How Do You Know the Truth?
Listen here.
Do you know the truth? Of course, I hope so. I’ve been zeroing in on truth all year, and this is the tenth time this year for me to meditate on and write on truth. The apostle John almost OCD’d on truth in his first epistle. Let’s see what we can learn from 1 John 2:20-21.
1 John 2:20
But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all know.
We are dropping into a section of his letter where John addressed those who he considered to be antichrist. This verse begins with the contrasting conjunction, but, to contrast those who are antichrist and have left their assembly with those who are true believers. Believers have a chrisma, an anointing from Jesus, the Holy One. W.E. Vines gives insight as to what John meant when he wrote that it “indicates that this anointing renders them holy, separating them to God. The passage teaches that the gift of the Holy Spirit is the all-efficient means of enabling believers to possess a knowledge of the truth.” The antichristos are those who oppose Christos, the Anointed One by assuming a guise of Christ and boasting that they have the knowledge of the truth. This movement was called gnosticism. The gnostics or antichrists maintained that salvation could be gained through a special form of secret knowledge. They didn’t believe God could become flesh because the material world was evil. They believed Him to be a wholly spiritual being. These were the people who went out from the church because they were not of the body of Christ. They did not believe Jesus was God in the flesh.
I want to encourage you this month by the truth John espouses in his letter. We believe the truth, namely that God came in the flesh. His name is Jesus. He died for our sins, was bodily raised from the dead, was ascended into heaven where He sat down at the right hand of God, and as promised, sent His Spirit to His own that He might dwell in their bodies and reveal Himself through them, for the glory of God. Okay, that’s a really long sentence, so read it or listen to it again. We believe God came in the flesh. His name is Jesus. He died for our sins, was bodily raised from the dead, was ascended into heaven where He sat down at the right hand of God, and as promised, sent His Spirit to His own that He might dwell in their bodies and reveal Himself through them, for the glory of God.
The presence of the Holy Spirit is the anointing from Jesus that makes them holy. They don’t simply have a spiritual knowledge. They have the indwelling presence and power of Christ which produces the wonderful, glorious fruit of faith, love, and obedience. They don’t only know about Jesus Christ; they know Him because He and His word abide in them.
Do you know what John was talking about? Everyone who has the Son of God has the life, wrote John in 5:12. If you have Jesus, you are living with Jesus. You have an anointing from the Holy One that has made you holy to God. You recognize Jesus’ presence and power in your life. You have fellowship with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ. You are living to love with Jesus for the glory of God because you have an anointing from the Holy One.
You know the truth!
1 John 2:21
I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it, and because no lie is of the truth.
What is the truth that John’s readers knew? As we look back over what John wrote up to this point, it seems clear that the truth he had in mind is that Jesus of Nazareth is the true God, eternal life, in the flesh through whom the wrath of God was averted by giving His life (His shed blood) as a payment for sins. He was then raised from the dead and now lives to give eternal life (which is to know the Father and the Son) to everyone the Father gave to Him (John 17:2-3). John had just written that they had an anointing from God, and therefore they knew Jesus is life and that they have His life within them.
The person who doesn’t believe these things lives by lies, and no lie is of the truth. If a person lives to love with Jesus, he understands and believes the truth that Jesus, the same person who walked on the earth and gave His life for him, now lives in and through him. That’s why he lives to love! He knows the truth like John’s readers knew the truth. Jesus lived to glorify His Father by carrying the fruit of His life. We live to glorify the Father by carrying the fruit of the life of His Son. I’m not saying these things because I don’t think you know the truth. My guess is that if you are reading my blog or listening to my podcast, you do know it. Therefore, I know you are encouraged by what John wrote about knowing Jesus. I hope you’ll rejoice in the Lord today because by His mercy and grace, you know and walk with Him who is the way, the truth, and the life.
If this has been encouraging to you, please share it with others that the Lord puts on your heart, who you think would also benefit from the teaching of God’s Word.
If you are listening to my daily live to love scripture encouragement podcast on spotify or iTunes, would you mind giving us a review and sharing it with your friends on social media? That helps us expand the reach of living to love with Jesus, and we trust that the Holy Spirit will use the podcast to advance the kingdom of God and glorify the name of Jesus Christ.
Also, we invite you to participate with us in ministry through giving. Elijah Ministries is a non-profit ministry which is sustained and encouraged through the giving of those to whom we minister. If you’ve been encouraged and have grown through our ministry, we think you’ll also be blessed by partnering with us through giving. You may donate online at www.spiritofelijah.com/donate. Thank you for reading, listening, sharing, and giving as the Lord leads.