"WHAT IS TRUTH?"

I was reading John 18 a couple of days ago and part of it is the story of when Jesus was being questioned by Pilate before He was crucified.

John 18:37-38, "Pilate therefore said to Him, "Are You a king then?"

Jesus answered, "You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice."

38 Pilate said to Him, "What is truth?" And when he had said this, he went out again to the Jews, and said to them, "I find no fault in Him at all.”

The words, “WHAT IS TRUTH” jumped off the page at me. Can you picture Pilate’s reaction in this scene? Truth was not something real to him. He heard what Jesus said, but he did not comprehend it. Earlier in His life Jesus had said He was the truth*. So if we do not know Him, we can not know the truth. It remains an enigma, something hidden and unreachable. In fact, we could say that the amount of truth we know is in direct proportion to the level of intimacy we have with Jesus Christ. It would be worthwhile for our personal advantage to evaluate our lives and determine how personal our relationship is to Jesus. How well do we know Him? How much time do we spend with Him? Have we surrendered our lives to Him and made a decision to die to our own selfish desires to allow His perfect will to be done in our lives? Do we hear and recognize His voice?

Since Jesus is the truth and is the very foundation of it, we would want Him to become our plumb line, our guide for all of life. He is a like a lighthouse shining its light on the rocky places of life. John 8:31-36 says this, “Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, "If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

“They answered Him, "We are Abraham's descendants, and have never been in bondage to anyone. How can You say, 'You will be made free'?

“Jesus answered them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin. And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever. Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.”

We can only know the truth if we abide in His word. Abide is a small word, but it packs a powerful punch. It means to continue in a particular condition, attitude, relationship; to remain, continue, stay. We must not just say with our lips, I believe in Him. We can believe in a lot of things without giving our lives for them. Therefore, being a disciple of His requires much more than just believing. It is abiding with Him, having intimate (emotional and spiritual) relationship with Him, it is being grafted in to Him who is the life source. When we are His disciples, we do not just know the truth, but the truth shall make us free.

* John 14:6, “Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” NKJV

To be continued.