John chapter 18 tells the story of Jesus’ betrayal by Judas and arrest. Arrested on false charges, He was taken before the high priests for interrogation. The first high priest questioned Jesus about His disciples and about the kind of things He taught them. In verse 20, Jesus basically explained that He was an open book. His teachings were known. He had not been traveling in secret. He had not been trying to hide anything. Who He was, what He stood for, what He proclaimed were basically public information. In verse 21, Jesus said, “Why question me? Ask those who heard Me speak. They know what I said.”
At that response, one of the officials nearby slapped Jesus in the face to which Jesus replied, “If I said something wrong, testify as to what is wrong. But if I spoke the truth, why did you strike me?”
There is no record of a response from the high priest after that. Jesus silenced his accusers in that moment because there was no one who could testify to what was wrong about Jesus’, about His disciples, or about His teaching. He had only spoken the truth. He was bound and sent from there to another high priest until eventually He was brought before Pilate, the Roman Governor. Pilate asked the religious leaders in verse 29, “What charges are you bringing against this man?” They didn’t have an answer, so they responded by basically saying in verse 30, “Just trust us. He’s dirty or we wouldn’t have brought Him to you.” They knew they didn’t have anything on Jesus that could make a conviction stick.
Pilate told them to take Jesus and judge Him by their own Jewish laws, but their response was telling, “But we have no right to execute anyone.” Execution was obviously their end game, and Jewish law wouldn’t allow them to put Jesus to death. He had to be tried in a Roman court in order to be killed, and they wanted Him dead.
Let’s pick up the story in John 18:33: 33 Pilate then went back inside the palace, summoned Jesus and asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?”34 “Is that your own idea,” Jesus asked, “or did others talk to you about me?”
I don’t think Jesus was being snarky here. I think He was genuinely engaging Pilate to help Pilate have a revelation about who Jesus really was. Pilate’s only understanding of a king would make Jesus a political rival. If Jesus was an earthly king, that could prove a problem for Rome. Jesus was going to clarify what His kingship entailed.
35 “Am I a Jew?” Pilate replied. “Your own people and chief priests handed you over to me. What is it you have done?”
Jesus didn’t answer to any of the charges against Him. Instead, He talked about His Kingdom and authority and how it didn’t originate in an earthly realm.
36 Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.”
This announcement of His kingdom being from another place, being not of the world is an important fact as it relates to answering the question, “What is truth?” If truth originated with this world, truth could not be trusted. Our world is corrupt. Sin entered the world through the sin of Adam and Eve and the sinful nature was passed to every person who has entered into the world. Whether you have believed the Creation story or accepted that original sin has been passed on, you cannot deny that we are born broken. We are born with selfish, sinful desires. Therefore, we cannot be the originators of truth. We cannot be the source of truth. Because of our flaws, frailties, and failures, we could never look to an earthly person to reveal truth to us. The establishing of truth had to be an outside job. It had to come from some place beyond this world.
In addition, earthly kingdoms are based upon force, pride, the love of human praise, the desire for domination and self-interest, all of which were displayed by Pilate and the Roman Empire. Jesus’ kingdom, however, was inaugurated with humility, compassion, love, righteousness, and sacrifice, with the greatest sacrifice, His death on the cross, yet to come.
37 “You are a king, then!” said Pilate. In just a few back and forth exchanges, Pilate learned that Jesus was a King, but His kingship supersedes simply being the King of the Jews. He wasn’t simply a “king,” but He was and it THE King over all. So, Jesus educated Pilate regarding Who He was and then went on to reveal why He came from that other place, a place beyond this world.
Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to THE TRUTH. Everyone on the side of truth listens to Me.” John 18:37
Jesus makes two stunning declarations here. First, Jesus said He came into the world to testify to THE truth. He didn’t say His life would speak to a truth or some truth but THE truth. In other words, there is no truth other than the truth that Jesus’ life, death, burial and resurrection testify to. I want to say that again. There is no truth other than the truth that Jesus’ life, death, burial and resurrection testify to.
That makes truth absolute. The truth is absolute. Jesus believed in absolute truth so passionately, so completely, so strongly that the very reason He came to this world from the other kingdom, to live and to die, was to bear witness to THE Truth. He gave His life for The Truth. Yes, there is such a thing as absolute truth. What is true today will still be true tomorrow. The truth isn’t the result of perspective or opinion. It isn’t “the way you see it.” The truth isn’t consensus. It isn’t relative or situational. The Truth is what God says is Truth, and Jesus said, “If you want to know The Truth, look at Me and listen to Me.”
Pilate had a lot to think about, didn’t he? If Jesus was the King of another kind of kingdom, a kingdom that wasn’t from the world, and He had left that kingdom to be born into the world for the purpose of testifying to what is really true, what was Pilate to do with that? Jesus took it a step further and said, “Everyone on the side of truth listens to Me.” What side did Pilate want to be on? What side do you want to be on? Jesus was claiming authority, and He could claim that authority because He was the Truth and was qualified to testified to the Truth. Jesus could say, “Listen to Me” because He had all authority.
The Truth is authoritative. It has the last word. Jesus is the “Word” made flesh. Jesus is the Truth made flesh. (John 1:14) If you want to be on the side of truth, you need to be on the side of Jesus. His Word holds ultimate power and authority because it didn’t originate with man. It didn’t begin somewhere on the earth. It wasn’t developed over time. The “Word,” Jesus, always was and always has been. Before time was, there was Jesus, the Word, the Truth. Before the earth was created, there was Jesus, the Word, the Truth. The Truth pre-dates everything that exists. The Truth has never been a work in progress. It has never been in a state of development. The Truth has always existed in the Godhead and was demonstrated in the Son of God, Jesus Christ.
When Jesus said, “Everyone on the side of truth listens to Me,” He was saying, “The truth isn’t up for debate.” There isn’t your truth and someone else’s truth. We hear that a lot in our culture today, don’t we? “I want to speak my truth.” There is no such thing as “my truth” or “your truth.” There is only Truth, and God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit, the Great three-in-one, God alone, gets to determine where Truth lies. That is His prerogative because He has ultimate authority.
Now, you can question the truth. You can disagree with the truth, but your questions don’t undo the reality that truth is ultimate and is fixed. You can disagree with the truth, but your rejection of the truth won’t make it untrue. People who claim that what you believe is true for you and what they believe is true for them are delusional. The truth, by very definition, cannot hold two realities at the same time. Something cannot be true for one person and not true for another person and still maintain it is true. That is absurd, right? Truth is authoritative. It doesn’t morph from person to person. It doesn’t change to meet someone’s desires. It doesn’t bend to accommodate someone’s situation. It doesn’t fluctuate based on perception or culture. The Truth is the Truth is the Truth and cannot be anything but the Truth.
Abraham Lincoln once used a very clever ploy to teach some people about truth. They had come to him with a decision that was based on suppositions rather than truth. After hearing their logic, Lincoln asked, “How many legs would a sheep have if you called its tail a leg?” They quickly answered, “Five!” The President then said, “No, it would only have four legs. Calling a tail a leg doesn’t make it one.”
We see how our culture has used language to try to alter reality, to try to alter truth. It cannot be done. Calling a person a cat, doesn’t make a person a cat. Calling a man a woman does not make it so. How you identify doesn’t make your identity reality. We can choose to twist our vocabulary to line up with our feelings, but that doesn’t mean we are aligned with Truth. Anyone doing so is choosing delusion over reality.
We don’t get to define what is true because Truth has been fixed by the One with absolute authority. If we want to live according to reality, we will live according to the absolute authority of Jesus because He came to testify to what reality, to what Truth, really is. He didn’t just testify about it. He died to prove He knew what He was talking about.
38 “What is truth?” retorted Pilate.
Pilate downplayed the necessity to deal with what Jesus had revealed to Him, and yet, I believe Pilate knew in his heart that what Jesus was saying was true. I believe it because Pilate tried repeatedly to avoid having Jesus executed. He went right out to the Jews who were waiting on a verdict and said, “I find no basis for a charge against Jesus.” He knew it was their custom to release a prisoner, to pardon a prisoner at Passover time, and he offered to release Jesus. They wouldn’t hear of it. They called for the release of a guy named Barabbas instead.
Pilate tried again in John 19:4-Once more Pilate came out and said to the Jews gathered there, “Look, I am bringing him out to you to let you know that I find no basis for a charge against him.”
He stood his ground again in verse 6: As soon as the chief priests and their officials saw him, they shouted, “Crucify! Crucify!” But Pilate answered, “You take him and crucify him. As for me, I find no basis for a charge against him.”
Pilate went back to talk to Jesus further. He asked Him again where He had come from. Feeling the pressure from the crowd that was calling for Jesus’ crucifixion, Pilate continued to look for a way out of handing Jesus over. Pilate said. “Don’t you realize I have power either to free you or to crucify you?” 11 Jesus answered, “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above.
What Jesus was saying in that moment was, “Pilate, this isn’t even up to you. You don’t have power over Me. You are not in control of Me or this situation. What is going to happen is going to be the exclamation point to My testimony about the Truth.” What God was going to allow, the death of the Son of God, the death of Jesus on the cross, was going to be His final demonstration and declaration regarding the definition of Truth.
So, not only is the Truth absolute and authoritative, but the truth has power! (We’ll talk more about that in a second.)
Chapter 19:12- From then on, Pilate tried to set Jesus free, (there were repeated attempts) but the Jewish leaders kept shouting, “If you let this man go, you are no friend of Caesar. Anyone who claims to be a king opposes Caesar.”
After several attempts to free Jesus, Pilate caved to the mob. I wonder, as the events of Jesus execution unfolded, I wonder how closely Pilate followed the happenings. I wonder if he asked for updates. I wonder if he stationed soldiers near the cross for the purpose of reporting all the things that happened. I wonder how he wrestled with the reality that Jesus, the Truth, had stood before him. I wonder if that question, “What is truth” continued to stir in his heart.
It’s a great question, isn’t it? What is truth? Dictionary.com says truth is: The actual state of matter in conformity with reality. Merriam-Webster defines truth as: Fidelity, constancy, fact, and actuality.
If truth is reality and truth is constancy, if truth is fact, if truth is actuality, then it is imperative that we know and understand truth because it is the key to that which is real, dependable and worthy of building our lives on due to its reliability, trustworthiness and unchanging nature. I don’t know about you, but I want to build my life on that which is real, that which is dependable, on that which is reliable, trustworthy and unchanging.
I submit to you that Truth is a Person. Jesus is the One who is real, dependable, reliable, trustworthy and unchanging. What does Scripture say about Him? Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever, Hebrews 13:8. Doesn’t that sound like Truth?
Listen, I’ve changed both my position and my perspective on a lot of things through the years. As I learn and grow and seek to follow God more closely, I’m bound to change my position and perspective on a lot more. Don’t follow me, or you will live frustrated, but if you follow Jesus, you will follow the most constant, consistent, and faithful One you could ever know. Truth doesn’t change because He doesn’t change.
Why is it important that we know and cling to the Truth? Isn’t that restrictive? To claim that there are standards, created by God, to which we must ascribe, doesn’t that diminish my quality of life? Doesn’t that fence me in? Doesn’t that keep me from enjoying life? Doesn’t that restrict my freedom?
It’s actually exactly the opposite! The Truth brings freedom. Look at John 8:31-36: 31 To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. 32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
Do you see the correlation between knowing Jesus and knowing the truth? If you hear what Jesus says, if you listen to Him as He told Pilate was imperative, if you listen to Jesus and hold to His teachings, you will know the truth and because of the power inherent in the Truth, you will be set free. This is the power of the Truth that I mentioned earlier. Freedom comes from walking in Truth.
The people Jesus was talking to didn’t get it. 33 They answered him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?”
Jesus wasn’t talking about being an earthly slave to an earthly person, but He was talking about being a slave to our flesh, a slave to the desires that we are born with, a slave to our cravings and unrighteous living. Left to ourselves, we instinctively want the wrong things. Just look at the track record of humanity. You know that is a true statement. The world is in trouble largely because it has rejected the Truth.
34 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. 35 Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
You can’t know Truth apart from a relationship with Jesus. He is the Great Emancipator. He is the Son of God, the key to all Truth, and when you embrace the Truth, doors will be unlocked, shackles will be loosed, you will have a liberation in your soul, your mind will be free and focused on the things that are right and good, and you will live with a freedom you could never have known was even possible.
Truth has the power to liberate you because Truth is a Person. If we are freed by the Truth, then please understand that the converse is also true. Believing the lies of the enemy, Satan, the lies of the gods of this age, the lies of our culture will place you in bondage. The only way to know the Truth is to start a relationship with Jesus. Jesus said of Himself in John 14:6, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”
The way to God is the way of Truth. It’s the way of Jesus. Anything else is a lie. All roads don’t lead to God. Living a decent moral life won’t get you to Heaven. Going to church won’t make you acceptable to God. No one gets what God offers without going through Jesus. “Well, isn’t that exclusive?” Yes. The truth is exclusive. The truth is discriminating. It will exclude what isn’t true. That’s what makes it the Truth! I don’t want to live for a lie. I want to know and walk in and experience the power that comes from living in Truth. If the Truth is a turn off to you, it is only because you have already believed the lie of Satan that you are better off living apart from God.
There’s been a lot of fact checking going on in our country lately. People are on a quest for truth while political parties are working hard to suppress the truth. I wish people were as eager to know the Truth about Jesus as they were a political candidate. His record is clear. No one has ever disproved His existence or His miracles. The evidence for His life, death, burial, and resurrection is overwhelming. Investigate it for yourself. Just look at the Truth that He shared while He was on the cross. He proved God’s love for each of us when He took the punishment we deserved because of our sin. He who was sinless, paid our penalty, so that we could know the Truth about how much God loves each of us.
I love I John 5:20: “We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true. And we are in him who is true by being in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.” I John 5:20
What is Truth? Truth is a Person. You can know Him. You can be freed by Him, and you can possess the eternal life that comes when you ask Him to forgive and change you by the power that comes from receiving and live in the Truth.
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