HE LEADS US INTO TRUTH

John 16:12 – I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.

When someone comes to Christ, their whole means of learning is radically changed. The change is connected to the source of the teaching. Rather than being dependent on our own intellect, the talent and diligence of our teachers, and our own hard work, we become dependent on the Holy Spirit as our Teacher. Jesus said He alone would “lead us into all truth.” Truth is a recurring theme in the gospel of John, as we have said before, truth is the Greek word aleitheia and speaks of the very essence of something. The word is talking about reality. In our modern-day lingo, the Holy Spirit will “make it real.”

Now that leads us to another question: exactly what is the Holy Spirit making real? Well, Jesus answered that question in the very next verse. He said the Holy Spirit would glorify Him (Jesus). The Holy Spirit makes Jesus a reality to us, for He is the one who opens up the whole spiritual realm for us. The Holy Spirit leads us to truth Himself, Jesus is the word or the truth of God expressed in a man. Our part is to search the scripture, the Holy Spirit’s part is to give us divine illumination of the Word of God. Christ is literally in every part of the Bible, and the Holy Spirit unlocks this for us.

William Barclay describes the Holy Spirit as our teacher this way: “Revelation is the taking of the things of Jesus and revealing their significance to us. Part of the greatness of Jesus is His inexhaustibleness. No one has ever grasped all that He came to say. No one has fully worked out all the significance of His teaching for life and for belief, for the individual and for the world, for society and for the nation. Revelation is a continual opening out of the meaning of Jesus. There we have the crux of the matter. Revelation comes to us, not from any book or creed, but from a living person. The nearer we live to Jesus, the better we will know Him. The more we become like Him, the more He will be able to tell us. To enjoy His revelation, we must accept His mastery.”

So the next time you read your Bible maybe you can take a brand new approach. As you search the scriptures you are actually pursuing Christ. This is more than gaining instruction or information, this is the pursuit of God in Christ.