Wells Without Water

In this month, when we celebrate the great Reformation that God brought to His Church, we need to deal with similar issues that Martin Luther had to wrestle with. What is truth and error? What are God’s messages of Law and Gospel? What does it mean to believe that Jesus is God and man and the Savior of the world? The answers to these questions are revealed to us in the Bible, “which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus” because “all Scripture is given by inspiration of God” (2 Timothy 3:15–16).
When Jesus said, “Sanctify them by Your truth, Your word is truth” (John 17:17), what did He mean by the concept “truth?” Was Jesus talking about an ancient set of wise sayings? A collection of fables? Or ideas that make our life better? God forbid! To God, the concept “truth” means statements that correctly describe reality without any error. If Jesus says that God’s Word is truth, He means that we are to regard the whole Bible to be without error or mistake.
The Bible will tell us the truth about God’s creation of the universe, for the Holy Spirit moved Moses to write down what God had done. The Bible states the truth about man’s sinful state and the problem of death: “Through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned” (Romans 5:12). God’s Word tells us the truth about our salvation: “For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Romans 3:22-24).
Many people living today reject these three concepts as true, believing that the universe evolved over billions of years, that mankind is not totally corrupted by sin, and that humans are able to contribute some good to salvation.
What is the truth? Are there many paths to heaven if you are sincere in your beliefs or is Jesus the only way, the perfect truth, and the real life-giver? Jesus Himself declared, “No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6). The whole Bible declares that there is only one Savior, who gave His life as a ransom for all people. Jesus alone is our sacrifice for sin because He alone is both God and man, who could keep God’s law without sin and be our substitute on the cross.
These statements must be understood as “truth” if anyone is to enter heaven. Jesus said, “I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in Me should not abide in darkness” (John 12:46). “Darkness” is just one concept in the Bible for unbelief. There are many other descriptions for those who teach darkness, untruth, and error. Jesus calls them “wolves in sheep’s clothing.” St. Paul speaks of them as “giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons” (1 Timothy 4:1).
During the days of drought this summer, many wells and lakes dried up. This is an apt description of false prophets: “These are wells without water, clouds carried by a tempest” for they “speak great swelling words of emptiness” (2 Peter 2:17–18). The Bible has many such descriptive phrases for false prophets: wolves in sheep’s clothing, hireling shepherds, and whited sepulchers. The point behind these descriptions is that what seems good on the outside is truly empty, vain, useless, and unable to save when such prophets are compared with the Bible message about Jesus and His work of salvation.
The past 150 years have witnessed a number of false men and women, who “by covetousness… exploit you with deceptive words” (2 Peter 2:3). New religions and old heresies have risen to tear people away from the narrow path of salvation through the cross of Christ. These are part of the signs of the Last Days, as Jesus warned: “For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect” (Matthew 24:11–12).
All these descriptions are written to warn us about falling under the influence of those who deny Jesus as their Savior. Christians can have comfort in this promise, “the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment” (2 Peter 2:9).
Our Reformation Sunday services have a twofold purpose: First, to thank God for preserving to us the true message of the Gospel about Jesus and second, to teach us the true doctrines of the Bible so that we do not fall prey to any contrary teachings. Our walk in the Spirit means walking in His Word. Jesus says, “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches” (Revelation 2:29).
Theodore Gullixson is pastor of Grace Lutheran Church in Madison, Wisconsin.