All Important Truth

     According to much of the world, truth is considered to be relative, depending on human conditions, circumstances, concepts and opinions. This has been born by man's desires in an attempt to give us liberty to create truth as it suits us, which pointlessly ignores the reality that truth is stable, and that there can only be one truth. The Webster Dictionary and other dictionaries list a variety of descriptions of "truth", but I'll just quote two, "the body of real things, events, and fact." and "the property (as of a statement) of being in accord with fact or reality" For me, I just call it, "the evidence of unchangeable reality". Everyone may have a slightly different opinion as to what truth is and that is our freedom, but if there can be more then one truth, can these "truths" stand up to reality, as it is described, desired and respected? There cannot possibly be two realities! Our USA human justice systems depends on the pure concept that there must be only "ONE" truth, and this agrees with God Almighty's established righteous concept, that there is only one truth, which is precisely what God has designed and has established in all Jehovah's creations, and all of us are part of God's exact creative work. Being the designer of truth, "Jehovah" God is truth, "Into Your hand I commit my spirit; You have redeemed me, O Jehovah, God of truth."(Psalm 32:5). Can we survive apart from Jehovah's truth? For anyone to entertain a future with God Almighty in His kingdom and knowingly walk contrary to His designed truths does not have a future, because Jehovah is in control of man's reality, depending nothing on what we think or believe. But Jehovah is also a God of grace, "For Jehovah God is a sun and a shield; Jehovah will give grace and glory; He will withhold nothing good from those who walk in integrity." (Psalm 84:11), however, there does seem to be a stipulation to His just and generous grace by having faith that Jehovah is truth. "But I commanded them this thing, Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be My people. Also, walk in all My ways that I have commanded you, so that it may be well with you." (Jeremiah 7:23). Some preach that Jehovah's law was just for the Israelites, to show us that man cannot keep God's laws, which does relax a man's commitment to walk according to His just commands. However, the law was given to all men, for His instructions are for our co-existence and good fortune, "For whatever things were written before were written for our instruction, that through patience and encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope." (Romans 15:4). Would it be fair to the Israelites if the laws were just for them to keep? We all should know that God is just and fair and that the Book Christ gave us, New and Old Testaments is for all mankind, "As for God, His way is perfect; the word of Jehovah is purified; He is a shield to all who trust in Him." (Psalm 18:30), it does say, "all who trust in Him". And consider this verse, "Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments; for this applies to every man" (Ecclesiastes 12:13) and  "blessed are the ones doing His commandments, that their authority will be over the Tree of Life, and they may enter into the city by the gates." (Revelation 22:14).

     It is our duty and a blessing for us to seek Jehovah's truth. "declare and bring near; yea, let them consult together. Who has revealed this of old; who has told it from then? Is it not I, Jehovah? And there is no God other then Me; a just God and a Savior; there is none except Me." (Isaiah 45:21). One needs to understand that Christ was not yet sent and His blood was not yet shed which qualified Him as the "Lamb of God" and our Savior, along with Jehovah, the designer of our salvation. There are many other verses instructing us to walk according to God's way, "O send out Your light and Your truth; let them lead me and bring me to the mount of Your holiness and Your tabernacles." (Psalm 43:3), "Iniquity is covered by mercy and truth; and in the fear of Jehovah, man turns aside from evil." (Proverbs 16:6) and, "These are the things that you shall do. Let each man speak the truth with his neighbor. Judge with truth and justice for peace in your gates." (Zechariah 8:16). But they are not all in the Old Testament, "For you have need of patience, that having done the will of God you may obtain the promise." (Hebrews 10:36), and from Christ Himself, "For whoever does the will of God, this one is My brother, and My sister, and My mother." (Mark 3:35). If your not sure that God's commands and laws were meant for all humans, consider this one from Revelation, "And the dragon was enraged over the women and went away to make war with the rest of the seed, those keeping the commandments of God, and having the testimony of Jesus Christ." (Revelation 12:17) also, "And this is love, that we should walk according to His commandments. This is the commandment, even as you heard from the beginning that you should walk in it." (II John 1:6). The laws and the Commandments are Jehovah's, and Christ came to reveal His Father and His Father's way to us, "I have spoken these things to you in allegories. An hour comes when I will no longer speak to you in allegories, but I will reveal the Father plainly to you." (John 16:25) and, "I revealed Your name to the men You gave to Me out of the world. They were Yours, and You gave them to Me; and they have kept Your word." (John 17:6). Christ's first advent was for Him to establish His Father's salvation, but also to give to us His Father's words, "I gave them Your word, and the world hated them because they are not of the world, as I am not of the world." (John 17:14).  He also came to empower others to teach the gospel message.

     Along with Jehovah's words of truth, His every action is truth, "For the word of Jehovah is right, and all His works are in truth." (Psalm 33:4) and our actions are to be as He has instructed us, and this is our respectful fear for our Creator, "Only fear Jehovah and serve Him in truth with all your heart, for see that He has done great things for you." (I Samuel 12:24), and David speaks on this, "Teach me Your way, O Jehovah; I will walk in Your truth; unite my heart to fear Your name." (Psalm 86:11), and from Jesus, "But the one doing the truth comes to the light, that his work may be revealed, that they have been worked in God." (John 3:21). Our personal actions reveal if we have connected with the truth God has given for us to know and to do, "Then stand firm, having girded your loins about with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness." (Ephesians 6:14), and, "But we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness, nor adulterating the word of God, but by the revelation of the truth commending ourselves to every conscience of man before God." (II Corinthians 4:2).

     Sincerity, passion, commitment and spirit are shared by most other religions, but truth eludes them all, in at least one way, but usually in many ways. Truth is the standard in God's way because He designed truth, and this should be the way of all Christians, however, understanding that there are over two thousand Christian denominations, all holding to a different set of doctrines, they cannot all be based on God's total truth. It is each Christian's responsibility to study God's word for oneself, not relying on their pastor, friends, someone in the media, radio, TV, the Internet, or a human declared to be a prophet, but only on our reliance to God's word that reigns supreme; we are judged only on God's word and so are all the Christian teachers, whatever position they hold. Just because we may not get it perfect in our studies, our efforts and our goal should be to seek perfection without compromise. God has given us the perfect time to embrace studying and searching for the truth in God's word, during His Sabbath day, which He gave to us by sanctifying the seventh day of His acts of creation, and this was before an Israelite was yet established; He later confirmed His Sabbath in His Forth Commandment.  

     The Israelites and Judah, both lost their connection with the truth, even though some had heard God's voice and saw His many extreme miracles, the plagues He caused in Egypt and in parting the Red Sea and they still discarded His truth, They did paid a stiff price, walking in the wilderness for forty years, and later, seventy years in Babylon. During these two periods and others, God continued with out-stretched arms, waiting for them to embrace His truth, and His way. Are we any stronger then those in the Old Testament? We do have available to us at this time in history, the added advantage of a Book, assembled with the writings of the Old Testament prophets and the writings Christ chose, and inspired before and after He ascended to be next to Jehovah God's throne. All this was not available to those of old times; they only had the priest, their kings and prophets to relay God's truth to them. Our Bibles are the key to our salvation, because man cannot be trusted with the truth; this may be one reason Jehovah wrote the Ten Commandments onto stone tablets and with His own finger. Good intensions are simply our starting point, which must end up in the truth according to our Designer, Jehovah's pure way. Christ was in complete alignment with His Father, and this was David's focus, "I delight to do Your will, O My God; and Your law is within my inmost soul." (Psalm 40:8) and it should also be ours if we are following Jesus, as He has called us, "If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will also be. And if anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him." (John 12:26).

     I have heard many sermons calling for unity within their church, but I haven't heard truth being mentions as an important guideline in their desired unity, which is a must as the key element in establishing and maintaining unity. With thousands of Christian denomination professing to share the truth of God's way and His word, this is a just calling for all to examine only the Bible and with like souls, but it is up to the individual to seek out God's expressed truth. The root of all that is lacking within Christianity is from man relying on the words of man and not strictly on the words of Jehovah, which Christ diligently gave us in purity, which lies only in the original language, because translations and versions of His word fall short of His purity, so caution is needed to be applied, and finding what is consistent throughout God's word, this must be a priority for the faithful committed Christian.

      Truth also affects our worship; can we worship in truth if we are not aware of the truth God has given us in His word? We are called to worship in truth along with walking in His truth, "God is a spirit, and the ones worshiping Him must worship in spirit and truth." (John 4:24). Part of our worship is prayer, and knowing that God knows us better then we do ourselves, knowing that He reads our hearts, our intensions and our motives, therefore, our prayers in truth are a must, if we desire God to hear them and respond, "As it is written in the law of Moses, all this evil has come on us. Yet we do not make our prayer before Jehovah our God, that we might turn from our perversities and understand Your truth." (Daniel 9:13).

     Can we share anything other then the truth and expect to be honored by God and His Son? As we willingly walk in Jehovah's way, we are automatically a teacher because others view our doings and can learn from that, but this only applies if we walk in His designed truth, otherwise we are promoting lies and teaching error if we claim to be a Christian. It is said that, "Actions speak louder then words" which is not a Biblical quote, but it possesses some truth, people do watch what we do closer then what we speak, therefore our walk must be in accordance with God's way and Christ came and displayed this in His perfect earthly walk to qualify Himself as the "Lamb of God", so that He would pay the price for our repented sins, this was also for us to see because He called us to follow Him, "Then Jesus spoke to them, saying, I am the light of the world; he following Me in no way will walk in darkness, but will be the light of life." (John 8:12). Our action determines who we are by the outside world, only God knows who we are from our inside desires, character and motives, therefore it is necessary to know Jehovah's way in order to walk in His truth, because our walk starts in our heart. Conforming to our church's doctrines or our pastor's words do not impress our God Jehovah, or our Lord Jesus. Our searching for God's truth and walking accordingly is what we are judged on by Jehovah, our ultimate judge, "Jehovah will judge the people. Judge me O Jehovah, according to my righteousness and according to my integrity on me." (Psalm 7:8), and "For Jehovah is our judge; Jehovah is our lawgiver; Jehovah is our king; He will save us." (Isaiah 33:22), Jehovah is the designer of our salvation and Christ was sent to establish Jehovah's salvation by the shedding of His own blood. Now from the New Testament, "But I do not seek My glory; there is One who seeks and judges." (John 8:50), "and to an assembly, a church of the firstborn ones having been enrolled in Heaven; and to God the judge of all; and to spirits of just ones who have been perfected." (Hebrews 12:23). The truth needs to be sought after, truly converting the heart.

     Let us review the first four truths in God's Commands, as they are translated from the Hebrew text, which are somewhat different from the general Bibles. The first is, "I am Jehovah your God, who has brought you out from the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. You shall not have any other god beside Me.", the second, "You shall not make a graven image for yourself, of any likeness which is in the heavens above, or which is in the earth beneath, or which is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them, and you shall not serve them; for i am Jehovah your God, a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of  fathers on children, on the third and forth generation, to those that hate Me; and doing kindness  to thousands, to those loving Me, and to those keeping My commandments.", the third, "You shall not take the name of Jehovah your God in vain; for Jehovah will not leave unpunished the ones who take His name in vain." and the forth, "Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy; six day you shall labor and do all your work; and the seventh day is a sabbath day toy Jehovah your God; you shall not do any work , you and your son, and your daughter, your make slave and your slave-girl, and your livestock, and your stranger who is in your gates. For in six days Jehovah made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all which are in them, and He rested on the seventh day; on account of this Jehovah blessed the sabbath day and sanctified it." (Exodus 20:2-11). You can see that the major difference is that God spoke and wrote His name seven times in the first four commands, putting a different understanding to them that is not expressed in most Bible translations. Does your present understanding of these four commands compare with how they are expressed here? Does your church doctrine fall in line with the way these first four commands are expressed by Jehovah Himself, spoken, then written? If not, you need to look at the Hebrew text on your own. Know for sure that judgment day for all humanity will be according to what has been written and shared by Jehovah Himself, then inspired by Christ Jesus to the Bible writers. There is only one truth and only one God who is the ultimate judge of all, and Jehovah will be using His expressed standards to judge mankind, not according to your pastor's words or church doctrine, but on God's truth, only.