In the mid 19th century, the death rate among birthing mothers in certain hospitals in Vienna was five times higher than that of those giving birth at home or in midwives’ clinics. Something was really wrong. There was something killing these mothers, but no one knew what. Wanting answers, a Hungarian physician named Ignaz Semmelweis began investigating.
Semmelweis came to realize that the hospitals with higher death rates were not only hospitals, but also medical research facilities. This meant cadavers. In following the lead that linked cadavers and the birthing mothers, Semmelweis discovered that physicians delivering babies were also among those conducting autopsies. This made Semmelweis wonder. Perhaps there were invisible particles being carried from cadavers to woman giving birth and in turn making the women sick?
To test his theory, Semmelweis asked all medical staff to wash their hands and instruments in both soap and a chlorine solution before and after their medical activities. With the new policy implemented, the death rate among birthing mothers dropped dramatically. Semmelweis was right.
Semmelweis uncovered the truth, and it saved lives.
Knowing the truth is liberating (Jn. 8:32). Sometimes knowing the truth is painful, but it is always liberating in the end. If truth is liberating on the one hand, then on the other hand, believing lies is dangerous and destructive. Unfortunately, in this beautiful yet tragic world that we inhabit, truth is too often outnumbered by lies. They are everywhere and ever multiplying.
Lies are not only prolific in this day and age. Lies reach clear back to the dawn of creation. In Genesis 3, the lie of the Serpent resulted in the corruption of God’s magnificent, breath-taking, and perfect cosmos. So, in this world drowning in lies, is there any hope!? Is there anyone there to respond when we cry out for help as we do our best to grope our way through this colonnade of deception? Yes! His name is the Helper.
One of the essential works of the Holy Spirit to protect God’s image bearers by way of grace-enabled illumination.
The Bible says that the Holy Spirit is a fire (Matt. 3:11 and Acts 2:3–4). The Holy Spirit, like fire, protects and illuminates. The Holy Spirit as the one who illuminates the hearts and minds of believers to the forgiveness and power of Jesus are in turn protected from the life-threatening, sin-causing lies of the enemy. This is one of the reasons why the Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of Truth (John 14:17)— because the Spirit works to reveals the truth of God in both the Living (Jesus) and Written (Bible) Word. The result of such revelation is protection. In other words, being made holy (i.e., “consecrated, or “sanctified”) by the Spirit of Truth holy means having a lifestyle that does not conform to that of the world which is characterized by the suppression of truth.
One of the greatest lies that continually haunts Christians is, “You’re guilty. You should be ashamed of yourself. You’re a filthy sinner.” This lie is built into our very DNA. Because of sin and the sin nature, our natural heart posture, our natural point of reference for carrying out our lives is, “I’m a sinner.”
The Holy Spirit, however, is here to liberate us with this truth: because of Jesus’s redeeming work, “there is no now condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death” (Romans 8:1). This is the truth. This is the truth that sets us free. Living in the old reality that, “I’m just a sinner” undermines the work of Jesus. Living our lives with a heart posture of, “I’ll always be a sinner,” is giving into the lie of the flesh. Paul says, “The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace” (Romans 8:7).
