BY GREG CRUM
“Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice. Pilate saith unto him, What is truth?…” John 18:37-38
I guess modern politicians aren’t the only ones that have struggled with the ability to hold a firm understanding of this idea of truthfulness! Here we have Pilate, looking straight into the face of ultimate truth and unable to see past his preconceived ideas and political alliances.
Maybe, like many today, he really didn’t want to know the truth; maybe he was afraid of what that truth might reveal about him. Or perhaps he was insinuating with his statements that there is no absolute truth in an attempt to justify his own deeds, done as a course of following his own version of the truth.
One day I’m sure we’ll be privy to all the details surrounding this most important moment in time, but until that time I do know this—Pilate was in the presence of absolute truth and if he would have had the courage to believe in him, that truth would have made him free!
For a couple of months now, we’ve been taking some time to think about who Jesus really is. In reality this series could go on until the Lord comes back for us, that’s how multifaceted our Jesus is, and I don’t know how long we’ll continue in this vein, but I do think it’s so very important in our day and age that we get a clearer picture of who Jesus is according to the Scriptures.
We’d like to think we know, and that everyone else knows, but honestly, this knowledge, while readily available in the Bible, seems lost to our generation.
You see, the world has their opinions of Jesus, in ways subtle and overt they’ve conveyed them, and religion has painted a certain picture of him, but sadly, not always so accurately. That’s why we need to discover for ourselves who Jesus really is—who those early disciples believed him to be, and most importantly, who he declared himself to be.
In our thoughts to this point, we’ve seen that Jesus is much more than most have been led to believe. He is the very power that keeps everything in God’s Creation held together (By him all things consist! Colossians 1:17) That revelation by itself should have us reevaluating some of what we believe about Jesus. We’ve also noted that he said he was the Resurrection and the Life, and in John 14 it was recorded that he boldly proclaimed that he was the Way.
As we’ve mentioned before, it’s important to realize that Jesus said he was “The” of these things. “The,” as in the epitome, the totality, the absolute. Not just a part of it, or someone who practices it, or an aspect or version of it, but “The” of these things!
With all that said, what else did Jesus say he was, who else is he according to the Word? Well, referencing John 14:6 again, Jesus revealed to his disciples that he was the truth. Again, respect that adjective “the” used by Jesus. In using that word, he declared that he was the absolute truth, the totality of truth, the very embodiment of the concept of the truth. He wasn’t merely saying that he was truthful, or a reflection of the truth, or truth from a certain point of view, but that he was “The” truth.
Friends, Jesus is the truth. Really, he’s the only truth that’s pure and without slant. Waiting for an honest politician? It may be a while, but know this, one day Jesus will be that King over all the earth that Pilate was inquiring about, and in that day we will live under the leadership of the ultimate truth!
Greg Crum is the pastor of Calvary Temple in Lovely.