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"Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth" (John 17:17, ESV).
When
Jesus spoke this high priestly prayer just prior to His arrest and crucifixion, He sought to comfort His disciples in a number
of ways. First, He comforted them with the fact that He would return to take them to where He would be: heaven (John 14:1-3).
He continued to comfort them with His Holy Spirit who would serve as Helper (John
15:26, 16:7), Truthbearer (John 16:12-13),
Paraclete, and many other functions.
But in John 17:17, Jesus comforts them with Basic Theological Principle #1: His
Word is truth. And here, Jesus longs to sanctify them in this truth. They were to be set apart for holy use by His Word, the
Word of Truth. Whatever else we discuss on theological matters, if we miss out on the trustworthiness of the Holy Writ, all
other matters will be mere conjecture and speculation.
As a preacher and pastor, I could never enter the pulpit before
my people with any sense of confidence and rest unless I have understood the nature of the Book from which I preach. This
is not merely a great piece of literature; this is not some philosophical work by Immanuel Kant or Rene Descartes; this is
not a great scientific work
by Stephen Hawking. This is God's Holy Word. And the truth
contained in this makes all other
literature, philosophy, or science look, as John Piper once said, like a first grade reader.
We hold the truth in our
hands --- and this Book springboards us into all other theological matters, for this is how God has chosen to reveal
Himself to His people and to the world.
Let us be beavers for the Book, dear friends.
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