“But when He, the Spirit of Truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on His own; He will speak only what He hears, and He will tell you what is yet to come.” John 16:13
Do you realize that in the three years that Jesus spent teaching His disciples, He had never written anything down? What is worse, perhaps, is that they hadn’t either! There were no tape recorders, no cameras, no computer files, and no digital recording. Do you think, as Jesus began to prepare His disciples for His departure, that they worried not only about seeking the truth, but also remembering the truth they had already been taught?
In John 16:13 Jesus uses two very important words. They are the two words right before truth – “He will guide you into all the truth.” The Holy Spirit won’t just guide us to “a” truth, but to “the” truth. He won’t just guide us to “some” of the truth, but “all” of the truth. What was Jesus talking about? He was referring to the coming New Testament of the Bible, which had not yet been written. Everything that would be written down - from His birth, to His death and resurrection, to His promised triumphant return - would be given to the disciples and later to the apostles by the Holy Spirit.
All the truth we will ever need to know on this earth about God, Jesus, salvation, sin, righteousness, holiness, heaven, and hell is found in the Bible. The Scripture says it all. No important detail is left out. There may be other things we would like to know, but there is nothing else that we need to know. 2 Timothy 3:16 says that all Scripture is God-breathed, or inspired by God. 2 Peter 1:21 says that men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. That means that the words the Holy Spirit spoke to Paul, Peter, Jude, and James have just as much authority and importance as the words that Jesus spoke. God is the author of the Bible.
The same Holy Spirit that inspired the disciples to write down the words of Jesus also inspired Peter, Paul, James, and others to write down the words of Jesus after He left the earth. All of these are the words of Jesus. And they weren’t just given to the disciples; they were given to us. The Holy Spirit not only reminded them of what to write; He reminds us of what they did write. He not only wanted them to seek the truth; He wants us to seek the truth. The Holy Spirit is God’s gift to us. He is both our motivator and our guide as we seek truth.
Dear Father, thank you for the gift of your truth. How grateful I am that I have access to your Word so that I can know the truth and apply it to my life. I pray that you would help me to look to you first for what is true and not be tempted to believe the lies of the enemy. In Jesus' name, amen.
Topics: Truth
