"...and you will know the truth, and THE TRUTH will set you free." - JOHN 8:32
TENT PEGS OF TRUTH
"I will drive him like A PEG in a firm place, And he will become a throne of glory to his father's house." - ISAIAH 22:23.
Every truth is a tent peg that braces us against the billowing winds and wiles of the world. Brace us, Lord, unto You, with all manner and form of Your irrepressible truth.
Psalm 119:160 says, "The SUM of your word is truth, and every one of your righteous rules endures forever." - Psalm 119:160. [Emphasis added].
If "the SUM" of God's word is truth, then by design and definition, the operation of truth means it always "ADDS TO". The sum is the mathematical process of addition. By simple arithmetic, the Word adds unto. Without exception. It never "subtracts from". The sum of truth added to your life is "always gain". This means it will at all times, both now and forever, only ever "ADD TO" or supplement you. And if every truth "ENDURES FOREVER", what it adds will also "endure indefinitely". By contrast, the opposite is, therefore, also true. Truth can, therefore, never "TAKE FROM" you. It is a mathematical law. It is absolute. Truth is a "righteous rule". By righteous it means an abiding moral principle or charter. And it's determining "characteristic" and essential "quality", meaning it's "SUBSTANCE", is to only profit.
Proverbs 8:21 states, "... that I may cause those who love Me to inherit SUBSTANCE; and I will fill their treasures." (Emphasis added).
In other words, that the truth adds SUBSTANCE is a forgone conclusion. The result will always be the same. No matter how many times you add a new truth to your life, the end result, or sum, will always be for your gain. It adds substance. Such is the eternal inheritance of truth. And if Jesus is "the way, and THE TRUTH, and the life" (John 14:6), and if the SUM of truth is always life, and the WAY of truth is always life, then another mathematical certainty is that the sum of Jesus is, therefore, always life too. The way of Jesus is always truth, and always life. And, therefore, Jesus is always profit and gain. And if the sum of truth is "life", then the truth will never, ever disappoint. For how can "adding life" to anything ever be a disappointment? Adding life can never be anything less than that which both profoundly pleases, and that which derives wholehearted approval.
Having said that, is it possible that at times the truth will also, perhaps, make one uncomfortable? Oh yes. Without question. But don't confuse the flesh's propensity for, and insistence upon, its "own comfort" with that of disappointment. What our flesh may regard as disappointment, our spirit will perceive as divine appointment. But Jesus simply cannot disappoint. For He is the truth. And the truth is a righteous and eternal rule. It is incapable of failing. It will never miscarry. It will never fall short of anything other than endowing one's life and substance with its "ultimate posture". For the Word cannot return void (Isaiah 55:11). It is not in the makeup of truth to mislead. It will never hinder. By its fundamental constitution, it is impossible for truth to deceive or delude, or to dash ones hopes upon the torment of what ultimately becomes shipwreck. It will always sustain. It will forever supplement. It will at all times add substance. On every occasion it will profit. Such is the nature of truth.
So then, if the truth doesn't disappoint, and God is truth, does God ever disappoint? I was almost tempted to say no, never, but let’s be real. While God does NOT disappoint, my flesh CAN be disappointed in the answers that God gives. In other words, whilst my flesh may be uncomfortable with Jesus' truth, Jesus is wholly incapable of disappointing. Without exception, Jesus always and only wants the ultimate best for us. And as an abiding imperative, "the best" emphatically insists and ensures that the likelihood and possibility of disappointing anyone ever, therefore, categorically falls far outside the realms of who and what He is. His core truth and substance doesn't allow for it. So, if the "truth is only gain", and if one of the hinderances to truth is the "comfort of my flesh", it goes without saying that I want to be both so utterly immersed in Jesus that my trust is solely placed in Him, and so embedded in His truth, in His whole essence, that my flesh is yielded 100% to His truth.
In John 8:32, Jesus also said, "... and you will know the truth, and THE TRUTH will set you free." So, whilst the truth SETS "us free", the truth is not OF ITSELF 'for free'. For we are to "Buy the truth, and sell it not", so says Proverbs 23:23. Given that the truth is to be "bought", it thus cannot therefore be for free. Jesus IS the truth. Jesus is also the greatest prophet who ever lived. As a "prophet", He was not, nor is not, by contrast, a "politician". The POLITICIAN stands in front of people and offers what the majority wants, and as a result, becomes popular and is elected. He stands in front of them and says, "Follow me." But, by contrast, as with all the examples in the Bible, the PROPHET stands alone, and instead says, "Look. You are going the wrong way. Turn around." People are often deceived because they choose what is more COMFORTABLE to their flesh. They are not willing to pay the price required to acquire the "substance of being" that "buying the truth" of Jesus will add to their personal character and quality. And who knows better than anyone what appeals to the flesh? Who is the greatest politician who ever lived? The devil. It was nothing more than politics when the devil tempted Jesus. "Again, the devil took him (Jesus) to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.” (Matthew 4:8-9). Like a true politician, satan offered what was comfortable if Jesus followed him. But unlike the truth, what he offers always SUBTRACTS "from" our lives. This, too, is a mathematical absolute. It's a guaranteed certainty. Whilst the devil puts lipstick on his deceitful words and wiles, he comes only to steal and maim and destroy.
So how do we resist the flesh and the devil? James 4:7 says, "Submit yourselves, then, unto God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." We RESIST the flesh and the devil by purchasing the tent pegs of God's truth, that we may withstand the billowing winds and wiles of the world. And having strengthened our tent pegs (added truth to truth), we drive these tent pegs in deep (meditate on it day and night) so that the walls of our tent (the temple of the Spirit) may become deaf to the voice of the flesh demanding the deception of worldly comfort. “Enlarge the place of your tent (add substance to your character and your quality), And let them stretch out the curtains of your dwellings (make yourself uncomfortable by stretching, and submit yourselves unto God and His truth); Do not spare (pay the price, study the Word); Lengthen your cords (grow in wisdom), And strengthen your stakes (tent pegs).” (Isaiah 54:2 NKJV).
"By wisdom a house is built, and through understanding it is established; through knowledge its rooms are filled with rare and beautiful treasures." - Proverbs 24:3-4. Buy the tent pegs of truth that your house may be established.
Be the water beneath my feet;
Be the wind in my sails;
Be the fire in my heart;
Be the reason I live;
Be the tent pegs of truth,
That brace me forever,
To the very essence and substance of You.
"But now for a brief moment grace has been shown from the LORD our God, to leave us an escaped remnant and to give us A PEG in His holy place, that our God may enlighten our eyes and grant us a little reviving in our bondage." - Ezra 9:8.
"I will drive him like A PEG in a firm place, And he will become a throne of glory to his father's house." - Isaiah 22:23.
"From them will come the cornerstone, From them the TENT PEG, From them the bow of battle, From them every ruler, all of them together." - Zechariah 10:4.
- To God our Father in heaven be all the glory. Forever and ever. Amen and amen.
- Blessings, Wayne Biehn