What is Truth? Don’t Be Found Wanting

“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.” John 18:38

Pilate was unable to find any fault in Christ. Why? He said it, ‘What is truth?’  On what basis could he rule? Christ’s accusers were unable to present reliable witnesses, and Pilate knew they acted out of envy. Besides, what criterion or measure could Pilate possibly apply to find fault in perfection? Pilate, like Balaam of Beor, was asked to curse God’s plan, but he could not. Pilate eventually washed his hands of the matter but turned Jesus over anyway as a matter of political expediency while offering up, in a last ditch effort, to release Jesus to the people. Barabbas, a notorious prisoner, was released instead. It is ironic, however, that Pilate asked ‘What is truth?’ when he in fact revealed it when he said to the Jews, ‘I find in him no fault at all.’ Jesus, indeed, was the King of the Jews and willingly died for us through no fault of His own.

Yes, who could find fault in Him? What dross is there in purest gold? Does He not even now sit at the right hand of the Father in heavenly places wearing raiment of blinding white? Should Christ’s heavenly presence be any less brilliantly illumined than that of Moses’ face after he met with God and came back down the mountain? There, hidden in a crag, Moses saw only the hindquarter of God. No, Christ’s brilliance would be much more than that. More so that even if God recalled all of the stars of the universe to their place of origin; where the command of God brought spark, such a merger would still seem dim by comparison.

And who is above God to assume His chair? Surely no man, although many fools speak brashly of things while living in the darkness. Nonetheless, what was it that God spoke of His Son? ‘Thou art my beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased.’ Immediately following this, Jesus was led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness where He was thrice tempted, but sinned not.  What was His defense? The truth! Jesus quoted the Scripture in each of His answers to the Devil’s lures.

Prophetically, what was said of Jesus also came true! As the prophet Isaiah said of the Christ, “But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.” In how many other places in the Old Testament do we find Christ foretold? Many. Even the Jewish secular historian Josephus, who lived during the period 37 and 100 A.D. wrote of Him:

“There was about this time a wise man named Jesus – if it is lawful to call him a man, for he was a doer of wonderful works – a teacher of the type of men who enjoy hearing the truth. He drew many of the Jews and Gentiles to him; he was the Christ. When Pilate, at the suggestion of the Jewish leaders, condemned him to the cross, those that loved him at first did not forsake him, for he appeared to them alive the third day, as the divine prophets had foretold, along with many other wonderful things concerning him. The tribe of Christians named for him exist today.” Josephus, Thrones of Blood,
page 61

Yes, Jesus experienced both temptation and trial in truth; both applying the Scriptures and living them to secure for us our blessed redemption.

The question now? What is truth to us? Writing to the Ephesians, the Apostle Paul told them, “Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth…” How do we do this? We stand by wearing the sash that binds our loosely fitted flesh; the sinner’s garment. Many Christians today, who abuse their liberty in Christ, take off their belt as a man would remove his wedding ring before going into a place where he ought not enter. The belts that others wear were those passed down to them but their teachings were founded in false doctrine or vapid tradition. When the stress of a temptation or a trial wages against them, they subsequently falter, blaming the failure on the belt, but not themselves who placed it loosely there. Others do not study the Scriptures because they prefer acting upon their feelings; thus, they wear no belt. For others, their belts are thin, or weak because they are selective in the doctrines that they pursue; places where that wily Devil knows not to tempt. Instead, the Devil knows to probe those places in the whole counsel of God that were left unattended in study, prayer and meditation.

What is truth? That will be revealed at the final judgment. It is when we, as Belshazzar, find the truth that we carried weighed in the balance. Let it not be written on our belts ‘TEKEL’, which means that we were found wanting.