Titus 1:2 in the hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised long ages ago,
The Bible clearly tells us that God cannot lie. We know that God will not lie. His character and nature are truthful. His Word is the very definition of truth. He is holy, pure and righteous, and part of that is truthfulness. There is no deceit in Him. The Bible tells us over and over that truth is found in the Lord and that truth is central to who He is.
But the Bible doesn’t just tell us that God will not lie. It tells us that God cannot lie, that it is impossible for God to lie. How can this be? Can’t God do anything? Why is this beyond Him?
The answer lies in the power of God and specifically in the power of His word. Remember that it was by the word of God that all things were created. The entire physical universe was spoken into being by God. His utterance created everything. His word powers and controls the universe. And that’s why He cannot lie. Because the word of God changes reality. What is real is real because God said it. That’s why everything that God says is true, and His word can never be false.
Think about it. You and I can lie. When we do, our words do not match up with reality. But reality always matches up with God’s words. Whatever God says is true because all of existence matches His words. For instance, you or I might say that the sky is green. It would be a lie because the sky is blue. But if God says the sky is green, the sky becomes green. It is green because reality always matches God’s word. It’s how it came into being.
Now think about how this applies to God’s promises to us. They are a done deal. When God makes us a promise, when He says that our sins are forgiven, when He says that we will have eternal life, it is accomplished. It’s not just that God will do it. Once He says it, it is encoded into the very fabric of reality. We can have faith that not only will God keep His promises, but that the fulfillment of these promises is essentially finished, as much a part of reality as the Earth on which we stand.