Knowing the Divine Truth, the Divine Reality

Knowing the truth personally requires that we first see a vision of what divine truth really is.

Let’s consider a profound definition of truth, that will help us unfold its meaning. Grasping the meaning of truth, we will go on to see how to know the divine truth by being in the true One.

What is Divine Truth?

This was the real question that plagued Pilate, the Roman ruler. By answering his questions, Jesus exposed his real lack,

 “So then You are a king? Jesus answered, You say that I am a king. For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, that I would testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.  Pilate said to Him, What is truth?” (John 18:37-38)

You may also have considered this same question.

 The Meaning of Truth  

The Life-study of 1 John, messages nine and ten, helped me to grasp what divine truth is.  If you are like me, it would take you a number of readings and thoughtful study with prayer to grasp the meaning of “truth” in these messages.

What I can cover in the following paragraphs is only a partial “unpacking” of the depth of the word “truth” as developed there.

 According to the revelation of the Bible, the word truth (Greek, aletheia) does not refer merely to genuine doctrines or to actual facts, but to “all the realities of the divine economy as the content of the divine revelation, contained, conveyed, and disclosed by the holy word” (Lee, Life-Study of  1, 2 & 3 John, p. 351).

 The “truth” revealed in the Scriptures is intrinsically the Triune God Himself:

God—Psalm 31:5

First, this truth refers to God Himself. He is the God of truth (Psalm 31:5).  Such a God, is  light and love, incarnated to be the reality of all the divine things (1 John 1:5; 4:8; John 1:1, 14). The reality of such things as the divine life, nature, power and glory are all God Himself.

Christ—John 14:6

Second, this divine truth refers to Christ, who is God incarnated, as the embodiment of God (Col. 2:9)  to be the reality of all the divine and spiritual things. In John 14:6, Christ said that He is the reality, the truth. Reality is the element of God realized by us in the Son (John 1:14).

The Spirit—1 John 5:6

 Third, the truth is the Spirit. Through death and resurrection, the Lord Jesus was transfigured into the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45) and this Spirit is the Spirit of reality. The Lord Jesus promised His disciples that if He would go (that is to pass through His death and resurrection) the Holy Spirit would come.“But when He, the Spirit of reality, comes, He will guide you into all the reality…” (John 16:13). He can guide us into the reality because the Spirit is the reality (1 John 5:6).

 The Word—John 17:17

Fourth, the word is truth. The above three points, point to the fact that truth is the Triune God Himself. God, Christ and the Spirit are the basic elements of the substance of  the truth, the divine reality. And this Triune God of truth being embodied in His word, makes His word, the word of truth (Eph. 1:13). In John 17:17, the Lord Jesus prayed to the Father, “sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.”

 The awesome thing about the Word being the truth, the reality is that when we contact the Word, it conveys the divine reality into us. For example, when we pray over a verse that says,” God is light” (1 John 1:5), the reality of God as light is conveyed to us through His word.

 Knowing the Divine Truth by Being in the True One

 Knowing the True One—1 John 5:20a

“The true One” refers to God being subjective to us in our life and experience. To know the true One,  refers to knowing the reality by experiencing, enjoying and possessing this reality which is God Himself.

Our understanding is a matter of three things—our mind, His Spirit, and our spirit. Our mind must be enlightened by His Spirit (see my previous post on the Spirit of reality as the “heavenly electricity” shining on the spiritual facts) to apprehend the divine reality in our regenerated spirit (Luke 24:45; 1 Cor. 2:10; Eph. 1:17-18)

We are able to know God as the true One because we possess His divine life through our divine birth (John 1:12-13; 3:6). John 17:3 says, “And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Him whom You have sent Jesus Christ.”

 Being in the True One, in His Son Jesus Christ—1 John 5:20b

 For us to be in the true One indicates that we not only have the knowledge of God outwardly, but that we also are in an organic union with Him inwardly. It is crucial for us to realize that we not only have the knowledge of God by are experience and enjoyment of Him, but that we are in Him in way of an organic union.

 For us to be in the true One, is for us to be in His Son Jesus Christ. This expression points to the fact that the true One and Jesus Christ are one by way of coinherence.

 “This” is the True God and Eternal Life—v. 20c

 The issue of our being experientially in the true One and in His Son Jesus Christ is that “this” is the true God and eternal life. “This” refers to “the God who has come through incarnation and given us the ability to know Him as the genuine God and to be one with Him organically  in His Son Jesus Christ. All this is the genuine and real God and eternal life to us,” So when we experience Him, this true One becomes the true God to us and Jesus Christ become the eternal life to us.

It is by our being in this true One that we are able to know the divine reality intrinsically and experientially.

This post was inspired by Message Three of a training I attended in Baarlo, Netherlands and you can enjoy a fuller presentation of these profound truths by reading the Life-Study of 1 John, messages 9, 10, 39 and 40 by Witness Lee. They are available for your free reading online at ministrybook.org.