Tag: #BibleTruth

Rejecting the Truth?

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John chapters 18 and 19 tell a story of many people today.  There is an all important question asked by Pilate that never directly gets answered.  However, the very question he wants answered is actually answered… and yet, he still rejects it.  What am I talking about?  Pilate’s question, “What is truth?”  Let me explain.

In John 18, a band of chief priests and Pharisees came at night to take Jesus.  Jesus knew this.  He even asked them when they came, “Who do you seek?”  They answered, “Jesus of Nazareth.”  Jesus then said, “I am.”  This is the very name that God used of Himself when speaking to Moses out of the burning bush.  As soon as Jesus said this, the people who came to take Him fell backward to the ground.  Jesus was not stumbled at this.  He asked again, “Who do you seek?”  Jesus answered the same way, “I am.”

After this, they bound Jesus and led him away first to Annas where they asked Jesus questions.  Jesus told them that He had always spoken openly and not in secret.  Therefore, they should have known what He taught.  Jesus then challenged the priest stating that He had never spoken evil.  Next, Jesus was taken to Caiaphas, the high priest, and then to Pilate, the Roman prefect (governor) of Judea.

This is where the event gets very interesting.  Pilate asked the Jews what accusation was brought against Jesus.  They said that Jesus was a criminal, an evil person.  Pilate questioned Jesus again asking Him, “Are you the King of the Jews?”  Jesus wanted to know if Pilate was saying this of his own belief or if someone else told him this.  Pilate stated that he was not a Jew and that the Jews, Jesus’s own nation, delivered Him to Pilate.  So Pilate asked, “What did you do?”

Jesus answered the first question Pilate asked by stating, “My kingdom is not of this world.  If it were, my servants would fight for me; but, my kingdom is not from here.”  Pilate asked, “So you are a king?”  Jesus answered, “You say that I am.  For this reason, I was born, and for this cause I came into the world, that I should bear witness unto the TRUTH.  Everyone that is of the truth hears my voice.”

Pilate seemed confused by the way Jesus answered.  Jesus said that he came to BEAR WITNESS to the TRUTH.  Pilate then questioned this, “What is truth?”  It does not appear that Pilate waited around for the answer.  What Pilate did do, however, is go tell the Jews that he found NO FAULT in Jesus. 

What was it that Jesus was bearing witness to?  The truth… the truth that He told?  The truth that God told in the Old Testament?  What was this truth that Jesus testified to?  The truth that there is a New Covenant?  The truth that the prophet to come should be hearkened to (Deuteronomy 18:18-19)?  The truth that Jesus is the “way, the truth, and the life and that no man comes to the Father but by Him?”  What is this truth?  Let’s see what Pilate was coming to know.

Pilate found NO FAULT in Jesus.  Jesus confirmed that he was a king and that his kingdom was not of this world and that he came to bear witness to the truth.  Pilate found NO FAULT in Jesus.  Ponder this for a moment.

Now Pilate tried to release Jesus and the Jews asked for Barabbas instead.  So, Pilate had Jesus scourged.  Why?  To make Jesus confess to a fault?  To make Jesus lie to avoid further pain?  Wasn’t this the point of scourging… to make people confess?  But, when all was said and done, Pilate went to the Jews and said, “I find NO FAULT in him.”

Again, after the chief priests and officers cried out “Crucify him, crucify him,” Pilate stated “I find NO FAULT in Him.”  Pilate is then told by the Jews that Jesus deserved to die because He made Himself the Son of God.  What was Pilate’s response?  He was more afraid!  Why?  Could it be that Pilate had found NO FAULT in Jesus, thus he found that Jesus had not yet lied up to this point?  Could it be true, then, that Jesus was the Son of God?  Would this be the kingdom of which Jesus was a king?  Pilate found NO FAULT in Him. 

Pilate then went back to Jesus and asked Him, “Where are you from?”  Jesus did not answer.  Why?  Maybe because He has already told Pilate that His kingdom was from somewhere else?  Pilate then questioned (or was it threatened?) Jesus, “Don’t you know that I have the power to crucify you or release you?”  Pilate must have been stunned when he heard Jesus’s response: “You could have no power against me unless it was given to you from above.”

After this, Pilate sought to have Jesus released?  Why?  Somehow Pilate came to know that Jesus was considered by some to be the King of the Jews.  Jesus told Pilate that He came to be a king of a different kingdom.  Jesus told Pilate that He came to be a witness to the truth.  Pilate found NO FAULT in Him.  Pilate had Him scourged and found NO FAULT in Him.  Pilate came to hear that Jesus made Himself the Son of God.  Pilate became afraid.  Pilate heard that he could have no power without someone giving him that power.  Pilate sought to have him released… but there was a temptation presented to Pilate.

The Jews cried out that Pilate could not be a friend of Caesar because no one could make himself a king and speak against Caesar.  What was Pilate’s dilemma?  If he were to admit that Jesus was a king and let Jesus go, Pilate himself would lose his position in the Roman Empire.  So, Pilate had to make a decision.  He was in a dilemma.  He had found NO FAULT in Jesus… the one who claimed to be a witness to the truth, the one who claimed to be King of the Jews, the one who claimed to be the Son of God.  What would Pilate do?

Pilate brought Jesus before the people and announced, “Behold your King!”  But, the people cried out to crucify Jesus, and Pilate turned Jesus over to be crucified.  But that is not the end of the story.  What did Pilate do next?  He had a title put on the cross which stated, “JESUS OF NAZARETH THE KING OF THE JEWS.”  He didn’t write what the Jews wanted written, “He SAID, I am King of the Jews.”  Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.”  Why is this?  What made Pilate do this?  Did he believe that Jesus was the King of the Jews?  Did Pilate believe that Jesus was the Son of God?  He found NO FAULT in Him.

I believe that Pilate knew the truth.  He asked about it and Jesus didn’t lie.  Pilate had to know about what Jesus taught.  He had to seek the facts out.  He knew what happened after Jesus died and was raised from the dead.  Remember that the two disciples on the road to Emmaus asked Jesus (not knowing it was him), “Are you the only one in the region who doesn’t know what has happened these days?”  Everyone knew the commotion… people were stating that Jesus was risen from the dead.  Pilate came face-to-face with the truth.  However, he seemed to reject what it meant, what the implications were for knowing that truth.  Pilate didn’t want to lose his position in the Roman Empire.  There was something that kept him from acting on what he was finding to be the truth.

We see many people today who are given substantial evidence, even facts, that support the claims of Christ.  However, some of these people will outright tell you that even if they saw Jesus raised from the dead, they would not believe.  Why?  Might I suggest that they have something to lose… money, relationships, power, position… something!  Yet, each of us has that shame within us that we need to do something with.  What did Pilate do? In Matthew 27, Pilate simply washed his hands in the eyes of all who looked on him.  Was this sufficient?  He stated that he was innocent of the blood of this just person, but was he?  We are not told.  I hope that Pilate came to know the truth… AND to accept what it meant. 

Romans 10:9-11 states, “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.  For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.  For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on Him shall not be ashamed.”

What about you?  Are you willing to look at the truth and accept it… or will you reject it despite the evidence for it?  Think about it!

The Truth (Part 3) (or rather, The Rejection of the Truth)

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From Part 2 of “The Truth”, we were left with the question that Pilate had of Jesus, “What is truth?”  As the disciples learned of Jesus while they walked with him on the earth, and after He was resurrected, they wrote of what they learned of truth.  They wrote these things for our learning as well.  Let’s see what they teach us about truth.

In Ephesians, we are told that the word of truth is the gospel of our salvation which seals us with the Holy Spirit of promise. (Ephesians 1:13)   The word gospel means good news.  Thus, the Word of Truth, from God our Father is the good news of our salvation.  Of a truth, we are saved by God’s grace, and not by what we think is to be true (Ephesians 2:8-9).  He alone made the way for our salvation and then tells us (through words) of how that salvation occurs.  It was only by the death of Jesus Christ. 

Also, we are told in Ephesians 6:14 to “gird our loins with truth.”  Why should we “gird our loins with truth” when we are in a spiritual battle?  Because when we know the truth, the truth helps us to fight the lies of the enemy.  Sometimes we hear voices that tell us that we are worth nothing, that we are on earth for the purposes of pleasing others, or that we don’t measure up.  However, the word of the truth tells us differently.  God created us in His image and He loves us very much, and He has a purpose for our lives. 

Wow!  Ponder what we have learned so far.  We have seen in Parts 1 and 2 of The Truth that: God tells us the truth.  God gives us the truth.  God is the truth.  Jesus is God.  Thus, Jesus is the truth!  We are also told that this truth is our salvation and that we are protected by this truth.  If this is all true, why would anyone want to reject this truth?

In Romans, we are told that there are people who hold the truth in unrighteousness and change the truth of God into a lie.  We are also told that that which may be known of God is made clear because God showed it to us (Romans 1:19).  Everything in creation testifies to the fact that there is a God (Romans 1:20) and therefore, we are all without excuse when we reject the truth.  There are those who do not want to follow God “do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath.”  (Romans 2:8)  Why?

In 1 Thessalonians 2:13, Paul states that the Thessalonians received the “word of God” which they heard Paul teach, and they “received it not as the word of men, but as it is in TRUTH, the word of God.”  Others, however, (2 Thessalonians 2:10) would not receive the love of the truth.  It isn’t that they could not receive it, but they WOULD not receive it.  This truth is that truth which brings salvation.  Paul even goes on to say that those who believe not the truth take pleasure in unrighteousness.  (2 Thessalonians 2:12)  Therein is the answer to the question: Why would anyone reject the truth of the gospel, the good news, of our salvation?  It is because some people do NOT want to be accountable for their actions. 

If we know there is a God, and that He saves us, then we also understand that there may be some requirements placed on our lives.  There are commands given to us, for our protection of course, that we will need to follow.  Some people do not like to obey or submit to anyone.  Thus, they cast off all restraint.  So, if they make the conscious choice not to believe the truth, and call it anything but the truth, they can justify in their minds living their lives in any way they please.  According to Paul this is their way of having pleasure in unrighteousness.  There is pleasure in not living our lives with rules.  However, we are also in danger of hurting ourselves or others when we don’t live by rules. 

The result of some people rejecting truth because they want to throw off all constraints is that they attempt to make others doubt the truth.  Romans 1:18 tells us that there are those that hold the truth in unrighteousness.  In other words, they know the truth, but they act against it.  Think about it.  If I want to justify my actions and make them seem good to you, wouldn’t I have to convince you that they are good?  So, if I am acting against the truth and I want to continue to do so without you judging me or trying to tell me what to do, I would need to make you think like me.  Isn’t this what Tom Sawyer did when he didn’t want to do the whitewashing of the fence?  He made everyone else believe that it was a great thing to do so that he could get out of doing it himself.  We see this same thing happening today where evil is called good and good is called evil.  Some of these evil things do not even make sense. However, we have enough voices telling us that these things are good so that some of us are swayed into believing it, even when we know it isn’t true.

Paul states that we are sanctified (made clean before the Lord) of the Spirit AND belief of the TRUTH.  It is the Spirit that sanctifies us, but we have to believe the truth… that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, that He died and was raised again on the third day.  This is the heart of the gospel message.  Jesus saves us, but we have to accept that gift of salvation through belief in it, and this is called the TRUTH!  God wants us all to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth (1 Timothy 2:4). When we do come to this knowledge, we obtain the abundant life promised to us, and a peace that surpasses all understanding, and the Lord’s joy, and contentment even in difficult circumstances, comfort in our times of need, wisdom when we need it, and blessings beyond measure. No, not always physical blessings, but the important things in life that provide for wonder and awe.

People of corrupt minds, are “destitute of the truth” (1 Timothy 6:5).  In 2 Timothy 2:15, we are told to study to show ourselves approved unto God, rightly dividing the word of truth.  In other words, God gives us His truth, and we are to come to know it by studying it.  We are to avoid being like those led away by a form of godliness, but they deny the power of God… because people who are led away in this way are ever learning, but never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.  In fact, people actually “resist the truth” (2 Timothy 3:8) 

Peter warns us that in the end times, many will follow their “pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of.”  Don’t we see this today?  If we tell the truth about a situation from God’s Word, we are evil spoken of because we believe archaic beliefs. 

John stated that “I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.”  Since the Apostle John heard Jesus speak of truth and explain truth, He was excited to tell others about Jesus (that he saw Jesus and heard Him and touched Him as Jesus manifested Himself to him), and he wanted people to “walk” in that “truth”. 

There is so much more to the depth of the study of God’s Word and the truth that He proclaims, but that needs to be left to each of you.  Pick up God’s Word and discover the truth that God has for each of us.  Don’t relish in unrighteous ways and miss the blessings that God has for you when you act in accordance with the truth of His Word.  My prayer is that I have at least given you a start and made you think or ponder what truth is.  Remember, if it is really true, it is not based on personal opinion.  So, find the facts for yourself.  Know the truth because it can be known.