Jesus answered, ”You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this reason I came into the world, to testify of truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.” John 18:37 (NIV)
The scene is of a young rabbi, detained by local authorities, subjected to a nighttime, and illegal, kangaroo court. The presence of Rome in the nation of Israel prohibits the Jews from carrying out executions. They push this young man onto the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate, in the hope he will condemn this “trouble maker” to death.
But Pilate
is uneasy with this situation and this Jewish holy man. As he interrogates Him,
he hears this young Jew boldly speaking of truth, leading Pilate to ask, with a
probable sigh of resignation, “Quid est veritas?” (What is truth?).
As we look
further into the life and words of Yeshua of Nazareth, we begin to see that
Pilate was face-to-face with the very Truth he questioned. He did not
understand the veracity of the One, True, and living God with whom he spoke.
It’s not
something you can eyeball and get. It’s
a heart issue. When we see Him with the heart, our soul and spirit, the light
of understanding begins to dawn within us. Of this light Paul writes,
This is why it is said: “Wake up, O
sleeper,
Rise from the dead, and Christ will
shine on you”
(Ephesians 5:14)
When we open
our hearts and awaken to the Truth, a stirring begins to beckon us to seek Him
at any cost, to obey Him and make His Law of Liberty our priority and
passion. We begin to see Him as perfect
Truth, and that this same Truth who once stood humbled before a Roman
magistrate, is now exalted above all things (Philippians 2:9).
Yes, when we are genuinely honest and on the side of truth we will listen to
Jesus and never again walk in darkness, for He is the light of life (John 8:12). It will be, in
Truth, our dawn of marvelous understanding.
Ken
