The faithfulness of God

We’ve been inundated with fake news. With new government regulations threatening fines and even imprisonment for those who spread false or misleading news stories, questions of truth have again taken centre stage. Like Pilate in John 18:38 we find ourselves asking: “What is truth?”

The Bible answers emphatically: “God is truth.” Jer. 10:10-11 declares: “the LORD is the true God; he is the living God and the everlasting King…. The gods who did not make the heavens and the earth shall perish”. John Gill explains: “Whatever is said of human beings, God is truth itself… God is true, real, and substantial, the living God in opposition to fictitious deities.”

When we say that God is truth, we first acknowledge that God is the true God. As we just heard from the prophet Jeremiah, God is the living God and all other deities are mere figments of our imagination. When Jesus prayed to his Father he said: “this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” (John 17:3).

Because God is true, God’s knowledge is also true. Louis Berkhof says that God “knows things as they really are”. God’s knowledge, therefore, is not only true, but the final standard of truth. God is “perfect in knowledge” (Job 37:16). This means that God is never wrong, never mistaken, never confused or perplexed. God has the correct understanding of the nature of reality. Our knowledge is only true insofar as it conforms to God’s.

Finally, because God is true his words are also true. This means that God is reliable and faithful in all that he says. He is a “God of faithfulness” (Deut. 32:4). God will always do what he has said and will always keep his promises. Numbers 23:19 says: “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?” The Scriptures are God’s truth revealed to man. As Jesus said in John 17:17: “your word is truth.” Because God can be trusted, his Word can be trusted as well. Proverbs 30:5 assures us: “Every word of God proves true.” God “never lies” (Titus 1:2).

How does this apply to us? Knowing God is true and faithful encourages us to trust him. His Word becomes a solid foundation for our understanding of ourselves, the world and our place in it. It tells us who we truly are, who God truly is and how we can have a relationship with him. It is filled with precious promises that are as true and dependable as God is. In the words of Psalm 37:3: “Trust in the LORD, and do good; dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness.”

The second part of that verse also tells us that we should strive to be trustworthy and faithful. If God is the God of truth, as his children we should be people of truth. Those who have been born again through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ should not lie. Col. 3:9: “Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices”. We should love truth and despise falsehood. In the words of Zech. 8:17: “do not devise evil in your hearts against one another, and love no false oath, for all these things I hate, declares the LORD.”

God is true and faithful. His Word can be trusted, because He is trustworthy. And if our God is trustworthy, we should be as well.
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Because of Christ,
Pastor Pieter
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Next: The independence of God