Bucha is a commuter town close to Kyiv, the capital city of Ukraine. After the withdrawal of Russian troops, journalists entered the town. They took photographs of the bodies of civilians lying in the streets, brutally murdered by the Russian troops. The bodies of the dead were left where they had fallen.
In 1994 a terrible genocide took place in Rwanda. Hundreds of thousands of people were murdered. In some places the corpses covered the streets from side to side as far as the eye could see. The murdered were left where they had fallen.
The prophet Isaiah wrote, “Judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter.” His words might describe Bucha in Ukraine or the streets in Rwanda.
However, the words of Isaiah 59:44None calleth for justice, nor any pleadeth for truth: they trust in vanity, and speak lies; they conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity. (Isaiah 59:4) also might describe other streets in the towns and cities of our modern world. Truth is fallen in our streets too. Truths that were once virile and very much alive now seem like corpses that litter our streets.
Respect
Truths like respect are fallen in the streets. Respect includes the idea that the younger generation can learn invaluable lessons from listening carefully to older generations. However, today the values of our forebearers are despised. The truth they might have shared has fallen in the streets.
The Sanctity of Life
Truths like the sanctity of life are fallen in the streets. Approximately 930,000 babies were aborted in 2020. The number of assisted suicides and cases of euthanasia are rising. Where is the truth of the sanctity of life? It is fallen in the streets.
God’s Existence
Truth concerning God’s existence is fallen in the streets. Our colleges and universities are hotbeds of atheism. Prayer is taken out of schools. Man is exalted to take God’s place in people’s minds. The concept of an all-wise, all-powerful Creator God is absent from the lives of a great multitude. It lies fallen in the streets.
Human Nature
Truths like the nature of man are fallen in the streets. The idea that men and women are responsible for their actions seems to have died out. People view themselves and others as no longer responsible for their own actions. To many, the power to choose seems delusional. People buy wholesale into a terrible determinism. Those who buy into deterministic philosophies make men and women into something sub-human. In our day truths about human nature have fallen in our streets.
Respecting Other’s Property
Truths like respecting other’s property are fallen in the streets. Burglaries, thefts, smash and grabs, carjacking, flash mobs breaking into stores and looting — where will all this end? It seems to only get worse! Truths like respecting other’s property are fallen in the street.
Can you think of other truths fallen in the streets? Truths that are dying or close to dead? I bet you can. There are many of them. Our streets are littered with them.
A Long History of Truth Trouble
What happened back in Isaiah’s day when truth lay fallen in the streets? God called the people back to obedience through the prophets. But when they didn’t turn from their sinful ways, judgment came. The Assyrian army and then the Babylonian army invaded the land. They showed no mercy and brought terrible destruction.
What will happen in our day when so much truth is fallen in our streets? Will our modern world escape judgment? Surely not.
God is calling out to sinners through the preaching of the gospel to repent and to believe in His Son. What will happen to those who refuse? Some future day the Lord Jesus is going to come back to earth with the glory of His holy angels. With irresistible power He will judge the earth.
“The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power” (2 Thessalonians 1:7-9).
The first time He came, the Lord Jesus came in mercy. He was born as a baby, lived a perfect life, preached the gospel, and allowed wicked men to nail Him to the cross where He died for sinners. “Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:3).
Through the death and resurrection of His Son, God made known His love for the world. Because Christ died, sinners can come by faith and be saved. By God’s grace, people who believe the good news of the heaven-sent Savior will receive an inheritance in heaven. Yet how seldom is the truth of the gospel heard in our day.
The second time He comes, He will come in great glory. He will judge the living and the dead and set up His everlasting kingdom.
Truth may be fallen in our streets. But He who is the Truth will come again. In glorious power He will return. He will be victorious over all His enemies. In the world to come, righteousness will reign gloriously through Jesus Christ.
Don’t be fooled by all the false truth-claims this world makes. It really has no regard for truth at all. Come to Him who said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:66Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. (John 14:6)). God loves truth. Truth may be fallen in our streets, but God’s truth will win out in the end. Turn to Jesus to find forgiveness, an inheritance, and to be on the winning side for time and eternity.
Tampering with truth is very much in vogue, as The Greatest Act of Fraud in History shows.