by Jonathan Gillies
31st May 2021
There is hardly anything I like doing in my spare time more than wandering around in the internet, trying to find out the truth about different things. I find it amazing how two people can have diametrically opposed, but equally strong convictions about a certain topic. The thought sometimes occurs to me: “Why do people seem to feel this need to bother finding the truth? Animals don’t spend any time researching different topics to see if they can find out the truth about it, so why do we?” I have come to think that the answer to this question is that humans have been made in the image of God, while the animals have not, and part of that image of God is that we have a love and an attraction to the truth. Obviously, when humanity fell into sin through Adam’s transgression, that perfect image of God was very marred, which causes us to often run away and hide from the truth, just like Adam and Eve ran away and hid from the God of Truth after their transgression. Though that is tragically the case, there remains in us all, to a certain extent, that original love of the truth, which prompts us to seek it out, in this confusing and deceptive world.
In many places in the Bible, it talks about how God is the God of Truth. Here are a few examples:
- …all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity… (Deuteronomy 32:4)
- …thou hast redeemed me, O Lord God of truth. (Psalm 31:5)
- …he who blesseth himself in the earth shall bless himself in the God of truth; and he that sweareth in the earth shall swear by the God of truth; because the former troubles are forgotten… (Isaiah 65:16)
- Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. (John 14:6)
- …the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me: (John 15:26)
- …it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth. (1 John 5:6)
We may ask: “If God then is the God of Truth, and knows all things, as the Bible also tells us, why does he not come down and tell us the truth about everything in the world?” Well, in the Garden of Eden, before our first parents sinned, God had perfect communion with them, and walked beside them in the form of a man, talked with them, and surely taught them many things about the world he had created as a home for them. But after Adam and Eve sinned, they and their descendants would no longer be able to enjoy this special fellowship with him, because the God of Truth is also the God of Holiness. Adam and Eve were thrown out of the Garden of Eden and the beautiful earth was cursed because of their sin. God told Adam, “Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.” (Genesis 3:18-19) This is still the case for us today. Instead of having a clear knowledge of the truth through enjoying a perfect communion with God, our search for truth is a great struggle.
God is also the God of Justice. Every transgression of his law will be punished in full. Because God is infinite, the transgressions of his law must be punished with an infinite punishment. This means that if a finite creature transgresses his law, the punishment that will fall on them must last eternally. Seeing humans are all sinful, finite creatures, we are all, by nature, heading towards eternal punishment.
Is there no way of escaping this? Thankfully there is. The God of Holiness and Justice is also the God of Mercy. He could have justly left us all to perish in Hell forever, but, because of his amazing love and mercy, he chose to make a way of salvation so that anyone who wanted could make use of it to escape the wrath to come.
What is this way of salvation? God wrote an instruction manual to explain it to us. I would strongly urge everyone to read it, but a summary can be found in the 16th verse of the third chapter of John’s gospel. It reads as follows: ‘For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.’ This means that God sent his Son into the world to take the punishment for the sins of all those that would put their trust in him. So, those who do put their trust in him, instead of passing into eternal punishment for their sins when they die, will instead be regarded as sinless and righteous in the eyes of God because of the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ, and so he can legally let them enter Heaven to once again enjoy perfect communion with him for all eternity. There, knowing the truth will no longer be a struggle, but we will be taught by Christ himself for evermore. God gave John a vision of what this will be like in the Book of Revelation in the Bible. Here is a short part of his description of it:
And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they? And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.
Revelation 7:13-17
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