JDL - Direction Thirty-three - What is Truth?

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6 (ESV))

Then Pilate said to him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world— to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.” Pilate said to him, “What is truth?” (John 18:37-38a (ESV))

Today we get to the age old question, “What is truth?” For years we have been working on that very question. Even secular science has tried to find the answer to that question. For the secular science truth is that which is validated by experiments. For the philosopher truth is that which is relative at any given time. But really, what is truth? And how do we know truth when we happen upon it?

For many years people have been heading in the wrong direction searching for truth. The false teaching of evolution would have us believe in something that is not true. The foundational belief of evolution is that there are no absolutes, no ultimate authority, but instead everything is a product of accidents and even more, what amounts to mathematically impossible odds accidents. The fruits of this belief system can be seen in a society which believes that we are not responsible for ourselves, for our lives or for our actions. After all, we are simply responding to our inner nature which amounts to an animal instinct changed only by a matter of accidents. And even if we were responsible for our actions, to whom would we be responsible, since there is no ultimate authority? Thus, we see the fruits of the so-called scientific search for truth have led not to truth but to a lie and even more away from the truth.

So, what is truth? Pilate asked that question of Jesus when he had Him on trial. Earlier in His teaching Jesus revealed the truth saying that He Himself was the truth (John 14:6). When we read through the Old Testament, especially when we read the words of King David in the Psalms and the wisest human of all, King Solomon in the Proverbs, we are shown what is truth. Both David and his son, Solomon tell us that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Ps. 111:10; Prov. 1:7; 9:10; 15:33). The way to become wise and to find truth is through our fear, that is through our faith, love and respect of our Lord. And the Lord is none other than Jesus Himself.

The reason the world and secular science have missed the mark on the truth is that they have been going in the wrong direction; they have been searching in all the wrong places. When Pilate asked Jesus, “What is truth?”, what he missed was the fact that Truth was sitting right in front of Him. Apart from Jesus there is and can be no truth. The more secular science has pushed away from Jesus the further from the truth they have moved.

It is interesting that the theories of science are constantly changing. What may have been believed as truth today may not be tomorrow. What may be false today may be touted as true tomorrow. Not so with our Lord and His truth. When we let our Lord speak His Word of truth to us, that is, when we read our Bible, one of the means through which our Lord speaks to us, He tells us the truth. And with the Lord, His truth never changes. What He spoke as truth 6000 years ago He still speaks as truth today. What He spoke as truth even 2000 years ago He still speaks as truth today. Just as God is unchanging, so His Word is unchanging.

What is truth? Would you rather believe secular science or the secular world which is always changing its mind as to what is true, or God who never has, does not and never will change what is truth? But again, as secular scientists moved further away from depending on God to guide them in their search for the truth and instead began depending more and more on themselves and their own empirical data and explanations of that data, the further they got away from the very truth for which they were searching. Apart from Jesus there is and can be no truth. If we want to find the truth, we must look to Jesus, and we look to Jesus as we let Him speak to us through the means He has given us to speak to us, His Word.

A Jesus-directed life is a truth-directed life. We know that what Jesus tells us is true. We can depend on what Jesus tells us, because Jesus is truth.

Think About
Can there be truth in relativism? Can morality exist in a random universe?

Prayer
Heavenly Father, thank You for Truth. Forgive us when we fail to see and confess that You are our Creator God and that all truth comes from You. Help us to be bold in our confession of Jesus as “the Way, the Truth, and the Life,” for His name’s sake. Amen.