LEARNING DAILY

 

John 18:37, Pilate therefore said to Him, “Are you a king then?” Jesus answered, “You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.”

 

Today’s blog was to be part of the last page as it got too long. Jesus is standing before Pilate and is telling him His kingdom was not of this world. Pilate asks Jesus if He is a king and Jesus replied that He “came into the world to bear witness of the truth and everyone who is of that truth hears His voice.” Earlier, in John 14:6 Jesus had said to Thomas, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” What did He mean by that?

 

“An essential reason for Jesus coming to this world was to testify to the truth and point people to it” (LSSB). That truth would be exemplified by His life, through His teaching, and through His death and resurrection. That truth is what Believers read and study daily – God’s Word. Over the years I have read about “ministers” who compromise the truth and sound doctrine of God’s Word to promote a personal agenda. They deceive those who follow them with false doctrine and not distinguishing between right and wrong, truth and error. They certainly do not want to upset anyone by being centered on truth because that could lead to people leaving.

 

Jesus answered Pilate he had said rightly He had come as a king, the true King. Think for a moment about that. He did not come with royal robes and a crown, not even a royal court. He was born in humble circumstances, did not live in great palace, and His followers were fisherman and everyday people. His message was Truth! The reason He came was not to overpower the world in order to win a political kingdom. No, He came to win the hearts of “all who would believe in Him”; His kingdom would consist of Jews and Gentiles who place their faith and trust in His Truth!

 

Have you noticed that the Truth is not for everyone? Jesus, the One who was Truth was hated; He was Killed because He spoke Truth. Truth is still hated today and people are still trying to destroy those who speak Truth. People try to suppress the Truth because they do not want to be exposed; they seem to feel better about themselves when Truth is “killed”.  This is so at every level of status. The problem with Killing Jesus was the Truth had already been shared; many people had heard it. With the resurrected Lord empowering the disciples, the movement of truth that Jesus bore witness to could not be stopped. It was not stopped by persecution, or lies, or any methods of fear or intimidation!

 

Pilate became disinterested in who Jesus was. Jesus did not pose any threat to his political power. Pilate dismissed Him and walked away from Him. That was Pilate’s response to the “Truth”. Too many today have that same attitude. They want nothing to do with Truth. Yet, each of us is faced with the statement “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me”. It seems like an easy decision to make; either believe this or dismiss it and walk away. If you believe it, live your life thanking the Lord Jesus Christ for what He has done for you! Plan your life like He isn’t coming back for a hundred years. But live your life like He is coming back today! (Dr, Ed Newton, Community Bible Church)

 

From now on DJSB will be used to note information or quotes from the David Jeremiah Study Bible and LSSB will refer to information and quotes from the Life in the Spirit Study Bible.  I have added Jimmy Swaggart’s Expositor’s Study Bible to be referred to from now on as JSESB.