The Truth vs The Lie*

With the proliferation of lies all around us, how can we know who's telling the truth when each side accuses the other of lies? We need to know the Word of God, which not only warns us of the danger of lies, but also gives us the knowledge of the truth. As we will see in scripture, it is important to God to assure us that His Word is truth: "For what if some did not believe? shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect? God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged." (Rom. 3:3-4). Because God judges based upon His Word, His Word must be indisputable in truth. From the beginning, Satan has wanted man to believe that God's Word is untrue. Satan's lie has continued from that time to be based on the question, "Hath God said...?" Titus wrote that acknowledging of the truth is next to the quality of godliness (Titus 1:1). He goes on to write: "In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began." (v. 2). From the opening of Genesis, which begins with the Hebrew phrase, Barasheit Elohim (Aleph Tav/Alpha and Omega), the promise of eternal life was given to man. The pictographic meaning of Barasheit is "The Son of God crushed, His hand on a cross". Not only is the counsel of God immutable, or unchangeable, but He also swore to the truth by an oath to doubly assure us of the truth of His promise. Because God has given us this double assurance of the truth of His promise to us, we can have hope in eternal life like a sure and fast anchor. It is that hope, based upon a true and proven promise, that allows us to enter into the holiest place of God, behind the separating veil (see Heb. 6:16-19). It was so important to God that our hope rests upon our assurance of His truthfulness, that He sent truth in the form of His Son: "Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father but by me." (Jn. 6:14). You cannot come to God based on a lie of man or devil. You cannot believe a lie and say that it is Jesus. Jesus is the truth that oversomes the law of sin and death. There were those who would not believe the truth that Jesus brought. They could not hear it, nor receive it. They chose instead to submit themselves to lies, and the father of lies because it encouraged their lusts: "Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar and the father of it. And because I tell you the truth, you believe me not...He that is of God heareth God's words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God." (Jn. 8:43-47). The fact that many did not believe Jesus in that day, and continue to refuse the truth, is so the prophecy of Isaiah would be fulfilled: "He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them." (Jn. 12:37-40, Isa. 6:9-10). Many religious leaders in Jesus time who did believe Him were afraid of what others, particularly the Pharisees, would say about them, and that they might be put out of the synagogue for their belief: "For they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God." (Jn. 12:42-43). We should not be ashamed or afraid regarding the truth of which we have been assured by God. Others across the world are being martyred and persecuted for this faith in the truth. Not even Jesus, Himself, but the Word that Jesus has spoken will judge us in the last day, because Jesus only spoke the Words of truth that were given to Him by the Father to speak (v. 47-49). The commands that Jesus spoke which were from His Father were and are life everlasting (v. 50). Isaiah, as he prophetically brought the revelation of the Messiah forth, wrote: "Therefore my people shall know my name: therefore they shall know in that day that I am he that doth speak: behold, it is I." (Isa. 52:6). The one who speaks the Father's words is Jesus, as He told us above. Isaiah continues to write about the beautiful feet of him who brings the gospel, the good tidings of good that publishes salvation..."that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!...for the LORD hath comforted his people, he hath redeemed Jerusalem. The LORD hath made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God." (Isa. 52:7-10). Isaiah makes it very clear that the salvation of God will come as a Servant who is marred and wounded, not because of His own sin, but for the sins and transgressions of others (see Isaiah 52 and 53). This truth could not be subject to challenge because all flesh and all of the nations would "see" this salvation. It would not be hidden, nor proclaimed secretly, but the good tidings of good would be proclaimed and published across the earth. Many nations would be sprinkled (NAZAH), and Kings would see the evidence of this Person who brings salvation, even when no one has told them (Isa. 52:15). The prophetic words of Isaiah speak the powerful truth of the Messiah, fulfilled exactly by Jesus. There has never been anyone else who has so accurately fulfilled ths prophetic Word of God. We have additional evidence of the truth, that agrees with the scriptures in Isaiah, and other scriptures, in every way, and that allows all to see, which is the Shroud of Turin. Others have tried to hide this evidence with lies, but the evidence, as the LORD proclaimed in Isaiah, speaks for itself. We can see the importance of truth as the sure foundation of God's Word. It is, and always has been, everlasting life to those who hear it and believe it. The truth we accept or reject, and the lies we believe, will make the difference between our going to heaven or hell. As the creation of the new heavens and the new earth are manifested, the New Jerusalem coming down from heaven is lighted, not by the sun or the moon, but by the glory of God and the light of His Son, the Lamb (Rev. 21:23). "And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life." (v. 27). As Jesus declared, "Behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be. I am the Alpha (Aleph) and Omega (Tav), the beginning and the end, the first and the last. Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city. For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie." (Rev. 22:12-15). How we receive the truth or not will judge us. We will either live because of the hope we receive in the truth, which is everlsting life, or we will believe the lie, and perish. *Based on Dr. Kenneth E. Stevenson's 7/25, 21 message to the church. To contact: P.O. Box 154221, Waco, TX, 76705 OR Everlastingcovenant@ymail.com. You can also find us on Faebook, Twitter, and endtimeschool.com.