John 18:28-40
Truth on Trial
28 Then the Jewish leaders took Jesus from Caiaphas to the palace of the Roman governor. By now it was early morning, and to avoid ceremonial uncleanness they did not enter the palace, because they wanted to be able to eat the Passover. 29 So Pilate came out to them and asked, “What charges are you bringing against this man?”
30 “If he were not a criminal,” they replied, “we would not have handed him over to you.”
31 Pilate said, “Take him yourselves and judge him by your own law.”
“But we have no right to execute anyone,” they objected. 32 This took place to fulfill what Jesus had said about the kind of death he was going to die.
33 Pilate then went back inside the palace, summoned Jesus and asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?”
34 “Is that your own idea,” Jesus asked, “or did others talk to you about me?”
35 “Am I a Jew?” Pilate replied. “Your own people and chief priests handed you over to me. What is it you have done?”
36 Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.”
37 “You are a king, then!” said Pilate.
Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.”
38 “What is truth?” retorted Pilate. With this he went out again to the Jews gathered there and said, “I find no basis for a charge against him. 39 But it is your custom for me to release to you one prisoner at the time of the Passover. Do you want me to release ‘the king of the Jews’?”
40 They shouted back, “No, not him! Give us Barabbas!” Now Barabbas had taken part in an uprising.
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth...God is Truth...God's Word is Truth...So Truth has a beginning...Jesus is the Son of God, He is more than a Mere Man...When Jesus said He is Truth, He is telling us that Truth is, in fact, a verified or indisputable fact...We believe as followers of Jesus the is the Absolute Truth as these facts are laid out in the Bible...God's Word is Truth and Jesus spoke God's Words...We believe every answer to life and the Truth on many topics are laid out in the Bible...
So Jesus, when saying He is Truth, is saying to us it is an indisputable fact that He is the Son of God...He is the answer to eternal life...Now this is eternal life that there is Only One True God, and that He sent Jesus...
Pontius Pilate was judge and jury over Jesus' trial...The unrighteous were judging the Righteous...Truth was on trial, and many falsehoods were said against the Truth...The question Pontius Pilate asked during the trial of "What is Truth", centuries ago needs to be looked in broader terms...In Pilate's question it appears that there is only one Truth, and the gospel author was referring to Jesus as The Gospel Truth...But, in fact, when all things were made through Jesus and God created the earth and the heavens many Truths were made during creation...The Roman governor’s remark “What is Truth?” overlooks the fact that many things can have Truth, but only one thing can actually be the Truth...So with so many Truths in the world, such as 2+2 = 4, or the sky is blue, the grass is green, the sun is hot, the moon effects the tides, we see that Truth must originate or have originated from somewhere or Someone...And these Universal Truths happened during creation and are from God...Since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities of different Truths—and His Eternal Power and Divine Nature—have been clearly seen in nature, and can be seen and understood from what has been made and created by Him, so that people are without excuse in believing in Him, His Son, and in Truth...
Pilate was squarely looking at Truth and the Originator of all Truth...When Jesus said that He is Truth, Truth becomes a Man...But how could a Mere Man be the Truth?... For this to be True and the Truth, He must be a Special Man...He couldn’t be just a man and be the truth...So unless He was more than a Man, such as the Son of God, only then can He be Truth...And because He claims to be One with God and in the Father, His followers can believe that He is, in fact, more than a Man...We can believe that Jesus has Eternal Power and He too has a Divine Nature...And we can believe that He is Truth, when God raised Him from the dead...So God has set a day when He will judge the world with justice by the Man He has appointed...He has given proof of this to everyone by raising Him from the dead...