Isaiah - Faithfulness, Righteousness, and Sorrow
As we go to Isaiah 1, to see what else there is to learn about righteousness, we find that the very first chapter speaks of Israel’s loss of righteousness, and God’s promise to bring them back…Â
 19 If you are willing and obedient, –> (i.e., if they are righteous)
      you will eat the best from the land; 20 but if you resist and rebel,
      you will be devoured by the sword.”
      For the mouth of the LORD has spoken. 21 See how the faithful city
      has become a harlot!
      She once was full of justice;
      righteousness used to dwell in her—
      but now murderers!- - -
 26 I will restore your judges as in days of old,
      your counselors as at the beginning.
      Afterward you will be called
      the City of Righteousness,
      the Faithful City.” 27 Zion will be redeemed with justice,
      her penitent ones with righteousness. 28 But rebels and sinners will both be broken,
      and those who forsake the LORD will perish.
Several interesting points. The first is that for the first time since we started going through this word study, we (i.e., people) see our righteousness equated with justice. Until now, it has only been believing God, obeying God (as reflected in verse 19 above), and living zealously for a pure relationship with God. And now, though we could have concluded this earlier, we directly that our own righteousness should equate to justice.
Another interesting point is faithfulness. We could have concluded that faithfulness was an ingredient of righteousness, but I have been waiting until it was stated more clearly, and here it is. Look at verses 21 and 26. Looks pretty clear to me. But rather than simply saying that faithfulness is an ingredient of righteousness, note sequence of relationship above… it seems more like righteousness is an ingredient of faithfulness. I think that makes sense. I mean, belief, obedience, purity, and justice all seem pretty straightforward to me, but faithfulness is rather blurry… it can be mean different things in different situations and to different people. It seems worthy of its own definition and perhaps even its own study. However, someone who is righteous is clearly being faithful. I can say that, though I suspect that there is more to faithfulness than mere righteousness alone. A child for example does not always understand what is just and what is not. They have trouble obeying, and do not understand what to believe. They are pure, but are not zealous for it. So I do not believe a child can generally qualify as righteous, but we are to have a child-like faith… my own child is one of Christ’s “faithful” in my opinion, but I am still teaching him about the ingredients of righteousness. There is much he does not understand.
I would say that a child should strive for the righteousness of an adult; an adult should strive for the faithfulness of a child.
After God tells his Children of the time when He will bring them back to righteousness again, he describes how they will react…
 29 “You will be ashamed because of the sacred oaks
      in which you have delighted;
      you will be disgraced because of the gardens
      that you have chosen. 30 You will be like an oak with fading leaves,
      like a garden without water. 31 The mighty man will become tinder
      and his work a spark;
      both will burn together,
      with no one to quench the fire.”
Re-read Ecclesiastes 7 and my posting on sorrow. It would seem that the Israelites’ promised righteousness was (is?) to come with much sorrow. But Ecc. 7 should help us keep that in perspective. With such sorrow comes much wisdom, and dare I say it… eternal life in Heaven.