Here is a cut / paste from my commentary on the Book of Daniel - chapter 9:
Part 1
Daniel 9:24 - To Bring in Everlasting Righteousness
Reconciliation, however, is not the final goal. God does not merely bring us back to neutral. He restores what the Fall stole: righteousness itself—life in harmony with His holiness. That is why Gabriel’s next words rise higher than forgiveness. “To bring in everlasting righteousness” is the climax of the sequence: the Messiah not only deals with sin; He returns righteousness to humanity through His own perfect life, His atoning death, and His indwelling Spirit.
In Daniel 9:24, God names transgression, sin, and iniquity—three expressions of humanity’s fallen condition, each describing a different depth of rupture with Him. They are not merely poetic variations. Together they trace the unraveling of righteousness that began with Adam. When Adam disobeyed, humanity was driven from the Garden—not only as a change of location, but as a spiritual severing from God’s presence. What was lost in that moment was greater than a home.
Righteousness itself was lost: the harmony of a life in union with God, the holiness of an undivided heart, and the divine life God had breathed into humanity at the beginning. Since that loss, no human effort—no system, ideology, or moral code—has been able to restore what was forfeited.
Human beings have always tried to define righteousness through human lenses. Societies often reduce it to moral decency—fairness, kindness, or living by some form of the golden rule. Such virtues can be admirable, but they fall short of God’s standard. Biblical righteousness is not merely being “good” by earthly measurement; it is being in complete harmony with God’s holiness, will, and character. It is not a cultural ideal. It is God’s own life and likeness expressed in the human soul.
That is why Scripture can say,
“All our righteous acts are like filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6). Even our best intentions are mingled with pride, self-interest, and imperfection. Human morality is relative and fluctuates across cultures and time. God’s righteousness is absolute, eternal, and rooted in His unchanging nature. And this is why Paul can declare the universal verdict:
“There is none righteous, no, not one” (Romans 3:10).
The fall produced spiritual death—separation from God that no amount of effort can undo. Sacrifices, rituals, religious zeal, and moral striving can expose the need for righteousness, but they cannot manufacture it. What humanity needed was not more instruction, but intervention. Not more law, but life. Not moral improvement, but spiritual rebirth.
This is why God’s plan always pointed to the Messiah. Jesus did not come merely to teach righteousness as an ideal; He came as righteousness incarnate. He lived in perfect alignment with the Father. In His life we see what righteousness truly is. In His death, sin is atoned for. And in His resurrection, the way back to what Adam lost is opened—not by human climbing, but by divine gift.
At the cross, an exchange took place that is almost beyond comprehension:
“He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21). This is the power of the gospel. Righteousness is not earned; it is received. It is not a reward for obedience, but the gift of grace. The righteousness of Christ is credited to those who place their faith in Him, so that God no longer regards the believer through the lens of sin, but through the perfect obedience of His Son.
And Daniel does not say simply “righteousness.” He says everlasting righteousness. This is not a temporary covering, and it is not a symbolic gesture. It is the restoration of what was lost in Eden—the reopening of the way back to the presence of God, not through ceremony, not through human effort, but through union with the One who fulfilled both the Law and the sacrifice.
Yet this everlasting righteousness unfolds in two movements. It is already present now as a declared reality: those who believe are justified and accepted, clothed in Christ’s righteousness, and given the Spirit who begins transforming them from within. And it is not yet revealed in its final fullness: the complete manifestation awaits Christ’s return, when sin and death are destroyed and God’s people are made whole in His presence. Until then, believers walk in a righteousness that is both given and growing—declared by faith and developed by the Spirit. Everlasting righteousness has been brought in. And when the Messiah returns, it will be seen without remainder.
In Genesis 2:7, we are given a clear and profound formula for how God created Adam as a living soul:
“And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.”
This verse reveals two essential components in the creation of humanity:
A – Dust from the ground (the physical body, with senses and the natural capacity for mind and consciousness)
B – The breath of life (God’s Spirit / His holiness / His righteousness)
There are only two components involved in making Adam: the dust of the earth and the divine breath of God. Nothing else. It is a simple equation: A + B = C,
where C represents the living soul. This soul is not a third, separate entity that exists independently of A or B. If either component is removed, C ceases to exist. The soul does not fly away to another realm or continue to live in another form—it simply no longer is.
Adam was a living soul only because the Spirit of God was placed by God into the dust.
Importantly, the “breath” that God breathed into Adam was not mere air or oxygen to jump-start a heartbeat. It was God’s Spirit, His righteousness, His holiness, His very presence.
This divine union is what set humanity apart from the rest of creation. It reflected God's image and likeness—not in biology, but in spiritual design and relational capacity. God placed His holiness within Adam. But when Adam disobeyed and sin entered the world, the consequence was not immediate physical death—but spiritual death. Adam was cast out of the Garden, not only physically removed from Eden but separated from God’s presence. The Spirit that once dwelled in him returned to its source, for there is no other place that can contain God’s holiness but God Himself. Adam had no holiness of his own—it was God's righteousness within him, and when that Spirit departed, he was left spiritually barren. This is the core of God’s plan of salvation:
How will He place His righteousness—His Spirit—back into us so we can once again dwell in His presence?
Sin caused the divine-human relationship to fracture. Humanity lost its standing as “living souls” and became simply “living beings”—animated by breath, but lacking the indwelling Spirit of God. Every person born after Adam—born outside the Garden—is born into this condition: physically alive, but spiritually empty. This loss of spiritual life is precisely what happened to the Jews who rejected their Messiah. When they crucified Jesus, they rejected the One who came to restore the Spirit within them. In response, God allowed desolation to fall—not just upon their city or Temple—but upon their
spiritual relationship with Him. For 2,000 years (the time of the Gentiles), this estrangement has remained in place. Yet God’s mercy did not end there. His plan of salvation, fulfilled in Jesus Christ, was always about restoring what was lost in Eden. Through Jesus’ sacrificial death and resurrection, He made a way for us to be reconciled to God. Through faith in Christ, we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, who now dwells within us and empowers us to live in righteousness—not by our strength, but by His.
The restoration of God's righteousness and Spirit within us is the only way to once again become a living soul—a being in true communion with God. This is not just a future promise but a present reality for every believer. And one day, when Christ returns, the full restoration will be complete: no longer just the Spirit dwelling in us, but we will dwell with Him—face to face, just as it was in Eden. Consequently, we do not have His Spirit, His holiness, or His righteousness within us. There is nothing innate in us—nothing spiritual—that continues on after we die. Our body returns to the dust from which it came, and without the Spirit of God, we cease to be living souls.
This is the tragic result of sin: spiritual separation from the Giver of life. In response, God established the Torah and its sacrificial system as a temporary measure of reconciliation between Himself and His people. These rituals were not an end in themselves, but a foreshadowing of the ultimate sacrifice—the one that Jesus would offer on the cross. His death brought about a once-and-for-all atonement, offering everlasting forgiveness and spiritual restoration to all who believe.
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