"What Is Truth?"

by G. PRASHER, JR. | Category: General | Apr 1943

The perplexity of Pontius Pilate finds an echo in many hearts and minds to-day. Honest enquirers can know satisfaction only in the assurance that their hopes are based on truth, and especially in divine things "the many voices in the world" make it difficult to discern what the truth really is.

In some spheres of knowledge the truth can be ascertained by investigation and research. Men have concentrated their intellectual powers on searching out truths of natural science, and modern advances in medical knowledge similarly illustrate human ability to find out the cause and remedy of disease. Amazing strides have been made in such directions, but the best informed must fully appreciate the limitations of human knowledge.

Mere human reasoning and research cannot, however, discover the truth about God and His ways. In the realm of things divine we are dependent on what it has pleased God to reveal. As Zophar put it, "Canst thou by searching find out God? Canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection?" (Job 11.7). In the twenty-sixth chapter of that wonderful book, Job speaks of created things in a way which shows remarkable knowledge. In a day when it was commonly supposed that the earth was flat and rested upon tortoises, Job could anticipate the findings of modern science by saying, "He stretcheth out the north over empty space, And hangeth the earth upon nothing." For all his insight into creation's wonders, Job had to conclude with the admission-"Lo, these are but the outskirts of His ways: And how small a whisper do we hear of Him!"

In creation the Mighty revealed His "everlasting power and divinity." More fully the truth about God has been manifested by verbal revelation to men, and the Scriptures claim to contain the whole of God's revealed will. "The sum of Thy word is truth" declared the Psalmist, while Daniel spoke of "the scripture of truth," and the Lord Jesus set His seal to the fact as He breathed in prayer-" Thy word is truth." To those born from above, and taught of the Holy Spirit, the Lord's words supply a full answer to Pilate's question. Hence our desire as students of the Scriptures to search out the inexhaustible truths of divine revelation.

In contrast to the truth of God's word, the lying character of Satan is clearly depicted by the Lord in John 8.44. It has always been Satan's object to persuade men "to exchange the truth of God for a lie" (Romans 1.25). In Eden he first beguiled Eve in his craftiness. She knew the truth contained in the command of the LORD, but deliberately exchanged this truth for the devil's lie because she believed that the fruit would make her wise.

>From Adam until Moses most of the human family rejected the measure of truth revealed for their day. Romans 1.18-25 contains a solemn indictment of that age, while the awful catastrophe of the flood illustrates the general condition brought about by departure from God.

Under the law Israel enjoyed a fuller knowledge of divine truth than had been granted to earlier generations. The Jew had much advantage every way, first of all because they were intrusted with the oracles of God. As Romans 2.20 puts it, they had in the law "the form of knowledge and of the truth." Despite greater privileges Satan successfully seduced Israel into "enchanging the truth of God for a lie." The worship of a golden calf, only a few months after deliverance from Egypt, proved typical of the idolatrous inclinations of Israel from the days of the Judges until the Babylonian captivity. Only by the sovereign mercy of Jehovah was a purified remnant ultimately saved through the furnace of,, affliction, to display again "a banner on behalf of the truth" in the place of God's choice.

While emphasising the general tendency of men to depart from the truth, both in the "age of conscience" and under the law, the Scriptures are primarily concerned with men and women of faith who valued what they had learned by divine revelation. To quote only one example from a dark page of Israel's history, Xaboth refused on principle to sell his vineyard to Ahab.

Behind Naboth's refusal of the royal request lay his deep appreciation of God's will regarding the inheritance of land in Israel (see Leviticus 25.28). He could sell his vineyard only at the expense of the truth of God, and he chose to risk losing his life rather than compromise (1 Kings 21.). All who find honourable mention in the page of sacred inspiration have in common a desire to know the will of God and to do it.

What shall we say of the outshining of truth with the advent of Immanuel? "The law was given by Moses; grace and truth came by Jesus Christ," declares John in the first chapter of his Gospel. We have noticed the intimate, association of divine truth with the word of God spoken through the prophets. When" the Word became flesh and dwelt amongst us "He could say, "I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life." The Lord Jesus was indeed the very personification of heavenly truth, expressing in word and deed the will of God His Father (John 6.38). Yet the reaction of Israel to this revelation was even more evil than that of their forefathers to the manifestation of truth through Moses. The discussion between the Lord and the Jews in John 8.31-47 sums up the national attitude of Israel to their Messiah. The crux of the matter was that the Lord Jesus told them the truth, backed by the testimony of the prophets from Moses until John the Baptist, and by the evidence of mighty signs, but Satan led them to reject the counsel of God. Intense hatred had its climax at Calvary, where the truth of the Lord's words about the evil of man's heart and the love of God was proved to the uttermost. Well did the Master say, "To this end have I been born, and to this end am I come into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth" (John 18.37).

To His disciples the Lord revealed that" another Comforter" would be granted after His ascension. One of the Paraclete's titles is " the Spirit of Truth," and it is His delight to guide the seeking soul " into all the truth" (John 16.13). After the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost multitudes were saved and brought "to the knowledge of the truth" (see 1 Timothy 2.4), and such a manifestation of divine truth followed as had never been experienced over the forty centuries of human history. From Jerusalem, through Judea and Samaria, the "word of the truth of the gospel" was spread abroad with the view ultimately of reaching "the uttermost part of the earth," as commanded by the One to whom all authority had been given.

Let us note the insistence of the apostles on the divine origin of the truth they proclaimed. Peter asserts, " We did not follow cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and presence of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty" (2 Peter 1.16, R.V. Margin). Paul declares, "As touching the gospel which was preached by me, that it is not after man. For neither did I receive it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came to me through revelation of Jesus Christ " (Galatians 1.11, 12).

The truth disclosed to the apostles by revelation from God still obtains in our day. Jude refers to it as "the faith which was once for all delivered unto the saints," and it is our responsibility to contend earnestly for it. The majority of people are still deluded by Satan into "exchanging the truth of God for a lie," with the sad results apparent in the world to-day. Those together under the Lordship of Christ are described in 1 Timothy 3.15, as "the pillar and ground of the truth." As churches of God, fitly framed together and growing into a holy temple in the Lord, it is our privilege to maintain and give expression to divine principles. Viewed in this light, the greatness of our privileges is evident.

That the reception and maintenance of the truth of God may involve suffering is clear from the Scriptures. Reference has been made to one Old Testament saint who valued God's word more than his life, and also to the Master's supreme example in suffering for the truth's sake. The great conflict of sufferings endured by the apostle Paul in seeking to advance the truth of God is described in 2 Corinthians 11. Some have fallen away from the truth because of the difficulties involved, and the exhortation to "buy the truth and sell it not " is pertinent to every dispensation.

We are warned that in the last days men will be "ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth" (2 Timothy 3.7). It is a solemn reflection that, after the Church has been taken from the world, mankind will "reap the whirlwind" for the deception they have deliberately chosen in preference to the will of God. We learn from 2 Thessalonians 2.10-12 that "because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved ... God sendeth them a working of error, that they should believe a lie: that they all might be judged who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness." It would seem from Revelation 12.9 that the devil will then have been expelled from heaven, and will concentrate all his deceptive arts upon men, "knowing that his time is short." Truly, God is not mocked, and whatsoever men sow, that shall they also reap!

Reviewing God's gracious manifestation of Himself towards us in Christ, let us rejoice afresh in" the knowledge of the truth." Ours is a goodly heritage, a legacy won only by the devoted labours and sufferings of many godly brethren. These erring hearts of ours are still susceptible to the wiles of the Adversary, who wishes above all to mar the House of God, which is "the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth." Regular, devotional study of the Scriptures is our surest guarantee against falling away from the faith, and the more deeply we appreciate its value to God, the more fervently we shall endeavour to enlighten others who are still seeking the truth amidst the maze of error in the world to-day.

G. PRASHER, JR. | Apr 1943
General