Bound By Truth

In 1862, William Bradbury composed a tune and chorus for lyrics penned by Anna Warner, published in a book by her sister, Susan Warner. These lyrics served as a comforting poem for a dying child. It’s safe to say that “Jesus Loves Me” is one of the most recognizable hymns worldwide; whether you hum the melody or sing the words, people instantly recognize it. The chorus famously concludes with “for the Bible told me so.” Bradbury, known for his melodies in hymns like “Just As I Am” and “Savior, Like a Shepherd Lead Us,” grasped a reality about Scripture that seems to have faded in many modern churches. That reality about Scripture is that Scripture is true truth!

If you look up the word truth in the dictionary you will find roughly 10 different definitions of the word. Ranging from “actual state of matter” and “actuality or actual existence” to “agreement with a standard or original” and “the state or character of being true” the dictionary leaves one wondering if there is a real definition, if there is something that we can rest on as being true truth and if so, what or more aptly who?

Engaging with people today reveals a significant disparity in what constitutes truth. Most people today have the belief that truth is in the eye of the beholder, meaning that for most people, truth is subjective. In order for something to be subjective it is shaped by the mind of the individual.

The danger of this way of looking at the truth is that there can never be a true truth. When truth is subjective it lacks a solid foundation and is vulnerable to human desires. If we take a quick look around us, it’s alarming to think that truth could be swayed by individual whims!

So, if we can’t find true truth subjectively, where can we locate it? The answer lies in what we call OBJECTIVE TRUTH, which rests on a reliable source. Which brings us to Scripture, the true truth, because the foundation of the truth of Scripture is the Living God. The psalmist writes in Psalm 119:160 “The sum of Your word is truth, and every one of Your righteous judgements is everlasting.” In John 17:17 as Jesus prays in the Garden of Gethsemane He says “Sanctify them by the truth; Your word is truth.” These are but two examples we find in Scripture that teach us that God’s word is true. So the question then is, what makes God’s word true, how can the psalmist, William Bradbury, Christ, the Apostles and the believers through the centuries so sure that this Word is true truth…because of Yahweh.

It is necessary to take a moment here and talk about the attributes of God, Yahweh, so that we comprehend these claims. The attributes or characteristics of God are descriptions of the very qualities of the nature of God. When we look at the Word of God we learn that God is holy, just, immutable (unchanging), truth, love, self-sustaining, etc. and what we find regarding these attributes is that God is always all of these things. Although we could certainly go into a entire separate conversation here about these attributes (each one has had volumes written about them) I want to narrow the focus to two of those that I have listed (there are more by the way).

For the sake of the purpose of this post, let’s focus on the attributes of God that are truth and immutability. In Psalms 31:5 and 108:4, God is described as “the God of truth” and His “truth reaches the skies”. These, along with other many other verses demonstrate for us that God, Himself, is truth. Once we understand that God is truth, the fact of His immutability needs to be understood. Immutability simply means that God cannot change, in Numbers 23:19 we read “God is not a man, that He should lie, nor is a son of man, that He should repent; Has He said, and will not do it? Or has He spoken, and He will not establish it? and in Malachi 3:6 we read “For I, Yahweh, do not change; therefore you, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed.” Taking these verses into consideration it becomes clear that the fact that God is truth and immutable helps to solidify this position of true truth.

To bring this to a close, let us turn to Hebrews 6 and look at a couple of verses. Before I include those verses, let’s understand the context of this book and chapter. In the overarching context of Hebrews we are guided to an understanding that Christ is The One Mediator between God and man, but in chapter 6 the writer, “borne along by the Spirit (2 Peter 2:21), teaches us about those who will fall away (unbelievers posing as believers) and the inheritance of the promise for those who persevere in the faith.

Hebrews 6:17-20 – “In the same way God, desiring even more to shoe to the heirs of the promise the unchangeableness of His purpose, guaranteed it with an oath, so that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have taken refuse would have strong encouragement to take hold of the hope set before us. This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and confirmed and one which enters within the veil, where a forerunner has entered for us – Jesus, having become a high priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.

In these verses we have, again, the word of God defining for us that God is truth (it is impossible for Him to lie) and the encouragement that this truth should bring, the hope that is found in the true truth, the Sacred Scripture. That eternal truth, that hope, is the reconciliation between God and His elect, accomplished through the finished work of Christ (i.e. His perfect life, His sinner’s death, His descent into the grave, His defeat of death in the resurrection and His ascension to Glory where He waits at the right hand of the Father).

So, if you are looking for truth, stop looking for it in yourself, in others around you, in the culture, in the latest trends, in the stars, in the earth or in the “forces” around you and turn to the only true truth, the truth set upon the foundation of the immutable Yahweh, who is truth, the true truth!

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