Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.” (John 14:6)

Second of the three metaphors captured in this verse is Jesus’ assertion, “I am the truth.” Popular post-modern thinking would have us believe there are many truths, alternative truths, relative truths, but above all, no absolute truth. This is popularly regurgitated in our ecumenical culture.

Yet against all this, Jesus makes the astounding assertion that He is the truth. He didn’t say that He was a teacher of the truth, though He certainly spoke truth (John 8:45-46). He didn’t say He was the pointer to the truth, though again, He certainly did that (John 1:17). In fact, He didn’t say that the truth was in Him, though He certainly was full of truth (John 1:14). We must not assign to poetic license or marginalize the most alarming but straightforward impact of this. Jesus said He was the complete embodiment of truth.

If Pilate had asked his oft-quoted question—“What is truth?” (John 18:38)—at this juncture instead of later during Jesus’ trial, the Lord’s answer would have been, “I am the truth.” He didn’t respond later to Pilate’s query, because He knew that “[e]veryone who is of the truth hears My voice” (John 18:37), and presumably Pilate was not open to hearing a truthful answer to His question. Just like many today. But, praise God, we who are believers have embraced Jesus as the truth.

This is absolute, exclusive and intolerant of all that is untrue. The world thinks this is an intolerable position to hold, that Jesus is “the truth,” exclusive of all other ways to God. But truth by its very nature is intolerant of what is not true. For example, 1 plus 1 equals 2. If someone told us, “That may be true for you, but I like to think of 1 plus 1 equaling 3,” we would say that’s absurd. Passengers on airplanes are thankful that pilots confine themselves to landing on straight and narrow runways, and doing it the long way. Imagine a pilot trying to land a plane perpendicular to the runway, thinking that all approaches to landing are equally valid. Such nonsense is like the modern notion that all approaches to God are equally valid—that we all are free to choose the path we would like to think of as being best for us.

The world’s rejection of the idea of absolute truth is like thumbing one’s nose to existence itself. It is man’s effort to ascend above the very throne of the Creator God and proclaim himself as the lord of creation, to be hindered by no one else’s truth but his own. However, Jesus was clear, “I am the truth,” and that is the truth that sets people free (John 8:32).

Lord, I am so thankful that my life is anchored in You, the Truth.