Truth triumphs over all!
So saying is not some sort of call to honesty. Neither is it an appeal for the facts of a matter to be carefully verified. Rather, it has to do with reality, and two critical applications immediately spring to mind.
Truth (spiritual realities) triumph over temporal realities …
When Jesus said that “it” was finished, it looked as though He was finished. But truth trumped temporal realities. His tomb is empty, and redemption has been secured. It really was finished, and successfully so. When Paul and Silas worshiped in stocks, deep in that Philippian dungeon, their truth was freedom in Christ, and soon their temporal realities yielded to the superiority of the spirit-realm. The earth shook, and they walked free.
This is how all faith works. Faith taps into spiritual, eternal truth, and appropriates its facts into temporal situation and circumstance. Sight, sound, touch, taste and smell yield to “God says”, and wisdom, freedom, provision and healing manifest in our lives. Resurrection is nothing other than the grave yielding to Life. Nothing too extraordinary at all. The same applies to the new birth and to breathtaking creative miracles. All that happens when these things take place is that truth is triumphing over our inferior, temporal reality. This was what happened when God said, “Let there be light”, and is what has happened every other time the proclamations of God have been appropriated ever since. “God says” and “in Jesus’ Name” move mountains, part seas, and bring forth out of nothing. Truth triumphs over all!
Truth (Jesus) triumphs over all other spiritual realities …
The spirit-realm harbours power beyond anything in the natural. That is why those who move in its occultic dimensions are the controlled, not the controllers. They are the manipulated and the used, no matter how much their demonic masters masquerade as servants. Principalities and powers have their clear agenda, and any man or woman who invokes their bidding soon becomes their pawn.
But in this arena of spiritual realities, light and darkness, truth (Jesus) trumps all also. He reigns supreme. All authority on heaven and earth has been given Him. The Biblical record bears witness. Every time there came a showdown between the Spirit of God and a contrary spirit, Holy Spirit prevailed without question, no contest. The same holds true today, and always will. Truth triumphs over all!
Binding and loosing …
Christians are in union with Christ. As such, they walk in tremendous authority. On occasion, their particular gifts and callings usher them into the midst of the conflicts raging in the heavenlies. There they are used to disrupt Destruction and facilitate Salvation. These moments of militancy have their place, but are rare for most.
Far more common is our partnership with the Lord in bringing Heaven to earth. Much of our binding and loosing, locking and unlocking, forbidding and permitting, happens in the most unconscious of ways. All we’re doing at the time is loving our wives, showing kindness to our neighbours, sharing the Gospel as opportunity presents, or praying as the Spirit prompts – the simplest of things in a life in the Lord; no significant spiritual warfare orientation required. The battle is His, and the victory is His. It is simply our living with hearts malleable to His touch and ears inclined to His voice that make us ferocious in battle. For it is, you see, that we are far less warriors in His army than arrows in His bow.
Herein lies a great secret. We have not been called to war, but to peace. We have not been called to anger and hatred, but to loving obedience. The battle is His and the victory is His. Ours is to believe and obey. His is to rule until all things in heaven and on earth are manifestly subject to Him. Truth triumphs over all. God says so!
Think for a moment of our armour, and Truth’s triumph becomes all the more self-evident. Our helmet is salvation. Our breastplate is righteousness, which comes to us as a gift. Truth guards our loins, faith is our shield, and the sword of the Spirit which we wield is His word. Right down to our footwear, our armour derives from the Gospel. It is of His efforts, not our own. Ours is to stand, and ours is to pray. Truly, truth triumphs over all!