“Howbeit when He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth…” John 16:13
The bedrock of faith in God is the truth OF God. In answer to the question, “What is truth,” the Lord gives us a very clear response. In Jesus’ high priestly prayer, He prayed: “Sanctify them through Thy truth: Thy word is truth.” (Jn. 17:17) This simply means that when God speaks, it is the absolute truth, for it is the expression in words of His holy perfect character. Throughout history, God has proven to men that He speaks truth by the results of His declarations.
Secondly, the truth is a Person. The Lord Jesus declared this when He said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life; no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me.” (Jn. 14:6) What does the Lord mean here? The very essence and revelation of His nature is true, without fault, without change or blemish. God the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are all truth, and express only that which IS true. All that God says is true, absolutely so, for it comes from the one who is perfectly holy.
Why is the matter of truth so very important? First, we need to see the eternal Being of God as being not only worthy of trust, which He demands, but Him being the only logical and real basis for real faith. Man is called upon to believe God, to have faith in God, thus committing himself to God. Why? Simply, we cannot see God, although the Lord Jesus came and walked among us full of grace and truth. Our natural eyes cannot see the invisible God. However, the Spirit of truth reveals God to our hearts and minds. He becomes the perfect object of faith, a faith that is only founded, and anchored, in Christ’s faithfulness, the absolute truth of God.
What are the ramifications, or results, of such faith according to the truth? They reveal themselves as the believer acts upon the truth, aligns himself with the truth, worshiping and serving the God of truth, obeying the commandments of God, and trusting wholly in God according to the promises of God. All faith begins in God, for He is the giver of it. But He only gives faith to be exercised according to truth, the truth of what God IS and what He says.
How then are we to live, since we are in a world system of deception, temptation, and opposition by an enemy superior to us in capacity and power? We are to live in the constant pursuit of God’s truth in His word, and in the person of Christ. It is by the truth that we are set free from the bondage to sin, Satan, and the world. It is by the truth that we are protected against the attacks of the enemy. It is by the sword of truth, that we are able to cut through the deception and wiles of Satan, to experience the victory that we have in Christ. But perhaps, the most wonderful and certain way to live on this earth, in a manner worthy of Christ, being led by the Spirit of truth, is in true communion with God in Christ in “Spirit and truth.” Sins, Satan, and self, have been dealt with on the cross according to the truth of the Gospel, and the teaching in the epistles. True communion with Christ by the Spirit in the present moment is a certainty, and increasing reality, when there is a greater apprehension of the truth that is in Christ. It is by this truth that the Spirit of God reveals the things freely given to us in Christ. It is by the Spirit of truth also that the believer in his walk, and warfare against the opposition in the world, is strengthened daily to apprehend that for which he is apprehended by Christ. The call to know the truth, and the One who is the truth, is the call to know and love God. Herein is true Life.
Dear Father, Fill us with truth. In Jesus’ name, Amen.