Greetings:
One of the most popular scriptures in the Bible comes the Gospel of John, the eighth chapter and 32nd verse. It reads:"You will know the truth and the truth will set you free,"
What does this really mean?
What is the truth and what is freedom?
Freedom is what Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread are ultimately about -- God's freeing Israel from bondage in Egypt
Truth and freedom go hand and hand. This is why the Christian world is in the condition it is in. The vast majority of Christians do not really mark the death of Jesus Christ in the way that God commands us to observe it.
They understand that Christ died for our sins. But they miss its full importance — its full impact.
Truth will produce freedom only as it is used. That ought to be self-evident. We can know something is true, but if we fail to use it, what good is it? Its value is worthless unless it is used.
Freedom and truth come to those who press on and seek it. Freedom, the kind of freedom that God is involved in bringing us into, comes progressively, not all at once.
This is shown by the Days of Unleavened Bread. It took the Israelites seven days to get to and across the Red Sea. It took them another 40 years to get into their own land, into their inheritance, the Promised Land.
This is a difficult message to bring into words. But we must connect the Old Testament with the New Testament to understand it.
What kind of message does it send to God if His children, those called by His name, either do not seek truth or carelessly ignore what they have?
To ignore truth is to ignore God and, by extension, to ignore salvation.
Remember, salvation is the active, continuous process by which God delivers us from what causes disease in the mental and physical areas of life and eternal death in the spiritual realm.
David in Psalm 51:6 said, "Surely you desire truth."
John writes in 4:23, "Worship the Father in spirit and truth."
We seek both freedom and truth by learning God's Word and then applying it to our daily lives. There is no short-cut answer. It takes time, study and prayer.
Truth comes to those who ask, seek, and knock for it, then use it in our own lives to glorify God. We do not always easily find it. Truth emerges only after a long and sometimes confusing search of conflicting information.
Needless to say, we must find it and preserve it.
Be blessed.
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