What I Can Know About Truth – Revisited

John 18:33-40 NIV “Pilate then went back inside the palace, summoned Jesus and asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?”  “Is that your own idea,” Jesus asked, “or did others talk to you about me?”  “Am I a Jew?” Pilate replied. “Your own people and chief priests handed you over to me. What is it you have done?” 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.”  “You are a king, then!” said Pilate. 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.” “What is truth?” retorted Pilate. With this he went out again to the Jews gathered there and said, “I find no basis for a charge against him.  But it is your custom for me to release to you one prisoner at the time of the Passover. Do you want me to release ‘the king of the Jews’?”  They shouted back, “No, not him! Give us Barabbas!” Now Barabbas had taken part in an uprising.”

I think that coming to know or really understand what “Truth” is, is for me, one of, if not the, most difficult things to come to terms with that there is in life. And I also find that one of the biggest obstacles that I have with understanding what “Truth” is, is the actual limitations of my own mind when dealing with “Truth”, due to the complexities of “Truth” and how we process and handle information. What also is perplexing is that my perception of “Truth” isn’t necessarily going to be held as “Truth” by someone else. This reality is one of life’s most difficult concepts to deal with, especially when it comes to communicating “Truth” to those within your own family or those that you really care for, where their concept of “Truth” differs from yours.

And, just to make it interesting, I have also come to understand that just about nothing is really simple. In other words, what can and does often appear as something that is relatively simple, very rarely, if ever, is.

One of the definitions for “Truth” is: “that which is true or in accordance with fact or reality.” Keeping that definition in mind, not only did Jesus say that He was born and came into the world to testify to the truth, but He also said that He literally was the truth.

John 14:6 KJV “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”

That’s pretty heavy. We’re not talking about a small or insignificant “Truth” here. In other words, this is ultimately the biggest and most important “Truth” that there is. Because, if in fact, Jesus is the truth, then all of the other truths that we have to come to terms with are “secondary”. If Jesus is indeed the truth, then everything that He taught us, including that He is the Creator of our universe, everything He told us about including the Kingdom of God and everything that He did including His death and resurrection, takes on a new, supreme importance. This is where our Christian worldview comes into play, where literally everything is looked at in a new and different way.

I am always amazed at the depths to which Satan will go to detract us from coming to the realization of the ultimate truth of who Jesus is. And he will use every tool in his considerable arsenal to offset us from coming to this realization.

In Matthew 4:1-11 NIV we read how Jesus was tempted by Satan. And Satan says to Jesus, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” Did Satan know who Jesus was, of course he did, but he uses pride in combination with a human need, to get Jesus to follow his direction. “It is written” Jesus responds and Satan fails. Then Satan takes Jesus to the highest point of the Temple in Jerusalem and says “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written:” This time Satan quotes Scripture, tempting Jesus to succumb to pride again to prove His divinity. And Jesus responds “It is written” and Satan fails. And lastly, Satan pulls out his ace in the hole and takes Jesus to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendour.  “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.” I’m pretty sure Satan already knew he wasn’t going to be successful but he had to give it a shot and he offered Jesus all that he had. Notice that this time Satan doesn’t question who Jesus is, notice that this time he doesn’t quote Scripture, instead Satan plays his trump card, his ace in the hole, power, authority, adoration. Once again, Jesus responds with Scripture “It is written” and Satan fails again. The reality that Satan lives in does not equate to the Kingdom of God. Satan can only offer us what he has. And don’t forget our road map, “It is written”.

I know that there are many who question the whole concept of God, Jesus and Satan plus the validity of the Scriptures. But does anyone really question the reality that pride, power (in all of its various forms), unlimited authority and adoration have played in the history of humanity, right up to this very day? No one can say that Jesus wasn’t perceptive and that Satan, in this portion of scripture, didn’t appear to know our weaknesses. How easily we can read through this passage of scripture and miss what is actually being shown here.

Satan failed with Jesus but he sure has no difficulty winning with humanity. Pride, power including selfish wealth, authority, adoration, how many countless millions have picked one of these cards? How easily we get side tracked, how easily we buy into the lie of living for what we now see and ignore God’s truth. Who can deny how the concept of love has been twisted from sacrificial to all about me, how male and female roles have been turned upside down, how marriage is viewed as a contract that can easily be broken and discarded, how the value of new life can now be discarded as garbage and an inconvenience, how justice for all, mercy and equality for all are concepts that we have long since walked away from? Humanity should be ashamed of itself, but it’s not.

Satan is alive and doing well.

There’s an awful lot of things that I don’t know about. There are many things that my limited mental capabilities has difficulty grasping. And I have not had an easy go of dealing with my own weaknesses, right up to this very day. But I do know whom I have believed and that which I have entrusted to Him until that day.

2 Timothy 1:12 NIV “ That is why I am suffering as I am. Yet this is no cause for shame, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until that day.”

You see, the truth is not just a true concept or principle, the truth is a person, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, personifies truth. He is God the Father’s truth, He is God’s truth in the flesh, He is the Holiness of God that walked on this earth, because He loved us that much. And knowing the truth, in the person of Jesus is more than an intellectual understanding, it is a oneness with Him within my spirit that sustains me from day to day and that makes all the difference.

My crowning achievement in this life is that I have come to know Jesus, the Son of God, as my saviour and Lord. This I do know.

If you’ve never taken this choice of stepping out in faith to God’s truth, do it. If you do and really mean it, and you earnestly learn of Jesus, like He asks you to do, your life will never be the same! 

Worthy is the Lamb! Blessings!