Reality - Astonishing and Horrible
Chapter 5
Truth above all virtues
Truth, by its own definition, is the only virtue that cannot be falsified. We rejoice in love and meditate deeply in its significance, grateful when we discover it is near. We know that God is love and His love cannot fail, but it can be counterfeited and, because of its power, it often is misused and misinterpreted. Many have been deceived by false love. The same can be said of any other virtue (joy, peace and justice, to give a very few examples) and we must always be aware of lies and deception from Satan, the master counterfeiter.
God loves truth, because it cannot be altered and is always steadfastly genuine. Every word of God is true and can be perfectly trusted. The Bible is the embodiment of truth and the Lord has given it to us for absolute, unquestionable authority. “Buy the truth, and sell it not,” the wise king wrote (Pr.23:23), because nothing is more precious to have as a possession. It is to be coveted above all else. Jesus presented Himself before Pilate as the King of Truth denoting that, without exception, everyone who gives top priority to truth, comes to Him: “I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice” (Jn.18:37). Nicodemus perhaps came fearfully to Christ by night, but his words in John 3:2 indicate that he was on a search for truth and Jesus said to him: “He who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God” (Jn.3:21). The presence of truth is the trustworthy proof of a work of God.
I often point to 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12 for consideration, in order to see the value that the Lord places on truth. Please do consider what this passage reveals. A deceiver is coming, who does lying wonders (verse 9). It is never legitimate to see miracles as proof of a genuine ministry. He operates in unrighteous deception and many will perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth. On the other hand, the love of the truth, as Jesus taught, will lead to salvation (verse 10). To those who do not love truth, God Himself will send strong delusion that they should believe the lie (verse 11), as He did to King Ahab in order to destroy him (please study 1 K.22:9-23). Verse 12 is astounding and must form part of our theology as Christians: “That they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” This teaching leads us to see, leaving no room for question, that God values truth above the souls of men.
Fallow Ground
Chapter 4
When the Lord brought me to a place of surrender in my youth, I began a serious study of the Scriptures. My parents helped me by giving me a Halley’s Handbook and a Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance. I found the Autobiography of Charles Finney in my dad’s library and still have it today. I devoured that book and presented it to my Sunday School class of adolescent boys, chapter by chapter. In the book, Finney often wrote of his sermons, which he preached in revivals across New York State, and one of them was from Jeremiah 4:3, Break Up Your Fallow Ground.
Israel has already fallen to Assyria, but if they want to return to their land, they must first return to the Lord. It is His land, lent to Israel, so the inhabitant must swear, “The Lord lives,” and recognize His attributes of truth, judgment and righteousness. From that land, He will reign and the entire world will glory in His reign and find spiritual blessing for themselves.
Beginning with the third verse of this chapter, the Lord turns specifically to Judah and Jerusalem. Judah escaped from the Assyrian invasion, under which the northern kingdom fell, but Nebuchadnezzar is on his way from Babylon towards Jerusalem. He speaks to them of the land, in terms which they understand, being an agricultural nation, if not working the ground, certainly involved in its products. They are as uncultivated land, left to grow whatever sprouts of itself. They cannot produce a harvest on this ground covered with weeds and thorns. Jesus illustrated that the good seed would be choked by them (Mt.13:22). He said that the thorns are cares of the world and the quest for riches.
The reason for existence is to be fruitful for God, and the human heart cannot be productive, while it is left to go its own way. It must be cultivated in order to receive the things of God. Next the Lord uses their religious practice of physical circumcision to speak of heart separation from the lust of the world and its idols. He warns them of coming under His wrath, as unquenchable fire, provoked by their evil living (4). The God of the Old Testament is concerned with heart religion!
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