“…the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.” 1 Timothy 3:15
Dear Ones:
One of most descriptive commentaries on who Satan is, according to the Lord Jesus, was: “…He was a murderer from the beginning, and remained not in the truth, because there is NO truth in him…he is a liar, and the father of it.” (Jn. 8:44) Why does the Lord throughout Scripture put so much emphasis on the “truth,” as opposed to the lie? Actually, the answer has to do with “life” and “death.” God will only meet man in his need according to the truth of His word, Person, and Power. Life is only communicated to the believer “…according to the truth,” never according to the lie. This is one reason for which it is so very important to worship God in Spirit and in TRUTH. He reveals Himself to the heart in truth, as we worship Him by the Spirit of truth, according to the objective truth.
In the Garden of Eden, when Satan came to Eve to tempt her, his subtle attack was two-fold. The first part of his strategy was to cause Eve to question God, to question Him as the absolute truth, and also, what He said as truth. “Yes, hath God said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden?'” (Gen.3:1) When Satan had drawn out Eve to question what God had said, he then moves on the blatant lie: “You shall NOT surely die.” (v.3) We must understand that, as Satan’s lies always result in death, so the truth of God, results in life. Satan KNOWS that God will not bless the lie. He knows also that God will always bless the truth, for the revelation and knowledge of His person, is ALWAYS according to the truth. The battle for life or death is centered on the high ground of whether man will believe the lie or the truth, as it is in Christ.
The battle for the knowledge of truth has been going on from the moment Adam and Eve succumbed to the lie of Satan in the Garden. Throughout the history of Israel, we see again and again “ideas, speculations, and imaginations” creeping into the place of worship, which distort the true vision of God. Hence, idolatry springs up, and there is the worship of a false god. What does this lead to? Suffering and death…the objective of Satan. When Jesus came on the scene, and began His ministry, He came declaring that He WAS, and IS, the truth, that what one saw in Him was the “declaration of the Father.” You will remember that He said to Philip, “…he who has seen me has seen the Father.” (Jn. 14:9) So then, Christ lays the foundation of true faith by declaring the words of truth, that which came from God, and by BEING the truth, the true representation and revelation of the character and nature of God. Perhaps the supreme example of this is the revelation of the love of God in Christ’s sacrifice. In that solitary, salutary work, He declares the greatness, magnitude, and everlasting “mercy-clad” holy love of God for sinful man. To deny such love, is to deny the greatest revelation of God to man. It is to deny God Himself.
There is no doubt that we exist in this present moment “…for such a time as this.” The battle for truth goes on, first of all in living it, then proclaiming it. As Israel was in times past, so the body of Christ, this”… church of the living God,” is the means today by which the TRUTH is to be disseminated throughout the world. The picture we have in the book of the revelation of those from every tongue, tribe, and nation, assembled before the throne of God, exists because OF the truth of Christ having been spread through every nation. The church, and every member of it, is called upon to declare, proclaim the truth, both by the life lived, and by word of mouth, that God is true, and that there is eternal life only, wholly, in Christ.
Dear Father, give us to be always lovers of the truth, ever refusing to believe or accept the lie. Meet us this day according to the bedrock of Thy objective truth, and the reality of the person of Christ who IS the truth. Strengthen us according to the Spirit of truth, enabling us to ever take our stand to believe Thee with all our heart IN truth. We praise, and thank Thee, in Jesus’ name, Amen.
Love, Dad