I think one of the most complete conversations in the Bible is between Pilate and Jesus when Jesus was before Pilate in the judgment hall. The questions and answers in their exchange of words contain all we need to know to understand this wondrous Gospel message and truth. Make no mistake my friend truth and Gospel message are one in the same. You cannot have truth as a stand alone thought or function in our lives or in the world without some parcel of the Gospel message coming into clear vision. All that is good and holy is identified with truth, this is why many people who lurk in the darkness of sin and unrighteousness searching like Pilate groping for the truth and never finding it, yet all that was ever true stood before him. It is not about seeking, knocking, and finding, but about having the humbleness and simplicity of heart to be able to recognize God in the beauty of a flower, a sun rise or sun set, even allowing God to speak to you in the clouds. A young man came to Charles Haun one day and asked Charles to give him something deep in the Lord because he was to speak to some deep (not really sure what that term means) Christians in the faith, so Charles thought about it for a minute and said okay here it is, “follow the clouds.” The simplicity of the clouds speaks of God’s majesty, power, and authority, yet they flow where the wind blows them without making much of a complaint or being disagreeable. Truth has a two-fold action in us. It will begin pleasing us, of course; quite agreeable, it has a great charm. Now if we embrace it, if we actually open our hearts to it by saying Lord we want the truth we better be careful because the second fold of truth is it will slay us because God is not concerned with the carnal, natural setup in our lives. Truth must go by way of death to our self-seeking, self-life before it can be released into our lives. This is a law in the spiritual realm. Even the preaching of the word of God is not to make us feel good oh no, the preaching of the word of God is to slay us, to kill us so that Christ can live through us. Truth is not only objective (what we say), but when people yield their hearts and lives to the Holy Spirit, the Spirit, can take this truth and incorporate it into their lives (subjective what we and others see/discover) to such a degree until things which are purely judicial may be brought down to actual living, one of God’s major goals in our lives, righteousness living. Truth is never ours unless we have allowed God to personalize it into our heart and spirit, until we have laid ourselves open to God in our inner being and the Spirit has been able to bring that truth in and we have, by faith, taken hold of it allowing that truth to do the work in us that it should. Never forget truth is purely progressive in all forms. The heart has to be conditioned for its reception. It is an invisible miracle in the heart. Ten, 20, 30 years from now the truth we allow God to work in our lives (as the Holy Spirit works on our hearts) will have a much fuller meaning. And why? Because truth is eternally evolving, it is eternally moving, it is eternally inexhaustible. This is the center of all which is in God. God is infinite; truth is infinite too. Nobody can exhaust truth. Nobody has a corner on truth, it is just too big. What you get out of a revelation is what you have brought to it. What we bring to truth governs very much what we get out of it. Our testimony (not what we say but what people see us do) is what we have gotten out of the revelation and truth also will be governed by our own personal experience. Truth always comes by way of revelation; not by our mental processes nor by way of an emotional ascent to God. And please know there is a price we pay for revelation from God and there is a price we will pay to know the truth.
Believe it or not all of what I have said previously talked can be seen in the encounter Jesus had with Pilate. Let us look at this encounter more in detail.
“Then Pilate entered into the judgment hall again, and called Jesus, and said unto him, Art thou the King of the Jews? 34Jesus answered him, Sayest thou this thing of thyself, or did others tell it thee of me? 35Pilate answered, Am I a Jew? Thine own nation and the chief priests have delivered thee unto me: what hast thou done? 36Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence. 37Pilate 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. 38Pilate saith unto him, What is truth? And when he had said this, he went out again unto the Jews, and saith unto them, I find in him no fault at all.” (John 18:33-38) Notice this a time of judgment, our life before God (as Jesus was before Pilate) is always a time of judgment. When will we learn this central truth? God is always watching HOW we do things not WHAT we do, but how we do things and for what reasons and purposes we do them. Do we do things for our selves or for others? What are our motives and intentions? The answer to these questions will determine our heart condition and reward. Pilate (a typical ruler) goes for the throat, “Art thou the King of the Jews?” Now notice how Jesus replies, “Sayest thou this thing of thyself, or did others tell it thee of me?” Jesus was not disrespectful, but strong in defiance and resistance to Pilate’s authority. There is a difference between being obedient and submissive. Obedience is an outward reaction (truth), but being submissive (progression in truth) is an inward heart condition. We are to be obedient to all authority, but we must never be submissive to those in authority that directly contradicts God and His ways. Every cell in Jesus’ body was resisting Pilate. Pilate countered from a different angle, “Am I a Jew? Thine own nation and the chief priests have delivered thee unto me: what hast thou done?” Jesus relied, “My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight . . .” Now that got Pilates attention, your kingdom he thought so he goes back to his previous thought, “Art thou a king then?” I mean if you have a kingdom then you must be a king, but in my understanding there is no king except Caesar. So too in the lives of many Christians; there is only one king and one throne our desires and wants. But here is where Pilate makes his mistake, Jesus replies, “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.” Jesus interjects truth into the conversation. Pilate does not know truth so he asks, “What is truth?” Pilate knew he was wrong, truth always brings us to a choice and always testifies of Christ’s nature and character. Sadly Pilate missed the truth, but sadder many people today make the same mistake time after time God draws them and shows them Christ as King of Kings, but like Pilate when truth is interjected, the truth about ourselves as compared to Christ in many different situations we ask like Pilate, “What is truth?”
Unless we learn to make a balance in truth, we will never have equipoise to stand in the Spirit. The disciples were continually feeding themselves on one side of truth, i.e. Christ in exaltation, but the other side of that same truth is Christ in humiliation which is just as if not more important to personalize if we desire to walk in truth. We do not make or originate truth it is owned by God, we discover truth. Truth only confirms; it never disturbs. When an impact of truth comes to us it will never disturb or dislodge anything that is truth, but if there is something with in us that is not truth when truth comes it will cause an uneasy feeling in our spirit and the longer we abide in the non-truth the greater this feeling grows in our spirit until we either reject the non-truth or we reject the truth. At that point God will take His hands off and let us stew in our choices. This process will continue in us until God finally says, okay love did not work so I will have to use my judgment to draw them. If God cannot draw us to himself with His love then He will draw us to Himself with His judgment a very sad state of affairs to say the least. We must discern the truth and live under the power and impact of it. I think that is terrible not to be inwardly aroused to the inner consciousness of truth or to eject it. In our journey back to the Father’s heart where we all started from and belong He will have to use truth over and over for our edification. Truth is corrective, but it is also illuminating; it has strange mystical powers within us. Sometimes it will bring a terrifying disappointment, but with it also is a marvelous moving of the grace of God, so that in the end we would prefer the loss, the disappointment that we might have the grace which only comes through that method. God says, “I can give you truth in one lesson that will take a life-time to work out.” One of the greatest truths we will discover is about our character. Our character is the sum total of our choices and decisions through life. When we hear (see or understand) truth it has made its impact and we cannot erase it from our heart or spirit. Many Christians believe their gifts and abilities in God erase or cover our character flaws, well my friend I am here to tell you this is wrong thinking. Our character and integrity is what will carry our ministry not our gifts from God, talents, and abilities. Many Christians believe their deep understanding and revelation that God gave them will rub out our nasty attitudes, short comings, and even the advantage we try to take over another Christian, but truth stands as a mirror reflecting what is in our heart. Coming to know the truth about our self is the greatest revelation God can bring into our lives, it is far beyond any spiritual gift, talent, or ability.
Pilate missed the truth. He asked Jesus, “Are thou the Kings of the Jews?” (Jesus was and so much more), but in John Chapter 19 we read Pilates spiritual revelation with his encounter with Jesus, “Pilate therefore went forth again, and saith unto them, Behold, I bring him forth to you, that ye may know that I find no fault in him. (I really believe Pilate knew the truth about Jesus. He knew Jesus was the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, but) 5Then came Jesus forth, wearing the crown of thorns, and the purple robe. And Pilate saith unto them, Behold the man!” (John 19:4-5) Twice Pilate said he found no fault in Jesus, yet His revelation of Jesus was “Behold the man!” Pilate chose to believe Jesus was a man. Later on in Chapter 19 the real battle between Pilate and Jesus begins, “And went again into the judgment hall, and saith unto Jesus, Whence art thou? But Jesus gave him no answer. 10Then saith Pilate unto him, Speakest thou not unto me? knowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee, and have power to release thee? 11Jesus answered, Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above: therefore he that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin.” (John 19:9-11) Pilate’s hollow threats did not move Jesus. Jesus even questions Pilate’s authority, “Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above:” I can imagine Pilate’s anger, “who does this man think he is to question my authority? What is truth? Truth is from God, it tells us of our heart condition, and it brings us to our cross, is the servant better than the Master?
