When Pilate asked the Lord Jesus, "What is truth?" it was the virtual confession that he did not have the knowledge of the truth. This precious knowledge is not inbred in man, nor can it be procured in the schools of men, not even in their religious seminaries or from their philosophical seats of learning. Even Judaism, with all its peculiar privileges, could not provide for men the knowledge of the truth, "for the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ" (John 1:17).
Jesus had made His "good confession" in telling Pilate that His kingdom was not of this world, and the Roman Governor asked Him, "Art thou a king then?" to which Jesus replied, "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" (John 18:36-37). How very solemn it was that both the leaders of Israel and the representative of the Roman power should reject God's King, and the One in whom the truth had been brought from heaven to men.
The words of Jesus witnessed to the truth, but these words were but the expression of what He was in Himself, for He was the truth (John 8:25; 14:6). In the Son of God, and in all that He spoke, there was presented to men the perfect and full revelation of all that God is in His nature of love, and in His disposition of grace and compassion towards men. Under the influence of the devil, the god of this world, the Jews refused to believe the truth that was brought to them in the Person of the Son (John 8:43-46).
Yet there were those who accepted the truth made known in Jesus, even as He said to Pilate, "Every one that is of the truth hears my voice." There was then, and is now, a company on earth that the Lord spoke of as "of the truth." The truth that came in Jesus had been received into their hearts, and by this they were brought into this divine circle that hears the voice of the Son of God. Such heed not the many voices that are heard by the men of this world; they hear the voice that gave them being, the voice of the Son of God, the voice of the Good Shepherd, whose sheep they are.
Liberated from the bondage of sin by the truth ministered by the Son of God, the true worshippers are enabled to worship the Father in spirit and in truth (John 8:32-36; John 4:23). They are also able to practise the truth under the eye of God, and publicly before men, for the truth that they practise evinces that God is the source of all they do (John 3:21).
When His public testimony had closed, and the Lord was secluded with His own, He spoke to them of the coming of the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of truth (John 14:17; John 15:26; John 16:13). The Spirit of truth would dwell with the disciples, and be in them, testifying of the Son in the place of glory into which He was about to enter, guiding them into all truth, and opening up to them what lay in the future.
In John 17 we hear the Son speak to the Father about His disciples, saying, "Sanctify them through Thy truth: Thy word is truth" (verse 17). The truth of God, found in His word, is the great sanctifying power in the hand of the Father to keep His people while in this world. We are to be here as the Son was, for the will and pleasure of the Father, and not only have we the care of the Father, and the help of the Holy Spirit, but the Son said to the Father, "For their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth" (verse 19).
Writing to the elect lady and her children, the Apostle John says, "whom I love in the truth; and not I only, but also all they that have known the truth" (2 John 1). The Christian company is here characterised as knowing the truth. What an immense privilege this is, to pass through this world with the knowledge of God, and as knowing Him to know all things in the light of the revelation that He has given of Himself. With the knowledge of the truth, there is also the divine love that embraces every one that is born of God, a love that is in deed and in truth.
It was for the truth's sake that the elect lady and her children were loved, for the knowledge of the truth brings with it divine affection; and the truth "dwells in us, and shall be with us for ever" (verse 2). The truth has taken up its abode in the saints of God, so as to give character to their thoughts, desires and feelings; giving them the true joy connected with the love of God that is found in Jesus. When time has passed, and we have entered the eternal day, the truth will still be with us, giving us the eternal enjoyment of all that we have already learned in Jesus, and of all that belongs to the Father's House.
All these precious things regarding the truth have been given to us that our walk down here might be for the pleasure of God. The walk of the beloved Gaius gave pleasure to the aged Apostle John, because he walked in truth, and he added, "I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth" (3 John 3, 4). We may be sure that if John could rejoice in such a walk, that God will also find joy in seeing His own walking in truth. If we walk in truth, we shall also seek to be "fellow-helpers to the truth" (verse 8), in sustaining what belongs to the testimony of God in this world.
Thou art the everlasting Word,
The Father's only Son,
God manifest, God seen and heard,
The heaven's beloved One.
In Thee most perfectly expressed,
The Father's self doth shine:
Fulness of Godhead, too; the Blest,
Eternally divine.