God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it? (Number 23:19) Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being,and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart. (Psalm 51:6).
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14).
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6).
Our culture is preoccupied with truth. We’re the kind of people who love to get to the bottom of things. We like our 20/20 exposé specials. We want to know the inside scoop. We value people with lots of degrees who’ve studies the facts. In short, we want to know that what we know is true.
But what about who we know? Are we as concerned that who we know is true?
This question may sound strange to you, but it wouldn’t sound strange to Jesus. Jesus introduced himself to humanity using a word that up to that time had never been attributed to a person. He called himself truth.
This makes us squirm a bit. We’re used to fact-truth. Truth comes in bullet points. We read truth on paper. We can’t know truth as a friend, can we? After all, truth is definitely propositional. That 2+2=4 is a fact that is true, but impersonal. I’m not friends with 2. I don’t get angry at 4. But Jesus says something fundamentally mindblowing. He says that he is truth.
God is not like us. He doesn’t lie. He doesn’t exaggerate. He tells the truth, because he is the truth. All truth derives from God, because God is the truth. He doesn’t just know truth “out there,” as though “2+2=4” was hanging out before he got around to creation. He is truth. And this fact is extremely important to us.
First, it means that any real search for truth will find its fulfillment in Jesus. Jesus has revealed himself to us full of grace and truth. That means that he’s knowable, and is inviting us to know him too.
This also means that lying is a big deal, because it isn’t just something God doesn’t like, it’s opposed to his very nature. Therefore, God wants his people to be gracious truth-tellers, just as Jesus was.
Finally, God’s truth-ness means that we can truly know him. Knowing God isn’t a game. It’s not a religious manipulation. We don’t have to worry about the next 20/20 special uncovering something false about him. If we know Jesus, we can be at peace in our souls. We know the truth, and in knowing him, we are now free.