Loving
Truth

When Jesus was sent by the Council to Pilate for judgment, Pilate asked Jesus directly for the truth of the accusations brought by the religious leaders:

So Pilate entered his headquarters again and called Jesus and said to him, “Are you the King of the Jews?”
Jesus answered, “Do you say this of your own accord, or did others say it to you about me?” Pilate answered, “Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered you over to me. What have you done?” Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.” 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?” ¹

Pilate got more of an answer than he bargained for as Jesus told him the full truth and left him with no grounds for the accusations. Pilate’s “What is truth?” query is followed by Pilate’s verdict that, “I find no guilt in him” but then Pilate does the politically woke thing and gives Jesus over to the whims of the masses.

After he had said this, he went back outside to the Jews and told them, “I find no guilt in him. But you have a custom that I should release one man for you at the Passover. So do you want me to release to you the King of the Jews?” ²

Knowing Truth is not enough for it must be acted upon to be more than information. The first sin of mankind involved what to do with Truth. In Genesis we have the LORD giving man Truth regarding the appropriate use of everything.

The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” ³

Recognize the LORD having infinite knowledge and mankind does not. The LORD has wisdom in addition to knowledge, understands actions and consequences while mankind does not at this point. The LORD is giving Man what he needs to know—the Truth—but Man wants more than what is given.

Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” ⁴

‘Did God actually say?’ What is the exact Truth? Can you quote it back? Is it Truth to you? Do you see the misquote by the woman who adds ‘not touching’ to the Word of the LORD? Just how accurate is our perception of Truth? The LORD had told them the Truth—nature, action, consequence—but they added sensual perception to the revelation of God and reaped error. The Truth was not applied, acted upon, as it was given.

In the era of the Kings, Jehoshaphat king of Judah and Ahab king of Israel determined to join forces to retake the region of Ramoth-gilead from under control of the king of Syria. As was the ways of kings, they consulted their prophets as to the favor of the Lord for their endeavor. When Ahab consulted his god’s prophets, they affirmed victory and proceeded to encourage the conflict. Jehoshaphat then asked if their was a prophet of the LORD. Ahab was irked at this:

And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “There is yet one man by whom we may inquire of the LORD, Micaiah the son of Imlah; but I hate him, for he never prophesies good concerning me, but always evil.” ⁵

What is our criteria for Truth? What does Truth need to be for us to accept it as what it is and not want to bend it to be what we want to hear? Ahab had his own brand of Truth in mind and he only wants to hear what agrees with his desires. Jehoshaphat insists they hear from the prophet of the LORD so Micaiah is summoned into their presence:

And the messenger who went to summon Micaiah said to him, “Behold, the words of the prophets with one accord are favorable to the king. Let your word be like the word of one of them, and speak favorably.” But Micaiah said, “As the LORD lives, what my God says, that I will speak.” And when he had come to the king, the king said to him, “Micaiah, shall we go to Ramoth-gilead to battle, or shall I refrain?” And he answered, “Go up and triumph; they will be given into your hand.” But the king said to him, “How many times shall I make you swear that you speak to me nothing but the truth in the name of the LORD?” And he said, “I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains, as sheep that have no shepherd. And the LORD said, ‘These have no master; let each return to his home in peace.’” And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “Did I not tell you that he would not prophesy good concerning me, but evil?” ⁶

Does Truth become false simply because we do not want to accept it? Does not acting upon Truth set aside the consequences? Ahab hears the Truth but does not accept it as it disagrees with his desires. If you read the ‘rest of the story’ the Truth of the LORD’s prophecy was borne out and the consequences were what Ahab fears. Such is the nature of Truth.

The Apostle John focuses several times in the Gospel he penned about the Truth as the LORD gives it. First, John establishes his frame of reference for Truth—it is Jesus:

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth… For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. ⁷

Truth—Jesus ‘full of Truth’ and ‘Truth coming through’ Jesus. Understand Jesus is Yahweh manifest in the flesh, LORD incarnate who only speaks Truth. He is not deceptive, there is nothing false about Him or any of the Persons of the LORD. All He says is True Truth, not interpretive or from a personal perspective tainted by wants like ours would be. He is faithful to Himself and is the True Word of God, in Him is no error or lacking.

John records more about that source of Truth when Jesus speaks to the woman at the well in Samaria.

But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” ⁸

Not only is GOD Truth but those who would worship Him must also do it in Truth. Mankind is not permitted to create our own sense of the LORD and worship Him the ways we think fitting. He only fits His style of Truth and it is not eclectic, fulfilling the wants of our errors. Truth only comes from His revelation of Himself and is always rooted in His Word spoken directly by Him and recorded directly as God-breathed. The philosophies of man do not necessarily agree with Truth. Truth is imperical ⁹ and gives no quarter to error. Yes, Truth can be revised, twisted, reformed, even conformed to the will of man but it will no longer remain True.

When Jesus was talking to His immediate disciples in the last week of His Incarnate life and telling them about what was to come—where He was going—they did not comprehend the truth of what He was saying. When Thomas spoke for the group that they didn’t understand what He was telling them, Jesus encouraged them to keep focused upon who He is no matter their questions.

Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. ¹⁰

Truth is not inclusive when it comes to eternal relationship with the LORD. Jesus says Truth relative to the LORD is exclusive, singular, finite in the sense of being limited to only what the LORD defines as True. Many theories, many philosophies, many religions have defined their own ideal of truth but only the LORD’s is Sovereign Truth.

Are you at odds with the LORD’s sovereign decision on what is Truth? The Apostle Paul addressed those who were suggesting a different truth for the Thessalonians. There were those who had developed an alternate truth to what the LORD had spoken through Jesus and which was confirmed by Him through the Spirit to the writers of the New Testament. Part of the alternate truth was the alternate claim that the ‘Coming of the Lord’ was already past and that the Thessalonian disciples had missed it. With that context, Paul writes to the disciples:

Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming. The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness. ¹¹

Twice in these verses, Paul points to a grave departure from the Truth of the LORD. First, ‘they refused to love the truth’ and then, they ‘did not believe the truth.’ The consequence was they refused to be saved—their pleasure was in unrighteousness. It only follows if one refuses to love the truth of the LORD, they would not believe and act upon that truth, and they would create their own way to satisfy their personal desires. If Truth is defined by personal perception, it will most likely come into agreement with personal desires than true Truth. There is a confirmation bias in judgments made by the flesh or human reasoning. As with the original sin, what appears to contain the ability to attain through grasping does not have the same consequence as belief in Truth given and received by the direct revelation of the LORD. And, that which does not conform to the manifestation of Truth given in Jesus is most assuredly to contain the errors of self imprinting itself upon ‘truth’ to give us our own desires. Our desires set free through reason without the guidance of the LORD’s revelation will take us into the netherworld of un-Truth.

Imagine the consequence of resisting the Truth of the LORD: you are so aligned with the LORD’s enemy that God gives you the consequence you insist upon,

…those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.
Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, in order that all may be condemned
who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness. ¹²

The consequence of refusing God-given Truth is separation from the LORD for He has no other means whereby we come into covenant agreement with Him. The LORD only recognizes His Truth—all else is a distortion denying the Truth as He knows it.