May 30

What Is Truth? – The Trial Before Pilate

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?” After he had said this, he went back outside to the Jews and told them, “I find no guilt in him. ~ John 18:37-38

When Jesus stood before Pontius Pilate, He was not standing as a helpless victim but as the sovereign Son of God fulfilling the very reason He came into the world. In John 18:37–38, we read a powerful exchange: “Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice. Pilate saith unto him, What is truth?”

That one cynical question, “What is truth?” captures the tragic heart of spiritual blindness. Pilate, faced with the very embodiment of truth standing before him, could not recognize it. He wasn’t sincerely searching. His words dripped with frustration and unbelief, showing that he had no interest in the truth Jesus offered. This is what separates those who belong to God from those who are lost: “Everyone that is of the truth heareth my voice.” If someone rejects the voice of Jesus, they are not of the truth, no matter how religious or powerful they seem (John 10:26–27).

Right after this exchange, Pilate did something remarkable: he went back to the Jews and declared, “I find in him no fault at all” (John 18:38). This confirms the innocence of Christ, not only in the eyes of God but even before the corrupt judgment of Rome. Jesus had committed no sin, no crime, no offense. Yet both the Jewish leaders and the Roman authorities pushed forward with His execution. The perfect, sinless Son of God was condemned by guilty men, fulfilling the Scriptures that said He would be “numbered with the transgressors” (Isaiah 53:12) though He had “done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth” (Isaiah 53:9).

This trial scene is not just a moment of injustice. It is a divine spotlight on the world’s rejection of truth. Jesus came to bear witness to the truth, the truth about God, about man’s sin, about judgment, and about salvation. And when the world looked that truth in the face, they crucified it. But for those who belong to God, His voice still calls out, and His truth still shines.

God did not leave truth open to human opinion. He gave us His Word in the Bible. Jesus said in prayer to the Father, “Thy word is truth” (John 17:17). Every word of Scripture is breathed out by God (2 Timothy 3:16), and those who reject the Bible are rejecting the very truth of the God who gave it. If someone says they believe in God but denies the truth of His Word, they do not believe in the one true God at all. They have created a false god of their own making. God’s truth is not negotiable, and it is not hidden. It is written clearly in the pages of Scripture, and only those who humble themselves before it will ever know Him.

The question is not whether truth exists. It does. The question is whether we will receive it. “Sanctify them through thy truth, thy word is truth” (John 17:17). If we reject that, we reject Him. If we hear Him, we prove we are of the truth. There is no middle ground.

Read / Listen

2 Samuel 15:23-16:23
John 18:25-19:22
Psalm 119:113-128
Proverbs 16:10-11

New Testament: John 18:25-19:22

Summary:
Peter Denies Jesus Again
Jesus Before Pilate
My Kingdom Is Not of This World
Jesus Delivered to Be Crucified
The Crucifixion

The Unheeded Secret

By Oswald Chambers

Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world.” — John 18:36

The great enemy of the Lord Jesus Christ today is the idea of practical work that has no basis in the New Testament but comes from the systems of the world. This work insists upon endless energy and activities, but no private life with God. The emphasis is put on the wrong thing. Jesus said, “The kingdom of God does not come with observation….For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:20-21). It is a hidden, obscure thing. An active Christian worker too often lives to be seen by others, while it is the innermost, personal area that reveals the power of a person’s life.

We must get rid of the plague of the spirit of this religious age in which we live. In our Lord’s life there was none of the pressure and the rushing of tremendous activity that we regard so highly today, and a disciple is to be like His Master. The central point of the kingdom of Jesus Christ is a personal relationship with Him, not public usefulness to others.

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.” ~ John 18:37

There is no doubt that a true lover of truth will hear Jesus, in order to understand and apply His truths to their lives.

everyone that is of the truth; that is of God, belongs to the sheep of Christ, knows the truth as it is in Jesus, and is on the side of truth, and stands by it. ~ John Gill

The church’s duty has always been to confront such skepticism and answer it by clearly proclaiming the truth God has revealed in His Word. We have been given a clear message for the purpose of confronting the world’s unbelief. That is what we are called, commanded, and commissioned to do (1 Corinthians 1:17-31). Faithfulness to Christ demands it. The honor of God requires it. We cannot sit by and do nothing while worldly, revisionist, and skeptical attitudes about truth are infiltrating the church. We must not embrace such confusion in the name of charity, collegiality, or unity. We have to stand and fight for the truth—and be prepared to die for it—as faithful Christians always have.

~ Should We Fight for the Truth? by John MacArthur