“To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth.” John 18:37
Dear Ones:
It was quite a profound conversation that Jesus had with Pilate before He was delivered to the soldiers to be crucified. Jesus, knowing Pilate, made use of a line of thought that must have stirred Pilate. It had to do with the “truth.” Pilate was a Roman soldier, a godless man, but one who Jesus was seeking to save. The mention of Christ coming into the world to “bear witness unto the truth,” caused Pilate to ask Jesus the question: “What is truth?” Pilate, just like every other human being on the face of the earth, could not explain his existence, nor with assurance, have an answer for death. The reason is fundamentally because he did not know the TRUTH, the objective truth, nor the One who stood before him as the living TRUTH. In speaking to the disciples of His soon departure to the Father, Jesus told them very clearly: “I AM the way, the TRUTH, and the LIFE.” (Jn. 14:6) In that one short declaration, Jesus puts Himself in a category in the minds of men, that is completely different from all others. He is unique, singular, and holy. Everything that does not align itself with the reality of who He is, and what He declares, is the opposite of truth. It is a lie, deception, and false hope…especially as it pertains to our reason for existing, and facing our last enemy, death. HE is the only answer to both issues, because of what He has declared, and because of what He has proven and demonstrated Himself to BE, truly the “Resurrection and the LIFE.” How does this knowledge to be practically, and effectively grasped and lived by us?
In Psalm 119, there is a tremendous emphasis on “word of God,” being the truth, giving wisdom and knowledge. This is because it is according to the truth that God reveals Himself to men. We ask, “How?” We know that when the Lord spoke, or speaks, there is a certain and desired result. “So shall My word be that goes forth out of My mouth. It shall not return unto Me void.” (Is. 55:11) Because of the commitment of the entire person of God in Christ, according to His word, to fulfill His word, that “word” becomes the means by which we know the power and blessing of God. Therefore, we hide it in our hearts, trusting Him to instruct and teach us in it, opening our eyes to “behold wondrous things” out of His law. But there is also an accompanying truth, and tremendous blessing in the knowledge and adherence to His word. It is the “quickening,” that “life-giving” intervention and ministry of the Spirit according to the word spoken. This is why the Psalmist, at least nine times throughout the Psalm, prays that the Lord would “quicken” him. This is the real, and true, intervention of God in the life.
During the ministry of the Lord Jesus, He made the distinction between that which was of the flesh and the Spirit. “It is the Spirit that QUICKENS (…or gives life); the flesh profits NOTHING.” (Jn. 6:63) What is He saying? It is as Theodore Monod wrote: “All in Christ, BY the Holy Spirit, for the glory of God, all else is nothing.” The point is that the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of TRUTH, has been given to the believer to quicken him (give him Life), according to the word of God. Paul, in Romans 8, certainly speaking of the resurrection, but also, of the present ministry of the Spirit, would write: “If the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also QUICKEN (give life to…) your mortal bodies by His Spirit that dwells in you.” (v.11) The lesson is consistently declared in the Psalms, through the Gospels, and in the epistles. God has given us His word, and Himself in Christ, as the TRUTH. He has also give to us the Spirit of TRUTH, that by His power, according to the will of God, He should quicken us daily, to know Him and to make Him known.
Dear Father, open our eyes by Thy Spirit to see the blessedness of what Jesus said to Pilate: “…I came to bear witness to the TRUTH.” Give us grace to so know Thy truth, and Thy Son, that by the Spirit of truth, we should also be enabled to bear witness of Thee, in truth. We praise Thee for the possibilities and realization of such a life. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Love, Dad