"Though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they should deliver but their own souls by their righteousness, saith the Lord GOD." (Ezekiel 14: 14)
Ezekiel was quite a hard-line prophet. Yet even he, as did Jeremiah, declared that a New Covenant was coming (Ezekiel 11, 36), in which God would give us a new heart, a new spirit, and write His laws on our heart and cause us to walk in obedience.
Yet until the New Covenant was cut, with Jesus' shedding His blood for us, and granting us a thorough and eternal cleansing from all sin, that His Spirit could live in us, the righteousness of God was granted by men who would believe on the LORD, trusting Him to save:
"5And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be. 6And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness." (Genesis 15: 5-6)
Abraham was righteousness because He believed on the Lord, that He was a good and gracious God.
What about Noah, Daniel, and Job?
Let's start with Noah:
"And he called his name Noah, saying, This same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the LORD hath cursed." (Genesis 5: 29)
"Noah" means "rest" or comfort", for with his birth came also the promise of man's rest from his labor, that through him the curse of the ground would be lifted from every son of Adam (Genesis 3: 17)
Noah, as a man of rest, a man of trust, found grace in God's sight:
"8But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD." (Genesis 6: 8)
The full context of Genesis chapter six also bears out that man had become fully corrupted, infiltrated with the genes of fallen angels, who sought to pervert the "seed of the woman" (Genesis 3: 15) so that the Prophesied Savior would not be able to come. In effect, Noah and his family were the only human beings left on earth, and through Noah they received God's favor.
We receive God's righteousness through God's grace:
"4But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, 5Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) 6And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: 7That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. 8For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9Not of works, lest any man should boast. 10For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them." (Ephesians 2: 4-10)
This grace grants us God's own righteousness through His Son:
"For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." (2 Corinthians 5: 21)
Now, Daniel had also found favor, by identifying with God instead of with the fallen culture around him:
"But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king's meat, nor with the wine which he drank: therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself." (Daniel 1: 8)
"Now God had brought Daniel into favour and tender love with the prince of the eunuchs." (Daniel 1: 9)
Noah and Daniel found grace in God's eyes, and He used this grace to prosper them, to bring glory to Himself, and thus to prosper the world in turn.
What about Job? Righteousness was his greatest interest, yet he believed that his righteousness through his efforts was enough, yet a righteousness based on works cannot appease God:
"So these three men ceased to answer Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes." (Jeremiah 32: 1)
One of the "friends" explained the truth about God's righteousness, which Job was about to understand:
"Touching the Almighty, we cannot find him out: he is excellent in power, and in judgment, and in plenty of justice: he will not afflict." (Job 37: 23)
Even during his long complaints, Job had sought a mediator:
"33Neither is there any daysman betwixt us, that might lay his hand upon us both.
34Let him take his rod away from me, and let not his fear terrify me:" (Job 9: 33-34)
"Also now, behold, my witness isis on high" (Job 16: 19)
Until Job saw God face to face, he had only his own works to "justify" him, which were not enough. When the LORD spoke to him directly, Job realized that he was not just a guy who did bad things, but vile through and through:
"1Moreover the LORD answered Job, and said,
2Shall he that contendeth with the Almighty instruct him? he that reproveth God, let him answer it.
3Then Job answered the LORD, and said
4Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer thee? I will lay mine hand upon my mouth." (Job 41: 1-4)
No amount of our doing can save us. We need a righteousness based on faith, not workd , for "the just shall live by his faith" (Habakkuk 2: 4):
Then Job admitted:
"5I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee." (Job 42: 5)
This was a statement of faith, seeing that God is good, and not the author of disease, destruction, and death in our lives.
Then God graced Job:
"And the LORD turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends: also the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before. . .12So the LORD blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning: for he had fourteen thousand sheep, and six thousand camels, and a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand she asses." (Job 42: 10, 12)
Job received the grace of God by faith, and thus Job received righteousness.
Yet even for these three wonderful examples in Scripture — Noah, Daniel, and Job — their righteousness is not enough to save any of us.
And God offers us much better, through His Son:
"Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. 18And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; 19To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.
20Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. 21For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." (2 Corinthians 5: 17-21)
What Noah, Daniel, and even Job had, we have better in Christ!