The truth has been revealed in the Person of the Son of God. In Him in manhood the Father was seen, and on earth He said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life" (John 14:6). Now that the Lord Jesus is in heaven, it is to heaven that we look to find the truth, though it is also to be found in the words that He spoke while here, and which have been recorded for us in the Scriptures. Objectively, we see the truth in the Person of the Son, but subjectively, the truth is in the Holy Spirit who indwells all who believe in the Lord Jesus. Christ (1 John 5:6). Although the truth has been revealed, all do not know the truth, for all have not the capacity and the power for its reception. Pilate asked the question that many of the great of this world have asked, "What is truth?" (John 18:38), but in condemning the Son of God he manifested that he was not of the truth, and had no real desire for it, for it was there before Him in the Person of Jesus.
The first essential for the apprehension of the truth is to be born of God. There is no capacity in man after the flesh to apprehend what is of God, or even to under-stand what he is in himself. When the Son of God came into the world it is recorded, "His own received Him not, but as many as received Him, to them gave He the power to become the children of God … which were born … of God" (John 1:11-13). The reception of the Son of God was to receive Him who in His own Person is the truth, and only those born of God could receive Him. New birth brings with it a new nature which has the capacity for the reception of divine things, for these divine things are outwith the realm in which the natural man finds his existence. If the truth is not to be found in man's world, where the natural man lives, it cannot be found by those who have not the capacity to receive it.
When speaking to Nicodemus, the Lord said, "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God" (John 3:3). New birth therefore communicates the perception for the apprehension of what is of God, not only the things of the kingdom of God, but all that is of God, of which the kingdom forms part. A man may have very remark-able natural perception, and have outstanding human wisdom and understanding, but these will never help him to grasp the precious truth that has come to light in the Son of God, to solve the great mysteries of life, or to resolve the problems that have been brought into the world through man's sin.
Power for the reception of the truth lies in the Holy Spirit who indwells every true believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. In 1 Corinthians 2 we learn that "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him, but God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit" (1 Cor. 2:9-10). From this we see that divine revelation is outside the realm of the natural senses. What God has in the way of divine blessing for His own cannot be known by man in a natural way. God's mercies and goodness in providence can be enjoyed by all, but His spiritual blessings are only for those who have faith in Him, and who have received His Spirit.
Moreover, the revelations that have been made by the Holy Spirit can only be apprehended by those who have the Spirit, for as only the spirit of a man can know the things of a man, so also only those who have the Spirit of God can know the things of God. With confidence the Apostle can add, "Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God: that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God (1 Cor. 2:11-12). Not having the Holy Spirit, the natural man does not receive, and cannot receive the things of God; indeed, they are foolishness to him, because they are spiritually discerned.
As having the divine nature, every believer has the capacity for receiving the things of God, and as having the Holy Spirit, every true Christian has the power within him for the reception of all things that are of God, vet many true believers have little apprehension of the truth. There are many things that hinder our entering into the truth that God has revealed to us.
If we do not have the appetite for the things of God there will be little growth in the knowledge of God. Exercise of soul is also needed if we are to grow from the state of a babe in Christ into spiritual maturity.
Having unfolded the wonderful counsels of God for the glory of Christ and for the blessing of His saints, the Apostle Paul prayed for the saints at Ephesus, "That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him" (Eph. 1:17). It was not enough for the Apostle to unfold the truth to the saints; to understand what he had made known there had to be the spiritual state to enter into it, and this state is that which is capable of apprehending what has been revealed. To receive the things of divine wisdom, we must have the spirit of wisdom; to receive the things divinely revealed we must have the spirit of revelation. It is God that gives this spiritual state, to those who are desirous of it, those who are in communion with Him regarding the things He has made known by revelation.
If we are earthly minded, or occupied with the things of this world, there cannot be with us the spiritual state that enters into the secrets of God. Communion with God in relation to His purpose will bring to us the state that can apprehend the secrets of the wonderful divine purpose that has set Christ at His right hand in heaven, and blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.
To set us free from the defilement of occupation with present things, the Lord Jesus has a ministry of cleansing for us, and this prepares us for communion with Him-self where He is, and also with His Father. This the Lord spoke of as "part with me" when dealing with this blessed subject, just before He left this world to go back to the Father (John 13:8). This is part of the Lord's present service for His own as Advocate. The spirit gets defiled by the things that are seen and heard around us in this world, apart from the actual failure that breaks our communion with the Lord.
When the priests of Israel entered the holy place for the service of the Lord, there was provision made for their cleansing in the laver; and before ever they were consecrated for the divine work to which God had called them they had to be washed with water, as also brought under the efficacy of the shed and sprinkled blood of the consecration offering. For entry into the holiest of all, whether to worship or commune with God, the Christian must be cleansed from all that is unsuitable to God's holy presence. Therefore the writer to the Hebrews says, "Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water" (Heb. 10:22).
For the apprehension of the truth, or for entering into the presence of God in communion or to worship, there must therefore be the new nature produced by our being born again, the possession of the Holy Spirit with which God has sealed us as having faith in His dear Son, and also the moral state of soul that answers to the presence of God and to the divine communications He has made. How blessed to realise that all that is needed is supplied by God in the riches of His grace, for it is His own desire that we might enter more and more into the precious truth that He has revealed unto us by His Spirit.