Imaginary Jesuses

Blessed are the ones who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
because they will be satisfied.

Matthew 5:6 (LEB)

When Jesus delivered his famous sermon on the mount, one of his statements was “Blessed are the ones who hunger and thirst for righteousness, because they will be satisfied.” Unfortunately, we are not given the definition of righteousness in today’s world. If one trusts in Jesus at all, it is often a “Jesus” of their own imagination or the imagination of a particular religious organization, and does not resemble the Messiah Yeshua’s Hebrew heritage.

It is very simple to define the righteousness Yeshua was speaking of that will satisfy. How many people do we know today that are not satisfied? Feeling satisfied is often sought after by trying to experience things such as special trips, occupational success and making more money. These things will only temporarily satisfy a person, if at all. Here is the Greek word, Strong’s G1466, that is translated “righteousness”.

δικαιοσύνη G1466 (dikaiosynē), righteousness, uprightness; δίκαιος G1465 (dikaios), upright, just, righteous; δικαιόω G1467 (dikaioō), justify, vindicate, treat as just, acquit, pronounce or treat as righteous, make or set free from; δικαίωμα G1468 (dikaiōma), regulation, requirement, commandment, righteous deed; δικαίως G1469 (dikaiōs), justly, in a just manner, uprightly; δικαίωσις G1470 (dikaiōsis), justification, vindication, acquittal. For ἀδικία (adikia), unrighteousness, and cognates → Sin.

H. Seebass et al., “Righteousness, Justification,” ed. Lothar Coenen, Erich Beyreuther, and Hans Bietenhard, New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1986), 352.

Righteousness is defined early in the Bible. It was shown to Israel how to be righteous in the eyes of the Creator God, Yahweh. Christianity today, for the most part, hates this definition of righteousness to the point that one will be ridiculed, mocked and cast out for suggesting it.

Matthew 5:11–12 (LEB): ¹¹ Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and say all kinds of evil things against you, lying on account of me. ¹² Rejoice and be glad, because your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets before you.

They persecuted the prophets because they were always telling the leaders and people that they were not doing what Yahweh said to do. The definition of righteousness is found in Deuteronomy chapter six.

Deuteronomy 6:25 (LEB): ²⁵ And it shall be righteousness for us if we diligently observe and do all of this commandment before Yahweh our God, as he has commanded us.

The word translated from Hebrew to “righteousness” in this verse is “Tsadaqah”.

To be righteous, we are to do all that Yahweh commanded. Yeshua helped explain this through the gospel accounts. It was already told to us by the prophets, but Yeshua came to embody righteousness. Justice, mercy, honesty, loving our neighbour and loving God are all examples of righteousness.

The ones that try to rob the blessings and satisfaction from us will call it “self righteousness” to try to do all that God commanded. It is simply lies that one should not listen to. Only listen to Yeshua, who is the Word of God, which is the word spoken through Moses and the prophets.

Acts 3:22–24 (LEB): ²² Moses said, ‘The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers. You will listen to him in everything that he says to you. ²³ And it will be that every soul who does not listen to that prophet will be destroyed utterly from the people.’ ²⁴ And indeed, all the prophets from Samuel and all those who followed him have spoken about and proclaimed these days.

“Self righteousness”, as spoken about by Isaiah, is when one thinks they are righteous because of some man-made tradition they are doing. For example, people may think going to a church every time the doors are open is righteousness, or they are righteous because they do not smoke or consume any alcohol, or they do what is right in their own eyes and make an imaginary god that shares their beliefs. They replace God’s definition of righteousness with their own, along with their “personal Jesus”.

I have seen some belief systems use Isaiah 64:6 as an excuse not to regard the instructions of God. They will say that it is actually a sin and anyone who tries is “going back under the law”. The following verses are taken out of context when one says that when we try to do God’s definition of righteousness it is like filthy rags to God, when the verses in context are actually referring to those who abandoned the commandments doing their own form of righteousness.

Isaiah 64:4–7 (KJV 1900): ⁴ And since ancient times they have not heard, have not listened, no eye has seen a God except you; he acts for the one who waits for him. ⁵  Thou meetest him that rejoiceth and worketh righteousness, Those that remember thee in thy ways: Behold, thou art wroth; for we have sinned: In those is continuance, and we shall be saved. ⁶  But we are all as an unclean thing, And all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; And we all do fade as a leaf; And our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. ⁷  And there is none that calleth upon thy name, That stirreth up himself to take hold of thee: For thou hast hid thy face from us, And hast consumed us, because of our iniquities.

We have been handed a lie when we are told “our righteousness are as filthy rags” when it is told to those seeking God’s will, meaning His instructions. We can call it dispensationalism theology, hyper grace theology, or any other theology that claims there is no true and right path. They are lying and it is why there is no satisfaction.

Yeshua pointed this out to the Pharisees. The traditions of men were more important to the Pharisees then the heart of the Torah.

Mark 7:5–8 (LEB): ⁵ And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat their bread with unclean hands?” ⁶ So he said to them, “Isaiah prophesied correctly about you hypocrites, as it is written, ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far, far away from me. ⁷ And they worship me in vain, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ ⁸ Abandoning the commandment of God, you hold fast to the tradition of men.”

Jesus was angry with the Pharisees because they “Abandoned the the commandment of God” . 119 Ministries has a great picture of what this looks like today.

Along with satisfaction, those thirsting for righteousness also are “blessed”. How do we know what it is to be blessed? Here are the Greek and Hebrew words that are translated to “blessed”.

In Greek and in Hebrew the word means happiness. Who does not want to be truly happy? One of my favourite Bible verses is from Psalms 119.

Psalm 119:165 (LEB): Great peace is for those who love your law, and they do not have a cause for stumbling.

Do you want “great peace”, happiness and satisfaction? Hunger and thirst for righteousness!

The featured photo by Stephen Mayes on Unsplash is a good example of fake Jesuses. The caricature of Jesus, along side of presidents Obama and Trump, and the Ninja turtles properly represents the lawless Jesus of today’s church, along with their other idols.