterday, I wasn’t talking about salvation specifically, though I had it in mind.  So, I need to clarify something… the fact that not everyone goes to Heaven.  Now, in my examples above, take Saul for example, I implied that God made a promise to him… I was really talking about the commitments that God makes.  A commitment is a promise, but not all promises all for salvation.  But where the promise is salvation, the logic applies.  So, when I was talking about “promises” made to people who don’t believe, how does that apply to those who won’t be saved?

Well once again, I am talking about …

Deuteronomy 9:1-6 (New International Version)
 

Not Because of Israel’s Righteousness
 1 Hear, O Israel. You are now about to cross the Jordan to go in and dispossess nations greater and stronger than you, with large cities that have walls up to the sky. 2 The people are strong and tall—Anakites! You know about them and have heard it said: “Who can stand up against the Anakites?” 3 But be assured today that the LORD your God is the one who goes across ahead of you like a devouring fire. He will destroy them; he will subdue them before you. And you will drive them out and annihilate them quickly, as the LORD …

Deuteronomy 6:25
And if we are careful to obey all this law before the LORD our God, as he has commanded us, that will be our righteousness.”
Deuteronomy 6:24-25 (in Context) Deuteronomy 6 (Whole Chapter)

As we saw in Genesis 15:6, believing God is credited to us as righteousness, even when are subsequent actions are going to be dreadfully unrighteousness.  Apparently then, belief does not make us righteous per se.  God just chooses to see us as such.

Next we see that careful obedience to what God commands will be our righteousness.  Well, we know later on in scripture that obedience does not have to be perfect.  When God told the Hebrews to gather only a …

Genesis 15:6
Abram believed the LORD, and He credited it to him as righteousness.
Genesis 15:5-7 (in Context) Genesis 15 (Whole Chapter)

Abram was not a perfect person.  He would marry his half-sister, lie about her being his wife, and later sleep with his wife’s servant because Sarah wasn’t getting pregnant fast enough.  Apparently, being righteous isn’t on account of being perfect, and it doesn’t make you perfect.  But look at Abram’s first recorded righteous action: believing the LORD… and God credited it to Abram as righeousness.

God didn’t see Abram any different than how he was, yet decided to treat him as being better than he was, a status in a way, but not the boastable …

I feel led to write about righteousness.  I already posted my first post about righteousness yesterday: Guidelines for Righteousness.  To summarize, believe God, obey God, don’t claim credit what He does through you.  But what does righteousness have to do with creation?  Well, maybe nothing and maybe everything. 

When God finished creating the world, He declared it very good.  After that, He spends the rest of the Bible dealing with man’s unrighteousness, a corrupting influence on God’s very good creation.  From this perspective, it’s almost like watching my son protecting his latest lego creation from the corrupting influence of his 3 year brother, Dr. Destructo.  No matter what he does, no matter what measures …

Believe the Lord
Genesis 15:6
Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness.
Genesis 15:5-7 (in Context) Genesis 15 (Whole Chapter)
Obey Him
Deuteronomy 6:25
And if we are careful to obey all this law before the LORD our God, as he has commanded us, that will be our righteousness.”
Deuteronomy 6:24-25 (in Context) Deuteronomy 6 (Whole Chapter)  
Of course, for Christians, Christ is now our law, and the law is written on our hearts.  However, it doesn’t negate the truth of this verse.  Believing God and living your life so as to obey His commands will be credited to you as righteousness.  Part of believing God is accepting His Son.  Getting …