Christ is the believer’s righteousness, as we read in
1 Corinthians 1:30, "Who of God is made unto us wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, and redemption." Again in 2 Corinthians 5:21, "For He [God]
hath made Him [Christ] to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be the
righteousness of God in Him." When we had no righteousness for God, He provided a
righteousness for us, and that righteousness is Christ—a crucified, risen, and
glorious Christ. In the law, God was demanding righteousness from man. In the
Gospel, God is providing righteousness for man. This makes a vast and marvelous
difference to anyone who is honestly struggling and toiling to work out righteousness for
himself before God.
There was a great difference between Adam’s apron and God’s
coat. God never set a stitch in the former, and man never set a stitch in the latter.
There was nothing for God in the apron; there was nothing of man in the coat. Hence we
find that Adam’s apron proved useless in the hour of need. The very moment he heard
the voice of the Lord God, he was afraid and fled to hide because, as he said, "I was
naked." He ignored his own apron! It was of no use whatever to him. It could
not even satisfy his own conscience. Not so, however, when he got on God’s coat. He
could than say "I am clothed" because God had clothed him. The coat he wore was
of God’s own making. Moreover, it was founded on the shedding of blood—an
all-important cardinal truth. Divine righteousness rests on the basis of accomplished
redemption. The cross is the grand foundation, the great central truth of Christianity.