Treasures, Riches, Truth
By Rev. Dudley Zerbel
In this world there is a book that we can hold, read, study and verify. This book tells us about history, both ancient and old; it tells us about this life, and everything it tells of this life is true. This book also tells us about what is beyond this life and this world. This is strong motivation to know what it says and to live our lives in reflection of those truths.
For Scripture to be eternal truth, it must be a revelation. This is critical to its nature as eternal truth. The human mind is given to be self-focused, opinionated and fallen. These obviously stand in the way of (the mind) producing eternal truth on its own. Prejudices permeate our very being. I am not talking about race, though that is involved. Everyone has personal perspective and passions and ambitions that exclude others or overemphasize likes and dislikes. The discovering of “true truth” — truth that is universally applicable and valid — to be found by the human mind, is rare. We seem to warp everything by our prejudices. There had to be a revelation of truth for truth,” true truth,” to be accessible to mankind.
Eternal truth is straight. That straightness reveals the deviations from what is true and also gives a pattern for proper correction. In the construction trades the laser level has transformed accuracy. It is true, it is straight and the two points are not connected mechanically by material means that fail. Divine truth must be honestly self-applied or it becomes the opinion of another. God’s laser of truth penetrates the heart and points exactly to where God is looking.
Truth’s completeness gives answers the human mind would miss altogether.
“The truth — the whole truth — and nothing but the truth.”
In a court of law, this is in some form the oath of the witness. “Tell the truth”- tell what is true – every word. “The whole truth” – don’t leave out facts that you know would influence against what you want to be true. “Nothing but the truth” – don’t add things for facts that are not true and not relevant to the issue at hand. Truth of Scripture is complete as necessary, even exposing the failures and issues God’s champions struggled with: David’s family problems, Job’s frustration, Noah’s carelessness, Paul’s unsaved religious zeal.
Truth’s purity gives a stark contrast to all of our carnal shade and tint of self-serving motivation. It is the “plain and real” without varnish. With wood you can choose a color that reveals the beauty of the grain but hides the blemishes that are there. That is too often what we do with our life. We choose the color that makes us look good without acknowledging the defects. In color theory, to tint is to add white to a pure color, to shade is to add black; both cause a deviation from the true color. Scripture is pure color. It is truth that reveals God in His perfection, man in his twisted everything.
Truth’s difficulty is self-filtering. In Song of Solomon 6:11 “I went down into the garden of nuts to see the fruits of the valley, and to see whether the vine flourished, and the pomegranates budded.” Watchman Nee mentions that scripture here is typed as hard shelled and difficult to harvest. It takes effort and determination to receive the reward.
Concerning the basics of Scripture that are necessary to know and to be able to understand and be saved, those truths are easy to find and are clear. But, the study of Scripture is not quick or easy. Its depths are not for a half-hearted attempt or a weak pursuit. It requires a dedication for the long haul, to push past the easy in order to comprehend the eternal. A vast amount of scripture is difficult to comprehend. To some degree this is on purpose. The difficulty becomes an intrinsic filter that thins the crowd of seekers to the serious. That regulator of seekers is found in that true Biblical knowledge requires the desire to truly, honestly, know. There must be a motivation, a desire for truth and an esteemed value of true truth.
The richness found in the study of Scripture is accumulative. The skills to assimilate and comprehend Scripture take the accumulation of time spent, not chapters read. It is all about taking time to demonstrate it is valuable to self, and then God rewards with comprehension. It must be a priority or it will not yield its treasures!
Much of the treasure must be hard sought. I will never forget a statement Sister Ruth Beauford made decades ago. A friend and I were visiting with her in her humble home in the wilderness of southeastern Oklahoma. Sister Beauford was in her late 80s or early 90s and told us that she had read the Bible through over 115 times. She said, “I saw something in the Bible the other day I had never seen before.” Her reading of the Scripture was not a pastime; her Scripture reading was study and intense. Yet, here she was after 60 plus years of ministry, preaching, prayer and study, still experiencing treasures unfolding to her seeking soul!
The scriptural admonition, found in 2 Timothy 2:15, “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” is not for a crash study to pass a quiz. The admonition is a stern and heavy commission to motivate the soul to live a life that is preparing for eternity.
The conclusion for the whole matter is: study, there will be a test! This test will be in the end, but like one man said, “Every day is an IQ test, and some aren’t doing very well.” Every day, and all through the day we are involved in a test of what we know and what we are properly applying of God’s Truth. Study, the reward is much more than worth it!