Wednesday, June 05,
2013, 2:40 a.m. – I woke from sleep about 20 minutes ago. I lay there in
bed thinking I would fall back asleep, but alas, that was not the case. The
song “My Jesus, I Love Thee” was
playing in my mind, so I sang it back to the Lord in prayer. Then, another song
came into my mind – “The Battle for
Truth,” and then I knew the Lord Jesus wanted me to get up, so I got up to
meet with Jesus.
I prayed, “Speak, Lord, your words to my heart,” and then I
read John 18 (NIV): http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%2018&version=NIV
Who is it you want?
Jesus had just finished praying to the Father (see John 17),
and then he left with his disciples to go to a garden in an olive grove. Judas,
who had betrayed him, and who was familiar with the place, came there with a
detachment of soldiers, possibly numbering in the hundreds, and with some
officials from the chief priests and the Pharisees. Jesus, knowing they had
come to arrest him, stepped forward and made himself known to them. He said, “Who
is it you want?” They answered, “Jesus of Nazareth,” to which Jesus replied, “I
am he.” Jesus willingly surrendered to them, yet he asked that his disciples be
let go.
Impetuous Peter, who had previously declared his undying
devotion to the Lord, who had boasted that if all forsook Jesus, that he would
not, and who had proclaimed that he would, in fact, give his life for Jesus,
again acted by impulse and cut off the ear of the high priest’s servant. Jesus
rebuked Peter, and then he commanded him to put his sword away. He said, “Shall
I not drink the cup the Father has given me?” Jesus knew why he had come to
earth, and he accepted his destiny, which was to go to the cross to die in our
place for our sins so that we could go free from slavery to sin and the
ultimate punishment for sin in hell.
The Denials
Jesus was arrested, and was first brought to Annas, a
previous high priest and father-in-law of Caiaphas, the high priest that year. Impetuous
Simon Peter and “another disciple” were following Jesus. The other disciple and
Peter entered the high priest’s courtyard. A servant girl asked Peter if he was
one of Jesus’ disciples. He said he was not. Peter stood in the courtyard,
warming himself around a fire, along with some of the high priest’s servants
and officials. They asked him if he was not one of Jesus’ disciples, too, but
Peter denied it again, and said, “I am not.” One of the high priest’s servants
challenged Peter and said, “Didn’t I see you with him in the garden?” Once
again Peter denied it, “and at that moment the rooster began to crow,” just as
Jesus had predicted would happen. Though John did not record this, Matthew’s
gospel says that Peter then went outside and wept bitterly.
The Mock Trial (and
Kangaroo Court)
Meanwhile,
the high priest questioned Jesus about his disciples and his teaching.
“I
have spoken openly to the world,” Jesus replied. “I always taught in synagogues
or at the temple, where all the Jews come together. I said nothing in secret.
Why question me? Ask those who heard me. Surely they know what I said.”
When
Jesus said this, one of the officials nearby slapped him in the face. “Is this
the way you answer the high priest?” he demanded.
“If
I said something wrong,” Jesus replied, “testify as to what is wrong. But if I
spoke the truth, why did you strike me?” Then Annas sent him bound to Caiaphas
the high priest.
From Caiaphas, the Jewish leaders then took Jesus to the
palace of the Roman governor. The Jewish leaders, in their hypocrisy, did not
want to enter the palace in order to avoid “ceremonial uncleanness,” because
they wanted to be able to partake in the Passover meal. So Pilate came out to
them. They didn’t mind at all that they were sending an innocent man to his
death, who they knew had done no wrong, yet they avoided being “ceremonially
unclean” just so they could eat the Passover meal, a celebration of salvation
for the Jews out of slavery in Egypt, and representing Jesus’ shed blood for us
on the cross so we could go free from slavery to sin. Wow! They celebrated their
historic freedom from bondage, and yet they sent their Savior to his death,
which ironically brought about their salvation from sin.
Pilate asked the Jewish leaders what charges they were
bringing against Jesus. Their response to Pilate was elusive. It reminds me, in
nature, of a non-denial denial, only not. They indirectly answered his question
in such a way as to be deceptive, giving the impression that Jesus was indeed a
criminal, though they knew that not to be the case. They said, “If he were not
a criminal, we would not have handed him over to you.”
Then, they added to this deception with another lie
(half-truth), it appears. Pilate, evidently aware that they had no real charges
to bring against Jesus under Roman law, told them to take him themselves and to
judge him by their own law. Then, they proclaimed that they had no right to
execute anyone, which was very telling right there, for it revealed their true
intentions. Yet, that was a half-truth because they could execute him by
stoning, but they could not take his life by crucifixion, [which is what they
wanted, evidently, so that Jesus’ messianic claims would be discredited,
because Jesus would, apparently, then fall under the curse of God, according to
Deut. 21:22-23. Apparently, then, their rejection of Jesus as their Messiah
would be justified (Source: Zondervan NIV Bible Commentary)].
What is truth?
Pilate then took Jesus aside and asked him if he was king of
the Jews. Jesus asked him where that idea originated, to which Pilate replied
that Jesus’ own people and chief priests had handed him over to Pilate. Pilate
inquired of Jesus as to what he had done, to which Jesus responded by saying that
his kingdom was not of this world, otherwise his servants would be fighting for
him. So, Pilate asked him if he was a king, a question to which Jesus responded
in the affirmative, saying that for this he had been born, and that he had come
into the world to testify to the truth. And, then he told Pilate that everyone
who is of the truth hears His voice, which is when Pilate then asked the
question, “What is truth?”
It is not real clear what Pilate meant when he asked this
question. The context does not give us enough hints to determine exactly what
he had in mind, yet it appears to me that he might have been saying that, in
the scheme of things, truth is really irrelevant. He could surmise the Jewish
leaders’ intentions. And, he could ascertain that they really had no charges to
bring against Jesus according to Roman law. Yet, Pilate was a politician, so he
offered to release one prisoner to them. He asked, “Do you want me to release ‘the
king of the Jews’?” “No!” was their response. “Not him!” “Give us Barabbas!”
Truth and
Consequences
“Truth or Consequences”
was an old TV show from the early 1950’s in which contestants were asked
bizarre questions. If the contestant could not answer truthfully, there would
be consequences. Yet, what this passage today reveals to us is that, even when
questions are answered truthfully, there can still be consequences, i.e. the
death of Jesus, and that when people respond with lies, they can seemingly get
away with it, yet we know the lies will eventually catch up with them, and that
ultimately there will be consequences.
Since the Lord Jesus put the song “The Battle for Truth” in mind prior to me reading the passage this
morning, I was sensitized more to the truth and the lies that were being told
here. The lies, first of all, began with the betrayal of Judas. A betrayal is a
deception which is a lie with the intention of harming another by surrendering
that person to the enemy. Then, we have the denials of Peter, who had said
previously that he would go to the death for Jesus, and that he would never
deny his Lord. He lied out of fear of rejection and persecution, and to save
his own life. The Jewish leaders lied to themselves and others via hypocritical
religious practices in which they engaged all the while they were plotting the
murder of an innocent man. And, they lied through deception by alluding to the
notion that Jesus Christ had committed a criminal act, when they knew that was
not true. And, they lied through telling a half-truth, because they had an
ulterior motive for having Jesus crucified.
In contrast to these lies and liars, Jesus always told the
truth. He voluntarily surrendered himself to the soldiers, stating that he was
the Jesus whom they were seeking, and he showed enormous integrity by willingly
going to the cross to die for our sins, accepting his purpose and his destiny
in order that we might go free. He always spoke openly to the world, teaching
publicly in the synagogues or at the temple, so the Jews could hear what he
said. He said nothing secretive or deceptive. Yet, he was punished for telling
the truth. He admitted that he had a kingdom and that he was a king, only his
kingdom was not of this world. And, then he shared the fact that he was born to
be a king and that the reason he came into the world was to testify to the
truth, because he is the way, the truth and the life.
And, then he said something interesting. He said that
everyone on the side of truth listens to him. Basically, what he was saying to
Pilate and to the Jews was that if they were really on the side of truth, they
would listen to him, because he is truth. Jesus is saying the same thing to us
today. He is calling out to us not only to be truth tellers and to repent of
our lies, but to listen to the one who is truth, instead of listening to and
following after all the lies of mankind coming through politicians and
religious leaders within our churches. There is such a battle for truth going
on in our world and in the church today. Jesus is asking us to honor him, to
tell the truth, to show integrity, to turn from our sin and from all the lies
and deceptions of the enemy, and to be faithful to our Lord, to not be spiritually
adulterous, to not be hypocritical in our religious practices and forms of
religion, and to return to our Lord.
The Battle for Truth
/ An Original Work / May 18, 2013
Based off Malachi 1-4
I love you. Honor me.
Tell the truth. You’ll be free.
Sing My praise all your days.
I will give all you need.
Turn from sin; cleansed within.
Stand in awe of My Name.
Teach what’s true. Walk in peace.
Follow Christ, in His ways.
Show to God faithfulness.
Do not be adult’rous.
Do not shed shallow tears.
Do not be insincere.
I have sent messengers,
Who have giv’n my address.
They call for repentance,
And they warn of judgment.
I, the Lord, do not change,
So return – blessings gain:
Healing comes; joyfulness;
Freedom from your distress.
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