“Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith” (Hebrews 12:1-2).

After leaving Egypt, the Lord went before the children of Israel and led them in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night—a typology of the walk of those who follow Jesus Christ—to take them to inherit the land promised to their fathers. They did not see the Lord; they saw the cloud and the fire and followed the pillar when and wherever it led them. By faith, we also are to follow a cloud of witnesses; the Lord is in them. (Exodus 14:24).

Knowing Truth is a process given to us that enables us to come to God through his word. However, it is not enough to merely study and know the words of the Lord; Satan also knows the whole Bible but abides not in the truth, for there is no truth in him.

Satan even attempted to use the word of God against him in the temptation of Jesus, and to this day, Satan uses the written word spoken through his ministers as his main weapon of deception. When Satan asked Eve, “Hath God said?” it was the first instance on earth of an attack on the veracity of God.

Truth is spiritual; “the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.” We can only rightly divide the word of God in the context of the spirit in which the words are given. The spirit divides truth from deception by a cloud of witnesses that leads us in the right way.

“And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way, and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light, to go by day and night.” (Exodus 13:21)

The sum of truth revealed throughout the Bible forms a cloud of witnesses that we are to follow. The truth we know is the light of day; the fire of the spirit enlightens us in the dark of night when we lack the clarity of daylight. It lights our path, directing us to the truth, until the day dawns when knowledge becomes evident.

The Lord states that the truth is established by multiple witnesses. A cloud appears when multiple vapors ascend together and accumulate to the point that they become visible—likewise, the knowledge of the truth.

Not only does the written word bear witness to itself as being the true word of God, but all of creation bears witness to the truth of God’s word. Creation mirrors the word of God; it was created by the Word of God to reveal invisible truth.

Creation is in harmony with the axioms of the spiritual world; it is a similitude of the invisible realm through which we may see things that are unseen.

By this means—glimpsing the spiritual world through things made after its likeness and image in our world—we can know and understand the word of God in spirit and truth. This world is a reflection of the spiritual realm; together they form a cloud of witness.

In the Revelation of John, Jesus proclaimed himself the beginning of the creation of God. The greatest sermon ever preached is Creation itself. All things made came forth from the mouth of God, and the knowledge they reveal is renewed and expressed repeatedly with every new day that we may know the truth. Creation is God’s university of higher learning.

“The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament sheweth his handiwork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard.” (Psalm 19:1)

Jesus always spoke unto the multitudes in parables. Using parables as illustrations, he explained spiritual things, and without a parable, he spoke not to the multitudes (Matthew 13:34). In his parables, Jesus used the things he created that the people understood to communicate spiritual truths that the people lacked an understanding of.

The purified water that rains on the earth from the clouds above is pulled up and separated from the impure waters below, leaving behind all impurities. Likewise, many lies and false doctrines pollute the waters this world drinks from.

The waters covered the earth in the days of Noah; similarly, the present world is drowning in lies. God, who separates the truth from the polluted waters of this world, rains pure truth upon his people who seek the living water that comes from above.

When we know God, a cloud of witnesses testifies to the truth, and we share the pure water with others. “If the clouds be full of rain, they empty themselves upon the earth” (Ecclesiastes 11:3).

The ecosystem brings forth rain on the earth in due season, sustaining life in the world from one generation to the next. As we receive the rain from above, we are to share it. In this manner we perpetuate the cycle of life.

“For the earth (mankind), which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God: But that which beareth thorns and briers is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be burned. (Hebrews 6:7-8)

We are to produce life on earth, which comes only from God through his Word, rained down from heaven upon us, confirmed in Spirit and truth, Creation bearing witness.