What is Truth? (7-1-08)

"Pilate therefore said unto him, Are you a king then? Jesus answered, 'You say 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 hears my voice'. Pilate said unto him, 'What is truth?'..."(John 18: 37, 38a)

This question is as applicable today as it was when Pilate asked it of our Lord Jesus. The world has had a problem with the truth ever since the devil--through his mouthpiece, the serpent--slithered into the Garden of Eden and asked Eve: "Indeed, has God said...?" (Gen. 3:1). Suddenly, the simple instructions God had given to them, became a matter of debate and question. Now, today, every one of us has been conceived in iniquity, and came forth from the womb "speaking lies". (Ps.51:5; 58:3) Our politicians lie to us regularly; and most of our corpoarte news media do likewise. Unfortunately, in professing Christiandom today, we also encounter numerous lies by people who are desirous of a large following (Acts 20: 30) and a big payday. The church--that is suppose to be the "pillar and ground of the truth" (1 Tim. 3:15)--is increasingly becoming like the world around us, insofar as the search for truth is concerned. In all 3 of these realms (government, corporate news media, and professing Christiandom); getting at "the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth" is becoming increasingly more difficult as we approach the end of this current age.

Pilate's question ("What is truth?") was disengenuous because he knew that Jesus had done nothing wrong (Jn. 18:38); and he knew exactly why the religious leaders of Israel had delivered Jesus over to him to be killed: ENVY (Matt. 28:18). Judaism had deteriorated into nothing more than an outward show of piety with various rules and regulations--both biblical, and "man-made" (the Talmud)--to be strictly observed and followed meticulously. After the Lord himself left their Temple (Ezekiel 8-11); the Jewish religious leaders simply kept the "organization" going on their own. They added their "traditions" to the Bible, and just kept performing their "religion" without the Lord! This also put them in the position of power; whereby their religion could make them a LOT OF MONEY: a truth that the Apostle Paul knew all too well.

"For you have heard of my conversation [manner of living] in time past in the Jews' religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God, and wasted [ravaged] it: and PROFITED in the Jews religion above many of my equals in mine own nation, being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers." (Gal. 1:13,14)

It was the Lord Jesus' incessant witnessing to this TRUTH of how the Jewish religious leaders were nothing more than hypocites and liars, who were using their positions of authority over the people to aggregate wealth and power for themselves; that caused them to hate Jesus and to try everything in their power (and influence with the GOVERNMENT of Rome!) to shut Him up, permanently. Why? Because "the COMMON people heard him gladly." (Mk.12:37) By his witnessing to the truth, Jesus was not only infuriating the Pharisees and other religious leaders of the Jews; he was luring away their FOLLOWERS.

"The Pharisees therefore said among themselves, 'Perceive you how you prevail nothing? behold, the WORLD is gone after him [Jesus]." (Jn. 12:19)

The religious leaders saw the Lord Jesus as a THREAT to their PROFITS, and power! He had to be stopped, at any cost. Which leads us to my next point about witnessing to the truth, and why it's so rarely done today: testifying to the truth today, reguarding almost anything, will COST YOU SOMETHING. Jesus could have gotten out of his predicament with Pilate if he'd simply have lied and refused to admit that he was in fact, the King of the Jews. His witnessing to the truth cost him his life. At the end of this age, witnessing to the truth will do likewise for us.

"...the time comes, that whosoever kills you will THINK that he does God service." (Jn. 16:2)

"Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and you shall be hated of all nation for my name's sake. And then many shall be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the LOVE [agape love, produced in us by the Holy Spirit, as in Romans 5:5] of many shall wax [gradually become] COLD." (Matt. 24:9-12)

(I'll have to finish this later.)