The Truth

“Then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.” John 8:32 NIV

What truth is John telling us about? Earlier in the 8th chapter of John, he is recounting the interaction between Jesus and some Jewish leaders. They were trying to test Jesus, hoping that He would make a mistake so that they would have cause to have Him arrested. However, as they usually did, they were not able to accomplish what they set out to do and as Jesus usually did, He used this interaction as a moment to teach them about their sins, Himself, and what the Son of Man came to earth to do, save mankind.

When Jesus tells them that when they know the truth, it will set them free, they became upset stating that they were not in need of being freed from anything. They could not see that they needed freed from their sin. Unrepented sin keeps us in bondage to that sin. The truth Jesus is speaking of is the spiritual truth of how sin is separating us from God and how believing in Jesus as the Son of God leads us to forgiveness, which is the way to bring us closer to God. Believing in Jesus, repenting of our sins and accepting the gift of forgiveness enables us to move closer to God.

By asking for forgiveness for our sins, we are acknowledging them and bringing them out of the darkness and into the light. The devil wants to keep our sins in the dark because when we keep our sins in the dark, we stay focused on hiding the sin from others and sometimes ourselves. When we bring our sin into the light and talk with Jesus about them, they lose the level of control that they can have on us. As darkness has to flee when light enters a room, the devil flees when we move closer to our Light, Jesus.

Knowing the truth, which is that Jesus is God and came to save us, all of us, and that we can be released from the bondage of sin, is true freedom. I pray that you have that freedom, that you have accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior and that you are now a co-heir with Christ.

Have a beautiful day!