John 18:38, “what is truth?” – Pilate
John 14:6, “I am…the Truth…” – Jesus
Short Thoughts:
Truth is the Person we meet in the suffering, dying, and rising Jesus.
Long Thoughts:
John 18:37, “For this reason I was born and for this reason I came into the world, in order to bear witness to the truth…”
What a resounding affirmation of the invincible reality of absolute truth. Jesus Christ was born—the Eternal Word who is God took on flesh and came into the world—in order to bear witness to the truth. There IS truth, there IS reality, there IS eternal, immovable, unwavering, unshaken truth, and the purpose of the incarnation is to bear witness to that Truth. Awesome.
Now…couldn’t an argument be made that Jesus came into the world to save sinners (1 Timothy 1:15)? Or that He came to give His life as a ransom for many (Mark 10:45), or that He came to seek and save the lost (Luke 19:10)? Or that He came because God so loved the world so that whoever believes in Him as the Curse-bearing Son of God might have eternal life (John 3:14-16)? Yes — these and more might be said and be said truthfully. And yet EACH of these examples IS His bearing witness to the truth. Remember that what God does reveals who He is, that redemption serves—and, indeed, IS—revelation. Jesus’ salvific works, His seeking and saving, His ransoming, His bearing of the curse, His laying down of His life—ALL of it IS His bearing witness to the truth, namely, the truth about who God the Father is; the truth that is at the root of the universe.
Consider that…..Would we know the TRUTH? Would we know what ULTIMATE TRUTH looks like, what the absolute reality at the heart of the universe is? Would we know cold, hard, sharp, bright, piercing, kindling, consuming, vibrant, bracing, vitalizing, unarguable TRUTH? Then look at Jesus Christ. He bears witness to the truth because He is the Truth…..and what truth is more foundational, more bedrock, what is “more true” than God Himself. If Jesus bears witness to the Truth, Jesus bears witness to God. And that is precisely what He does and who He is (John 1:18, 12:45-46, 14:9, etc.)
And muse over the weight and the wonder that, in order for Jesus to bear full and perfect witness to the Truth (ie, to the the beauty of God’s Name) He must be crucified.
He must be crucified as our curse-bearing Lord and God, He must carry our sins in His own body and swallow our Hell into His own soul, and—having plumbed the depths of horror, having defined the limits of Hell by His own substitutionary experience of it—He must rise again in glory, in joy, in victory….He must do this for His enemies that they might become His beloved children….why? Because He comes to bear witness to the Truth…and that—that name, that identity, that beautiful person—is the Truth.
Jesus is the Truth, HE is the adamantine Rock upon which all the waves of subjectivity crash and break and come to nothing, He is the solid shore upon whom all the little boats of our individual lives will invariable be cast—up out of the tumultuous waters of uncertainty and confusion and deception, and onto that utterly true, blindingly white shore……and more than that, as the Truth, He is the pattern upon which reality is created and to whom reality will be conformed. In Christ we taste and see the past, the present, the future, we see what has been, what is, and what will be, we see the First and the Last, the Alpha and the Omega, we see what must be because we see Him who is.
This is cause for great joy or great horror, depending on our stance toward Him who is Truth….the cross screams the reality of wrath just as powerfully as it screams the reality of love…indeed, it is a single cry, and whether we hear it in the last day as Love or Wrath depends on the posture of our soul toward the Crucified Son. He is the Rock….and if we hide in His cleft side and drink from the living water that flows from the wound that forms our refuge, we will be saved….but if this Rock falls on us, or if we fall over it—we will be shattered to pieces. May everyone reading these words find refuge in Him who is Truth.
