What Is Truth?

18:33 Therefore Pilate entered again into the Praetorium, and summoned Jesus and said to Him, “Are You the King of the Jews?” 34 Jesus answered, “Are you saying this on your own initiative, or did others tell you about Me?” 35 Pilate answered, “I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests delivered You to me; what have You done?” 36 Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not of this realm.” 37 Therefore Pilate said to Him, “So You are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say [correctly] that I am a king. For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.” 38 Pilate said to Him, “What is truth?”

I love this small passage of John's Gospel for many reasons. In these six verses, John records a conversation between Jesus and the Roman governor Pilate, behind closed doors, early in the Good Friday morning. The exchange is fascinating to me because Pilate was a pagan who had been, essentially, "sentenced" to be governor of a volatile and highly religious province on the eastern edge of the Roman Empire. He didn't care one lick about the Jewish people or their religion. And he certainly didn't care one lick about their "anointed one" or messiah. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were just Hebrew names Pilate heard uttered every now and then by his subjects.

Yet, here standing before him was a meek Jewish man, bloodied and bruised by beatings administered by his own people. Their exchange is strange, at best. Yet its depth is almost unparalleled in the Gospels.

First of all, we have yet another declaration by Jesus that he is the Son of David, the King of the Israel. This is no small thing. It is a claim to the highest office in the land — and to the many prophecies of Scripture concerning the messiah. Pilate, the governor, had standing before him the so-called King of the Jews and the Hope of Israel. He is a king whose kingdom is "not of this world." In other words, the kingdom of heaven is not a civil government or system of laws. It is comprised not of race or gender or language. It is a kingdom in the hearts of people who have believed the King and committed their lives to follow Him.

Second, those people have a common bond that goes beyond race or government. They follow the Truth, as given by the Truth giver. "For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth," Jesus told Pilate. "Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice." Indeed, the people of the kingdom are those who hear the truth, as Jesus spoke it, and follow that truth. This statement led Pilate to a very perplexing question: What is truth? Can you see it, smell it, touch it or taste it? Is it always obvious or is it always difficult to find? And when it is revealed, will it always win any argument or solve any problem?

It's a great question — on the surface. What's funny is that Jesus just told Pilate what truth was. Truth is the words of Jesus Christ. It is for the reason of revealing truth that Jesus took on flesh and bone. Revealing the truth about the Father. Revealing the truth about mankind's need for salvation. Revealing the truth about God's plan for salvation. One part of which involved this whole conversation between Jesus and Pilate!

What is truth? Start with Matthew 1:1 and start reading. In the following pages you will find the voice of truth.

Be God's.