This morning we come to a new topic in the morning revival, Knowing the Divine Truth, the Divine Reality (some sharing also via holdingtotruth.com). What is truth? Who is truth? How can we know the truth, and how can we become real persons?
Today people bend the truth according to their own preference, situation, condition, natural inclinations, etc – so that “the truth would suit them”.
But what really is truth? Is truth only the doctrine in the Bible? Is truth the sound doctrine in the Word of God? I am looking forward to become more truth-ized this week, and to be constituted with the truth as revealed in the Word of God!
Truth is the Triune God and the Word of God
According to the entire revelation in the Bible, truth is the Triune God and His Word. God is truth, Christ is truth, and the Spirit is truth – the Divine Trinity is truth, reality (1 John 5:6). Nothing else and no one else in the universe is real or true – only the Triune God is real.
Everything else is fake, a lie, and not real – everything depends and gets its source from God as the reality, the truth, the only real thing in the universe! Also, the Word of God spoken by God Himself and contained in the Bible is truth, reality (John 17:17).
A brief definition of the truth, footnote on 1 John 1:6
Today we are so fortunate and privileged to be under the ministry of the age, which has inherited all the truths recovered and uncovered in the Bible throughout the ages. When it comes to “cutting straight the word of the truth”, it is not MY portion to do so, but what we can do is enjoy the Word, enjoy the opening of the Word, and re-speak the truth! O, that the truth may be constituted into us and become part of us, even our reality, to make us real! Here’s part of the footnote on 1 John 1:6 concerning, TRUTH,
The Greek word means reality (the opposite of vanity), verity, veracity, genuineness, sincerity. It is John’s highly individual terminology, and it is one of the profound words in the New Testament, denoting all the realities of the divine economy as the content of the divine revelation, conveyed and disclosed by the holy Word as follows:
(1) God, who is light and love, incarnated to be the reality of the divine things, such as the divine life, the divine nature, the divine power, and the divine glory, for us to possess, that we may enjoy Him as grace, as revealed in John’s Gospel (John 1:1, 4, 14-17).
(2) Christ, who is God incarnated and in whom all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily (Col. 2:9), as the reality of (a) God and man (John 1:18, 51; 1 Tim. 2:5); (b) all the types, figures, and shadows of the Old Testament (Col. 2:16-17; John 4:23, 24, and notes); and (c) all the divine and spiritual things, such as the divine life and resurrection (John 11:25; 14:6), the divine light (John 8:12; 9:5), the divine way (John 14:6), wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption (1 Cor. 1:30). Hence, Christ is the reality (John 14:6; Eph. 4:21).
(3) The Spirit, who is Christ transfigured (1 Cor. 15:45b; 2 Cor. 3:17), as the reality of Christ (John 14:16-17; 15:26) and of the divine revelation (John 16:13-15). Hence, the Spirit is the reality (5:6).
(4) The Word of God as the divine revelation, which not only reveals but also conveys the reality of God and Christ and of all the divine and spiritual things. Hence, the Word of God also is reality (John 17:17 and note 3).
(5) The contents of the faith (belief), which are the substantial elements of what we believe, as the reality of the full gospel (Eph. 1:13; Col. 1:5); these are revealed throughout the New Testament (2 Cor. 4:2; 13:8; Gal. 5:7; 1 Tim. 1:1, note 1, points 1 and 2; 1 Tim. 2:4 and note 2; 1 Tim. 2:7b; 1 Tim. 3:15 and note 5; 1 Tim. 4:3; 1 Tim. 6:5; 2 Tim. 2:15, 18, 25; 3:7, 8; 4:4; Titus 1:1, 14; 2 Thes. 2:10, 12; Heb. 10:26; James 5:19; 1 Pet. 1:22; 2 Pet. 1:12).
(6) The reality concerning God, the universe, man, man’s relationship with God and with his fellow man, and man’s obligation to God, as revealed through creation and the Scriptures (Rom. 1:18-20; 2:2, 8, 20).
(7) The genuineness, truthfulness, sincerity, honesty, trustworthiness, and faithfulness of God as a divine virtue (Rom. 3:7; 15:8) and of man as a human virtue (Mark 12:14; 2 Cor. 11:10; Phil. 1:18; 1 John 3:18), and as an issue of the divine reality (John 4:23-24; 2 John 1a; 3 John 1).
(8) Things that are true or real, the true or real state of affairs (facts), reality, veracity, as the opposite of falsehood, deception, dissimulation, hypocrisy, and error (Mark 5:33; 12:32; Luke 4:25; John 16:7; Acts 4:27; 10:34; 26:25; Rom. 1:25; 9:1; 2 Cor. 6:7; 7:14; 12:6; Col. 1:6; 1 Tim. 2:7a).
What a rich definition and explanation of what the truth is in the whole Bible! This is the high speaking concerning what the truth really is in the Word of God. Truth is God as the divine light and love incarnated to be the reality of all the divine things for our possession – so that we may enjoy God as grace. God Himself is the truth, the reality, of the divine things for our possession – we can enjoy God as the only real thing, the reality of all the divine things in the universe, by knowing the truth, the divine reality!
[sharing inspired from the life-study of 1 John msg. 9 and footnote 6 on 1 John 1:6, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Four Great Pillars in the Lord’s Recovery. Picture source: What is Truth?. Intro: what is the truth?]
Lord, open our eyes to see You as the only reality and as the unique truth in the universe. Save us from believing a lie or from being deceived from the purity of the divine truth as revealed in the Word of God. O, Lord, we want to be those diving into the truth to know You and experience You! The Triune God is the truth! The Word of God is the truth! The contents of the faith is truth! Lord, make us real people, real men of God, real God-men, those who are filled with truth!
