Truth is the Triune God in His word being realized by us and being infused into us to set us free and to sanctify us.
Two of the functions of the truth are that it sets us free from the bondage of sin and from all negative things, and it sanctifies us positionally and dispositionally, saturating us with the element of God.
What sets us free and sanctifies us is nothing else but the Triune God in His word realized by us and being imparted and infused into our being to be the truth! Hallelujah!
Our God is light, and in Him, there’s no darkness at all; when He reaches us, light becomes truth, for truth is light expressed.
Light is the source of the truth, and when the Lord shines on us, what we get is truth – not just knowledge or doctrines but truth, the living truth.
This is why we are told that, if we walk in the light, we are practicing the truth; for us to practice the truth doesn’t mean that we speak true things or that we try to fulfil God’s word – it is to walk in the light.
What is truth? Is truth merely the true things, the sound doctrines and teachings, or the speaking of things that are true?
According to the entire revelation in the Bible, truth is the divine light shining on the facts of the Bible and imparting a spiritual vision, even a heavenly vision, of these facts into our being.
It is one thing to read the newspaper or a novel, and it is another thing for us to read the Bible; reading the Bible should be accompanied by an exercised spirit and an open heart to the Lord for Him to shine on us.
The Bible is not a book of history or of teachings; the Bible is a book of truth, for God in Christ as the Spirit is contained in the Bible.
First, we discover the facts in the Bible, and then the Spirit shines on those facts so that they become a vision to us inwardly; what we get is not mere knowledge but a seeing, even a live transmission of the heavenly facts, something like a heavenly television being transmitted into us.
The Bible is the word of God, and when the Lord as the Spirit shines upon the Word, we have the heavenly television; we not only know the truth but also receive the heavenly vision of these facts into our being.
What knowledge is this! What kind of subjective knowledge of the truth we have!
This is not merely something we understand with our mind or grasp with our intellect; this is something that is being televised into our being for us to be infused with the divine facts and apprehend the divine reality.
This is why the Spirit is called, The Spirit of Reality; He is the Spirit who is the reality of what the Father and the Son is, and the Spirit guides us into all the reality of what the word of God says concerning God and Christ.
And the result is that we get more life, for the Spirit imparts life as He guides us inwardly into the reality of the entire Triune God and His Word.
The Truth Sets Us Free and Sanctifies us both Positionally and Dispositionally
There are two main functions of the truth: the truth sets us free and sanctifies us.
According to John 8:32 and 36, the truth sets us free from the bondage of sin, freeing us from all the negative things.
We can call this the negative function of the truth, even though it is quite positive; when we know the truth, we are set free.
The Lord Jesus Himself is the truth – He is the truth (the reality), the way, and the life (John 14:6), and He Himself sets us free.
This means that it’s not by merely reading the Bible and agreeing with everything that we read that we know the truth and are set free.
Rather, it is by contacting, enjoying, and receiving the living person of Christ in His word that we are set free.
When we read and pray over the word of God, having an open heart and spirit to Him, the Spirit can shine on the Word to make it living; this living word of God is the truth, and this truth sets us free.
In John 8 we see the woman caught in adultery; the Lord Jesus did not only not condemn her or criticize her, but He also forgave her and told her to go and sin no more.
His word, Go and sin no more” is not a command; it is the truth, the living word of God, and this set her free from sin.
It is one thing for us to read something in the Bible and agree with it, and it is another thing for the Lord to shine on a particular truth, thus being infused into us as the reality, with the result that we are set free.
The words the Lord speaks to us are living and operative, and the truth sets us free from the bondage of sin, freeing us from all the negative things.
This is our experience as we come to the Lord in His word with the exercise of our spirit and with our heart turned to Him.
The second function of the truth is that it sanctifies us; in John 17:17 the Lord asked the Father to sanctify us in the truth, His word is truth.
Many Bible readers are only aware of the positional aspect of sanctification, that is, that by sanctification we are being separated unto God, but they are not aware of the dispositional aspect of sanctification.
The truth sanctifies us positionally and dispositionally, both separating us unto God and saturating us with the element of God.
We see this in Eph. 5:26 where the Lord, who loves the church, sanctifies her by the washing of the water in the word, to present the church to Himself glorious and without any spot or wrinkle.
The more we contact the Lord in His word, coming to Him in His word, the more we are separated unto God, being made a holy people unto Him, and the more His element is being infused into us to sanctify us dispositionally.
We are not only separated unto God by the truth but we are also dispositionally sanctified, that is, saturated with the element of God in our disposition.
The change comes from within; the more we come to the Lord in His Word, the more He saturates us with the element of God until we are being transformed to even look like Him, the One who has been infused into us. Hallelujah!
Lord Jesus, we come to You in Your word with the exercise of our spirit and a turned heart. We want to know the truth so that we may be set free from the bondage of sin and from all the negative things. Hallelujah, we shall know the truth, and the truth shall set us free! Amen, Lord, speak to us a living word. Speak to us in Your word. May Your living word operate in us to set us free from anything negative. Sanctify us in the truth – Your word is truth. Amen, Lord, we believe that You are separating us from the world to sanctify us unto God by the truth. We believe that You are saturating us with the element of God as we come to You in Your word. Amen, Lord, free us from the bondage of sin and sanctify us in the truth!
Truth is the Triune God in His Word Realized by us and Infused into us to Set us Free and Sanctify us
How can the truth sanctify us and set us free? How can some words, the words in the Bible, can become something that sets us free from anything negative and sanctifies us?
We need to realize that the truth in the Bible involves the Lord Jesus, the Spirit of reality, and the word of the father; all these three are related to the truth.
The word of the Father is the truth, the Lord Jesus as the Son of God is the truth, and the Spirit is the Spirit of truth. Truth doesn’t refer to mere doctrine; truth is the reality of the Triune God.
The Bible is not merely a book but a word that expresses God; when we come to the word of God, we have the deep sense within that we come to God Himself, and this God is not hidden or concealed but expressed.
God is expressed in His Word, and by means of the Bible we can talk with God, meet with God, and listen to God; as God speaks to us, His living word infuses God into us to be the truth that sets us free and sanctifies us.
Christ Himself as the Son of God is the truth (John 14:6); He expresses the Father, and He is the living Word of God.
The Bible is the written word without, and the Son is the living word within us; by these two we can know God both objectively and subjectively, and these two are one!
All this is realized through God the Spirit, for the Father is embodied and defined in the Son, and the Son is realized as the Spirit of reality.
The Spirit of reality is the realization of the Son as the embodiment of the Father; the Spirit is the reality.
Furthermore, the Spirit is the word, for John 6:63 says that the Lord’s words are Spirit and life, and Eph. 6:17 says that the Spirit is the Word.
So the truth is the reality of the Triune God in the Spirit embodied in the Word of God; when we come to the Word with an open heart and an open spirit, we will touch both the Word and the Spirit as the truth.
We all can testify that every time we open our heart and spirit as we come to the Bible, we meet God, and we are infused with God.
This is why we need to come to the Bible at least two or three times during the day, so that we may be infused with God to be sanctified and to be set free.
When we are disappointed or depressed, we can open ourselves and come to the Word of God; after reading for a while, something within rises up, and we enjoy the presence of the Lord.
When we are feeling empty within, we can open and come to the Lord in His Word, and after reading and praying for a while, we feel enlivened, revived, and supplied.
This was the experience of the psalmist in Psa. 119 (see vv. 25, 37, 40, 50, 88, 93, 107, 149, 154, 156, 159); again and again, he came to God in His Word, and he was enlivened, empowered, enlightened, and refreshed.
This is what it means to experience the truth, the reality; this reality is the Triune God in His word being imparted into our being to sanctify us and set us free.
When we touch the Word of God with our spirit and our turned heart, we touch the Spirit; then, something is infused into our inner being, and this is the truth.
We do get some biblical knowledge, but there is something living inside this knowledge, and this living thing is the word mingled and saturated with the Triune God and infused into our being.
This is the truth that sets us free and sanctifies us.
By taking the word of God in this way, something of the Lord is wrought into us; this is the reality of the Triune God living, moving, working, and separating us. In this way, we are sanctified by being separated unto God and saturated with Him, and we are set free from anything that is negative.
Lord Jesus, keep us coming to You in Your word to be infused with You and saturated with You. May we open our heart and spirit and come to You when we come to read the Bible so that we may be infused with Your element. Amen, Lord, infuse us with all that You are and saturate us with Yourself through Your word. We want not only to get biblical knowledge but even more, to meet God, contact God, enjoy God, and be infused with God as we come to the Word. Amen, Lord, enliven us according to Your word. Keep us coming to You as a living Person in the Word to be infused with You and have the Triune God wrought into us so that we may be sanctified and set free!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by Mark Raabe for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1978, vol. 3, “Truth Messages,” ch. 1, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Knowing the Truth, being Absolute for the Truth, and Proclaiming the Truth in this Present Evil Age (2021 Memorial Day Weekend Conference), week 2, Being Sanctified by the Truth to Move out of Ourselves and into the Triune God for the Genuine Oneness.
- Hymns on this topic:
– Thou art the Bread of Life, / O Lord, to me, / Thy holy Word the truth / That saveth me; / Give me to eat and live / With Thee above; / Teach me to love Thy truth, / For Thou art Love. (Hymns #806)
– O Truth divine, by Christ made known, / All truth must Thy reflection be; / Within my heart set up Thy throne, / And in Thy freedom make me free. (Hymns #361)
– Just to enjoy Thy word; / Thy truth doth sanctify, / Become our full reality, / And oneness bring thereby. (Song on, Just to enjoy Thy word)
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