Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth. (John 17:17)

The Truth

A common phrase we use in everyday language is the “naked truth.” This phrase means the absolute truth and comes from an old fable. “Truth and Falsehood went swimming. Falsehood stole the clothes that Truth had left on the riverbank, but Truth refused to wear Falsehood’s clothes and went naked.” Truth is pure. There is no deceit in truth, and it bears no resemblance to falsehood. Truth is not encumbered with the cloak of lies and garments of jealousy.

John Hales wrote, “Truth is more ancient than error, for error is nothing else but deviation and swerving from truth” (Private Judgment in Religion; 1584-1666). Error is often paraded with a morsel of truth, but it remains false when the truth is covered up. Truth can only be one thing and is open to investigation by an honest heart. The psalmist declares that the entirety of God’s word is truth from the beginning (Psalm 119:60). Eve’s taking of the forbidden fruit did not change truth. The truth of God’s will was unaffected by her rebellion. Satan convinced the woman to view God’s command differently, and when she examined the truth of God’s word, she was willing to believe the Lord would accept her actions. This is like taking truth and putting on the dress of self-will, but truth remains the same. When challenged by God, Adam tried to redress the truth by blaming the woman. The naked truth remained the same when the Lord first gave them the command not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

King Saul was told by Samuel to “strike Amalek and devote to destruction all that they have. Do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey” (1 Samuel 15:3). Taking two hundred-thousand-foot soldiers and ten thousand men of Judah, the king went to war with Amalek. However, instead of obeying the command of God, King Saul decided to spare King Agag and the best of the sheep, the oxen, the fatlings, the lambs, and all that was good. How did Saul change the truth? He did not. Bringing the spoil of war back did not change the truth of what God told him to do. Confronted by Samuel about the “bleating of the sheep” and the “lowing of the oxen,” Saul defended his actions by suggesting God would be pleased. Sadly, what the king did not understand is that truth remained constant, and his disobedience did not change the truth but only condemned his actions.

Falsehood is a clothier. The most effective form of falsehood is when truth is mingled in the formula. As in the parable, what falsehood wants truth to do is wear its clothes so that falsehood will be presented as truth. It merely places the garments of deception on some truth, and the unsuspecting will believe what they hear is the truth. Satan’s lie to Eve was truth dressed in the cloak of a lie. This same ploy is used by Satan today. Eve understood clearly what the truth was. Satan only dressed it up a little bit with a skirt of lies, and the woman fell for the temptation. Often, the greatest tool the devil uses to entrap people is to allow them the luxury of truth, but dressed in the fashion chosen by the deceiver.

One of the most important lessons to learn about Satan is that “when he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44). The reality of his ploy is to cloak truth with his lies to deceive the heart. The lust of the flesh is the truth of what God has created, clothed in the lie of unrestrained pleasure. There is no lasting happiness when truth is corrupted. When men seek after the pride of life or the lust of the eye, they follow the primrose path of truth masked in the veneer of a false hope. Despair is all that comes from him. Truth must be unclothed to find happiness and fulfillment.

The only way to know the truth is to look at the source of truth. Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). The Son of God declares that whatever is of truth must come through Him. As the “way” and the “life,” Jesus personifies the character of “truth,” and this comes from the Father (John 14:10). Whatever Jesus says is truth because it comes from the Father – who is truth. We can have confidence in this truth knowing that God does not lie (Titus 1:1).

Religion is often clothed in enough truth that no one can see the false doctrine it really is. “And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness” (2 Corinthians 11:14-15). The devil knows the truth, and he cloaks it well with his lies to destroy us. The works of the flesh (Galatians 5:19-21) have enough ‘truth’ in them to attract men to embrace the error. Truth is naked because it bears its own mark of ownership. There is nothing to hide in truth. It does not change over time or adapt to different cultures. The gospel of Jesus Christ was true for those in 1492, as it is in the modern world. Truth is sanctified by the word of God (John 17:17), and the word of God is settled in Heaven (Psalm 119:89).

Truth will not wear the garments of Falsehood and must bear the purity of the heart in speaking the truth, believing the truth, and practicing the truth. There are no small lies or white lies or cute lies – a lie is a lie. Truth is truth. Refuse to put on the garments of falsehood. Walk according to the truth.