The Truth
Jesus had been discussing a number of topics with the Pharisees, explaining to them that He was Messiah and that God testified with Him that this was true. He also prophesied that when they crucified Him they would know He was the Son of God. As He said these things, many believed in Him [trusted, relied on, and adhered to Him]. So Jesus said to those Jews who had believed in Him, If you abide in My word [hold fast to My teachings and live in accordance with them], you are truly My disciples. And you will know the Truth, and the Truth will set you free (John 8:30-32).
We hear the latter part of Jesus’ statement over and over, “You’ll know the Truth and the Truth will set you free.” We hear it in commercials, we hear it in Hollywood blockbusters, we hear it on the radio, we read it in novels. All of these have taken Jesus’ words out of context for the simple reason that they pay no attention to the first part of His statement. In the first part, He used the great word of decision, the word that all eternity hangs on, “if.” We get to choose (Deut 30:19) whether we will do what comes after the “if.” He said, “if you abide in My Word.” Being set free by the Truth only comes when we abide in God’s Word. Reading, studying, meditating, and memorizing the Word are all steps that lead to knowing the Truth.
The Greek word translated as Truth in this passage is aletheia. It has several shades of meaning, but as Jesus used the word, it focuses on the revealed reality and character of God. In other words, it is knowing God that sets us free. Christianity is not a religion, it is not a lifestyle, it is a personal, one-on-one relationship with the Living God. He has told us very specifically. I desire and delight in dutiful steadfast love and goodness, not sacrifice, and the knowledge of and acquaintance with God more than burnt offerings (Hos. 6:6). It is knowing the Truth that is the key to freedom, and that Truth is God.
Jesus was not only a paradigm of selfless obedience to God, He was the very revelation of God. He very specifically told us, I am the Way and the Truth and the Life; no one comes to the Father except by (through) Me (John 14:6). He then immediately goes on to say that since His disciples know Him they also know the Father. Phillip, puzzled by Jesus’ remark ask Him to show them the Father, and Jesus replied, Have I been with all of you for so long a time, and do you not recognize and know Me yet, Philip? Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father. How can you say then, Show us the Father? (John 14:9).
Through Jesus we not only gain entry into the Kingdom of Love and Light (James 1:18), but we gain a relationship with God in which we come to know Him on a personal level. This is not knowledge about God, this is personal knowledge of Him on the most intimate level. A level on which we can discuss the most difficult questions and problems of our lives. A level on which He listens with absolute attention to every detail that we discuss with Him. A level on which He wants to know us better than anyone else could, or ever will, know us. When God first calls the youth Jeremiah into service as His prophet, He tells him, Before I formed you in the womb I knew [and] approved of you [as My chosen instrument], and before you were born I separated and set you apart, consecrating you; [and] I appointed you as a prophet to the nations (Jer. 1:5). That’s a rather intimate knowledge, I’d say. And that’s the kind of intimate knowledge that God wants with each of His children.
As God’s children (Rom. 8:17) we are to grow into maturity in our relationship with Him (Matt. 5:48). The process of growing into maturity is called sanctification. When Jesus was writing His last will and testament, He specifically asked that God make provision for our sanctification—the process by which we can grow to maturity in who we are in and through Christ Jesus–when He asked the Father to Sanctify them [purify, consecrate, separate them for Yourself, make them holy] by the Truth; Your Word is Truth (John 17:17). Your Word is Truth. A rather powerful statement that shows us God revealed in His Word.
God’s Word is not just a bunch of dried ink on a page. For the Word that God speaks is alive and full of power [making it active, operative, energizing, and effective]; it is sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating to the dividing line of the breath of life (soul) and [the immortal] spirit, and of joints and marrow [of the deepest parts of our nature], exposing and sifting and analyzing and judging the very thoughts and purposes of the heart (Heb. 4:12). God’s Word is alive, meaning that it has the power to grow in us and transform us from who we are to who God wants us to be. Paul, writing to the believers in Thessalonica, tells them, we also [especially] thank God continually for this, that when you received the message of God [which you heard] from us, you welcomed it not as the word of [mere] men, but as it truly is, the Word of God, which is effectually at work in you who believe [exercising its superhuman power in those who adhere to and trust in and rely on it] (1Thes. 2:13).
But before the Word can do anything transforming in our lives, it is essential to get that living Word in us. When writing to the Philippians, Paul says, my dear ones, as you have always obeyed [my suggestions], so now, not only [with the enthusiasm you would show] in my presence but much more because I am absent, work out (cultivate, carry out to the goal, and fully complete) your own salvation with reverence and awe and trembling (self-distrust, with serious caution, tenderness of conscience, watchfulness against temptation, timidly shrinking from whatever might offend God and discredit the name of Christ). [Not in your own strength] for it is God Who is all the while effectually at work in you [energizing and creating in you the power and desire], both to will and to work for His good pleasure and satisfaction and delight (Phil 2:12-13). We are the ones who get to work it out. We are the ones who have been given the chance and the choice. But note very carefully that we don’t have to, nor should we even try, to do it on our own. If we make the quality decision to get into God’s Word and be the workman that we are directed to be (2Tim. 2:15), then God will give us the strength to carry out all that needs to be done (see also Phil. 4:13, and 4:19). Then, we will truly know the Truth and He will set us free.
Key Verses: John 8:31-32
Associated Keys: John 14:6, 17:17
Using the Key: “Precious Lord, I want to know You intimately and live my life in the fullness of that knowledge. I want to grow to maturity in You. I know that Your Word is transforming and will give me what I need to become all you intend for me to become. Therefore, Gracious King, I ask You to please help me to organize my life so that I will have the necessary time to read of the Truth in Your Word and grow in who I am in Christ Jesus. And Father, please be with me to help me clearly understand Your Word so that I can live in the freedom that You designed for me. In Jesus Precious Name, Amen.”
