A significant personal question is what importance do we place on truth? Is truth meaningful to us? Our Creator is a God of truth, and yet the priority of truth is missing in sinful man because spiritual truth is contrary to our fallen nature. As each person is born a descendant of Adam, we are natural truth suppressors (Rom. 1:18).  Our Lord stated of all mankind that, “We love darkness rather than light, because our deeds are evil” (John 3:19). We naturally want to hide from God and His truth just as Adam and Eve did following their sin. This is why truth is directly associated with the analogy of light. God has provided a physical means whereby we can begin to know the difference between truth and falsehood by our physical awareness of darkness and light. As we are born sinful and into a sinful world, we are engulfed in that which is false, known as darkness, and we are prone to be comfortable with all that is spiritually detrimental and untrue. Our need for truth is the highest of our needs, yet we naturally hide from it. The source of all truth is God who is trustworthy and reliable against a dark backdrop of unreliability and failure.  The Lord is our trustworthy foundation for life now, and into eternity. And where is God to be found? He is found in His precious Word which is His revelation of Himself and the truth we so desperately need.

Our Lord Jesus drew a dividing line separating truth from error in His brief encounter with Pilate before the horrid ordeal of the cross.  Pilate had asked the Lord, near mockingly, if He was a King. Christ informed him He was born to be a king and that it was the reason He came into the world; He said, “To testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice” (John 18:37). As Christ is our God and our Lord, these are very telling words for us to consider. Our Lord places every person on one side of either truth or the darkness of all else. The fact that Christ emphasized the significance of everyone hearing His voice in relation to truth, means we must be attentive to His Word placing it above all other voices. This also implies the priority of following His instruction in the obedience of faith. Those uninterested define themselves in opposition to Him, but for those who listen to Him they are blessed and set free. Those who have no interest in the truth also have no interest in Christ. Recognize that nothing about our Lord is false, foolish, deceptive, or fake. He is genuine, real, and all that He proclaims is beautiful and priceless truth. He is the standard for all that is right and good. It is no wonder the prophet Isaiah said His name is Wonderful (Isaiah 9:6). That was not an exaggeration!

We should immediately recognize from the brief words of our Lord’s encounter with Pilate the absolute necessity and importance of truth. When Christ states in His recorded prayer to the Father, “Sanctify them in truth, Your Word is truth” (John 17:17), He is placing immeasurable emphasis on its importance to us. By our Lord’s revelation to Pilate for the divide of those receptive to truth and those who are not, He is expressing that truth is not negotiable. It serves as the point of separation among people. It is God’s glorious gift reserved for those with an inward desire to know it. There are many counterfeit and deceptive religious claims functioning outside of God’s Word.  These will not pass the omniscience of God. This is why our Lord was particularly harsh to the Scribes and Pharisees whom He called, “Whitewashed tombs” (Matt. 23:27). They had an outward appearance as those claiming God’s Word but were inwardly full of dead men’s bones.

Truth brings life instead of death. It permeates the whole of the person making an infinite difference. Our Lord will not settle for falsehood. He is instead looking for the reality of commitment and devotion to truth. We, His church, must be consecrated to His Word. We study it, not to question its integrity or twist its meaning, but with absolute confidence to know the precious mind of our God. Our role is to place His Word in a unique position of value and trust above all else. We know God is the author, and it was for God’s cause of truth, often called light, that the church was born. He has told us that His church is to be, “The pillar and support of the truth” (1 Tim. 3:15). We are His ambassadors acting just as Christ stated to Pilate as His extension to the world to give all who will listen the truth that He has left us to guard and proclaim. It is the highest privileged calling. As we gather again as a church body on Sunday, we do so around God’s Word. Our joy is built on the promises of God that encourages and strengthens us amid a fallen world that rejects Him. If truth is our priority, we have an oasis of infinite value to explore and as we do, we find a little heaven on earth.