Today we will try to find an answer to the question of what is truth. In Psalm 25 we find a prayer asking that God would lead us in His truth. Truth belongs to God only. “Lead me in thy truth, and teach me: for thou art the God of my salvation; on thee do I wait all the day.” Ps. 25:5.
Truth is God’s domain. Another verse from the same psalm tells us: “All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth unto such as keep his covenant and his testimonies.” Ps. 25:10. There is of course only one way we can keep God’s covenant and testimonies: By believing in the name of the Son of God, Jesus Christ. It is the only way to stay in the truth.
No truth in the land
Before we can properly consider what ‘truth’ means, we need to realise what is our starting point. Prophet Hosea puts it this way:
“Hear the word of the Lord, ye children of Israel: for the Lord hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land.” Hosea 4:1
There is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land. We come to this world blind to the truth and all the world is in a dark net of lies. As we shall see, we are even unwilling to receive the truth!
The main point is that we do not know what is truth until it is revealed to us. The truth has to be revealed to us by our Creator. It has to come from outside of the creation. Otherwise we remain in darkness.
Jesus is the way
Jesus said: “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” J. 14:6
He told earlier to His disciples: “And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know.” (v. 4) And the way ye know… Jesus is the way. We can only come to God by coming to the cross of Jesus Christ and sacrificing all we hold dear to His blood. If you know this to be the truth and you come to Him, you have eternal life.
“Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way?”. We know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way? There is only one place Jesus can go. He is the perfect Son of God, without any blemish. As the only man who never committed any sin, there is only one place He can go to: heaven.
God has confirmed that it was an injustice that a just man died on the cross and was in hell. Therefore he rose from the dead to confirm that the work of salvation was finished. The way was prepared. Therefore you can now believe in the name of Jesus Christ and be saved.
The Lord is now preparing a place in heaven and He will come back to receive all them who put their trust in Him.
I should bear witness unto the truth (John 18:37-40)
Let us consider another passage of the Scripture that speaks about the truth:
“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.” J. 18:37
Lord Jesus said that every one that is of the truth hears His voice. Of course, he speaks of those who received Him. They are born by the Word of truth: “Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.” Jam. 1:18. Those who are born again will listen to the Word of God and will understand it and seek to obey for they know there is life in it.
Why did Jesus come to the world? We know that He brought light to this world so that those who would receive Him could be saved. Jesus before Pilate says: “To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth.“ Is it not a call to all the followers too? We should bear witness to the truth and testimony that is in us. This is exactly the call we received, to bear witness to Jesus Christ and to share the gospel of salvation to the world.
“Pilate saith unto him, What is truth? And when he had said this, he went out again unto the Jews, and saith unto them, I find in him no fault at all.” (v. 38)
Pilate finishes the interrogation of Jesus with the question: What is truth? When he goes out to the crowds, he says: I find in him no fault at all. And this is truth. There is no blame on Jesus. He is perfectly righteous. Jesus is the truth, the light of God revealed to human race that we may see the glory of God. He is the Christ.
The following two verses show us the brutal truth about our fallen human race.
“But ye have a custom, that I should release unto you one at the passover: will ye therefore that I release unto you the King of the Jews? Then cried they all again, saying, Not this man, but Barabbas. Now Barabbas was a robber.” v. 39-40
Pilate gives the people a choice. Do you want this man in whom I find no crime, not a single fault? Or do you want this robber? The reaction of the people shows us that in our unconverted state we do not want the truth. We prefer lies and sins and darkness. For it is the work of God to believe in Him whom He sent.
Where do we find truth then? This should come at no surprise, but the Bible provides us with an answer to this urging question. “Thou art near, O Lord; and all thy commandments are truth.” Ps. 119:151. The only source of truth is here in that book, for it testifies about Lord Jesus Christ. Lord Jesus confirmed the Bible to be trustworthy, confirming its canon and trustworthiness from the first pages of the book of Genesis, to the last pages of the book of Revelation.
The Scriptures give us a pure testimony about the Lord, giving us all the truth we need for our salvation.
