GLEANINGS FROM THE SCRIPTURESTo Tell You the TruthBy Keith L. EstesPilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answer to him was, "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?" (John 18: 37) The dictionary term of "truth" reads: The quality of being according to fact; hence veracity; sincerity; also faithfulness; loyalty; correctness; accuracy or exactness; something real and actual; a fact; righteousness; godliness. Standing before Pilate was the personification of "truth." The word "truth" is found 117 times in the Old Testament and 116 times in the New Testament. In the Gospel of John alone, it is written 27 times. In 1st, 2nd, and 3rd John it is repeated 20 times. In Shakespeare's Hamlet Polonius says; "This above all: to thine own self be true, And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man." Lancelot, in Merchant of Venice states; "Truth will come to light…In the end truth will out." To tell you the truth, Jesus Christ makes a very bold statement in the Gospel of John. He states, "I am the way, the truth, and the life, No man cometh to the Father except through me." (John 14:6) This is a statement that is both inclusive and exclusive. It includes all that come to Him in faith and excludes all who refuse to come to Him. He was present with God in the beginning and nothing was made without Him. He flung the stars into space and named them all. He created more stars than there are grains of sand in the whole Earth. He hangs the Earth on nothing. One Pastor said, "The reason He hung it on nothing is because there was nothing to hang it on." Jesus mentions that He is not only the "Truth" but He is also the "Way." There is only one way to God and, to tell you the truth, that way is through Jesus Christ. The Psalmist in Psalm One tells us there are two ways mankind may take. He states, "The Lord knoweth the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish." It is the way of the righteous or the way of the ungodly. Take your pick. The writer of the book of Hebrews states: "And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent: Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead. (Acts 17:30, 31) To tell you the truth; Jesus is also "The Life." He states, "I am come that they may have life and that more abundantly." (John 10:10) His timely death on the cross affords us that "Life." To tell you the truth, Jesus Christ is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. |