THE CENTRALITY OF THE WORD OF GOD Pilate, unaware of the person standing before him, asked Christ, "What is truth?" (John 18:38). This was not an honest question, else it would have been answered by our Lord. Jesus had just declared His association with the truth, as well as man's obligation to hear what He declared. "To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Everyone that is of the truth hears my voice" (John 18:37). Truth is not ambiguous; it can be clearly asserted. Further, everyone identified with the truth gives attention to what Jesus declared. His "witness" consists of His words, His teaching, His proclamation. He came to declare in speech what could not otherwise be known. Tomorrow:
"I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: for THOU HAST MAGNIFIED THY WORD ABOVE ALL THY NAME." (Psa 138:2) ". . . for You have exalted above all else Your name and Your word and You have magnified Your word above all Your name!" (Amplified Bible)
Devotion 18 of 30
Christ was the embodiment of truth. "I am the . . . truth," He proclaimed (John 14:6). He was a tangible demonstration of God's person and will. When He was correctly perceived, an acquaintance with the Lord was achieved: "He that hath seen me hath seen the Father" (John 14:9), Christ declared. Viewed from the standpoint of the illuminator of truth, we read, "the Spirit is truth" (I John 5:6). He takes the things of God and shows them to men; i.e., unveils them to their understanding (John 16:13-15). The scriptures are the expression of reality in words. Thus did Jesus confess, "Thy word is truth" (John 17:17). Whether we speak of Christ, the Spirit, or the word of God, it is the reality being communicated that is the point. It is what Jesus said and what Jesus did that constituted the revelation. It is what the Spirit illuminates that is the point, and what the word proclaims that is to be embraced.
THE VALUE OF PERSUASION
The word of God makes truth accessible to men; it brings reality within their grasp. Laying hold of truth, however, is not an accomplishment of the senses. It is not something that is felt or transmitted to the spirit of man by sight or touch. It is the belief of the testimony that brings the possession of the truth. From the standpoint of the result of faith, this reception is called "persuasion" – when one is convinced of the truth, he possesses it. When he is persuaded in his heart that what God's word said precisely represents reality, the truth has been apprehended. When Abraham was "fully persuaded that what He [God] had promised, He was able also to perform" (Rom. 4:21); the fulfillment of the promise was on the way! Those who doubt the testimony, however, shall not receive the benefit. The testimony is the means of participation, and persuasion is the way men lay hold of the testimony.
The faithful Hebrews of old were given promises that were beyond the realm of contemporary experience. But they received the testimony of those good things, and being "persuaded of them," embraced them conforming their manner of life to those unseen realities (Heb. 11:13). On the other hand, Agrippa deprived himself of the blessing of eternal life, being only "almost" persuaded of the things of which the apostle spoke (Acts 26:28). Persuasion is the overcoming of doubt and unbelief. Where it is absent, the word has not been received, and thus the truth has not been appropriated. There has been, in such a case, no blessing, no benefit, no participation in the kingdom of God.
PRAYER POINT: Father, in the name of Jesus, I thank You that faith persuades the heart.