So if we have the belt of truth tied around us, we should not think of it as a bit of string — this is a belt that is part of our full armor. We should not be surprised at this; the Scriptures describe the truth of God as enduring forever.
O praise the Lord, all ye nations:
Praise him, all ye people.
For his merciful kindness is great toward us:
And the truth of the Lord endureth for ever.
Praise ye the Lord” (Ps. 117).
In Ephesian 6, the whole point of getting outfitted in the armor is geared toward gospel proclamation, so it makes sense that the enduring truth of the Lord is proclaimed in the context of inviting all the nations, all the peoples, to join in the praise. God is worthy to be praised, and we have the confidence to invite absolutely anyone to join the throng of worshippers — but only because the truth of the Lord is timeless. It does not age. Another way of saying this is that it is a belt that shall never wear out.
We learn some other interesting things about God’s truth in Psalm 85. First, we see that mercy and truth have met each other; they are acquaintances (v. 10). This is another way of saying that righteousness and peace have kissed each other. This is a Hebrew parallelism, with peace and mercy lined up, and truth and righteousness lined up. We can do the same with the verbs. Righteousness and peace have met, and mercy and truth have kissed.
When mercy and truth kiss, this is the result of salvation arriving. There is a truth that condemns, the truth of judgment, but it is also true to say that the Messiah has come, has bled, has died, and has risen. That is true also, and it is a truth that has kissed mercy.
The psalmist tells us that truth springs out of the earth (v. 11). This is not a mixed metaphor — it is an example of gospel metaphors tumbling over one another in an effort to get us to see them. Truth rises up from the ground, like a crop of wheat. Righteousness comes down out of heaven, like the rain that makes the grain grow. Righteousness and truth are now a team, and the result is that the land yields her increase. This is gospel goodness — this is worth telling people about.
Another place where Paul is deriving his images is Isaiah. In Ephesians, he spoke of our feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. The preparation here is that of tying your shoes before the battle, making sure that you are going into battle with peace on your mind. The gospel peace shoes are part of the armor of God, and this means that we pursue peace by making war. We do not make war for the sake of war; we do not surrender the gospel for the sake of peace, for that will just result in endless wars.
Paul uses a similar image in Romans.
“How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things! But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report? So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. But I say, Have they not heard? Yes verily, their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world” (Rom. 10:14-18).
Again, he identifies the gospel of peace with our feet. Nobody will know about this unless we go and tell them, and we won’t go and tell them unless we are sent.
He got this image from Isaiah (and recall that he got the breastplate and the helmet from another place in Isaiah). Here is where we get the idea of beautiful feed, gospel, and peace. But we also get the picture of a glorious and divine warfare.
“How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; That bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; That saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth! Thy watchmen shall lift up the voice; With the voice together shall they sing: For they shall see eye to eye, When the Lord shall bring again Zion. Break forth into joy, sing together, ye waste places of Jerusalem: For the Lord hath comforted his people, he hath redeemed Jerusalem. The Lord hath made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; And all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God” (S. 52:7-10).
This is good news; this is deliverance; this is a battle. Notice how the passage concludes with the Lord making bare “his holy arm.” How will peace come to this sorry world? When God strikes the blow, and we know that that happened when Christ died on the cross.