Grace Christian Fellowship: Christian Teachings from John

John 18:33-38 "What is Truth?"

"Then Pilate entered the Praetorium again, called Jesus, and said to Him, "Are You the King of the Jews?" Jesus answered him, "Are you speaking for yourself about this, or did others tell you this concerning Me?" Pilate answered, "Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered You to me. What have You done?" Jesus answered, "My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here." 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." 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." (John 18:33-38)

No words could be more appropriate for the world that we live in than Pilate’s response to Jesus 2000 years ago, "What is truth." In our scientific society truth is an accurate description of the facts. The facts are things that can be measured. The truth is that the earth travels around the sun in 365 days and that it spins on its axis once every 24 hours. But that is not the truth. The earth actually goes around the sun in 365.26 days and spins every 23.93 hours. That’s the truth! But even though our measurements are getting more and more accurate there is still a lot of things that are not that easy to measure. Wouldn’t it be so simple if we could just look up the answers to all of our questions on the internet. Instead, the internet has become the worlds largest debating platform. Everybody is arguing with everyone else. Who is right? What is truth? Pilate was the man who needed to decide what the truth was, a man’s life hung in the balance. But other things weighed more heavily on Pilate’s mind than something as ephemeral as truth. He had to deal with power and politics and rebellion and that left little room for truth. So what is truth?
Of course the ancients were not so concerned about accuracy in measurement as we are. They were not guided by the rules of science. But they were still concerned about truth. What did "truth" mean to an ancient Hebrew? We can learn from one of the most untruthful men in the Bible. Jacob, who would later be called Israel and father of the twelve tribes. Jacob was born grabbing onto his brother's heel, cheated Esau out of his birthright, tricked his father Isaac into giving him his brother’s blessing, and bested an infamous con-artist Laban at his own game. It was on Jacob’s way back from Laban’s to meet his brother that he tells us about truth. "O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, the LORD who said to me, ‘Return to your country and to your family, and I will deal well with you’: I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies and of all the truth which You have shown Your servant; for I crossed over this Jordan with my staff, and now I have become two companies." Jacob was not just talking about an accurate description of the facts. For him "truth" was something that God had shown him a lot of. For us, something is either true or its not, but for the ancient Hebrews, truth was a blessing. God had promised that He would deal well with Jacob, and He had done it. His promise was sure and reliable. Even though Jacob might change with the wind, God never does. Truth is that which does not change. We live in a world where nothing stays the same. Even though we might be right today the answer is different tomorrow. The world is changing so fast that there is no accurate description of the facts. Look in the mirror. You look nothing like Abraham or anybody else in the Bible. You wear different clothes, you eat different food, you drive a different camel. You have nothing in common with anyone in the Bible except God. Everything else has changed But God is still the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. He is still the God of Moses and David and Daniel. He is still the God of Peter and Paul and John. He is still the one that Jesus Christ revealed to us in the flesh. We can still depend on Him to do what He says even though we change with the wind.
The Greeks had a different idea of truth. They used the word "aletheia", literally "not hidden". So when Jesus said, "I am the truth", He was really saying I am not hidden. Jesus revealed God to us and showed us the Father in a way that we could understand. The theme of the X-files, "The truth is out there" is exactly the opposite of what Jesus means when He said, "Know the truth and the truth will set you free." We have come to think that there is always something that is being hidden from us, that the truth can only be reached if you dig far enough below the layers of deception. It has gone so far as to seem that if something is common knowledge it can’t possible be true. They are covering something up. But that is the meaning of truth for Jesus. Truth is not the dark secret that is guarded in some secure file, it is the simple message that has been known for centuries, that can stand the test of time with full exposure to every critic, every scholar, anyone who cares to look can know the truth and yes, it does set you free! The enemy deals in shadows and half-truths, he shows just a tantalizing sliver, and lures us in to look beneath the veil. But once his lies are exposed to the light they don’t turn out to be what they seemed. They crumble to dust when you see them for what they really are. Ask any model or actress, shadows are much kinder than the bright lights of the stage. Only Jesus can hold up under the bright lights of truth. Everything that we believe as Christians is totally exposed, it is all in the public domain. Satan has done his worst to destroy the gospel but it cannot be stopped because it is the truth.
Jesus said, "He who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God." (John 3:21) Whatever you do, do it boldly for all to see. If you sin, confess it boldly and receive forgiveness. But our human tendency is to hide our sin in the shadows. Adam and Eve knew they had sinned and God had to go looking for them. They tried to hide from God. A man wrote me an e-mail the other day, "I have so much to confess, where do I start, with God or the people who I have done wrong to." You have to start with God. The people might or might not forgive you. It depends on how hurt they are and their walk with God. But God has promised that if we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive and also to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. With God’s forgiveness you then have the power to go and expose your sin in front of others. When nothing more is hidden then you are walking in truth. Nothing hidden.
The Hebrew concept of truth is that which never changes, faithful, reliable, steadfast. God is true to His word, to His promises, to His character. He is the rock that we must fasten our anchor to in the stormy seas of this world. The Greek concept of truth is total exposure, nothing hidden, and Jesus is the one who revealed to us God’s love in such a way that Satan has never been able to hide it or cover it up. We need both of these truths in our lives in this world that changes so fast and is so full of darkness and lies. The great hymn "Great is Thy Faithfulness" has the line, "There is no shadow of turning with Thee." No shadows, no turning, put another way it means that God is truth.

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