The apostle John employs vivid descriptions about Jesus to encourage belief in him. Jesus is the lamb of God who took away the sin of the world (1:29). He is the gate by which men enter and find life (10:9). He is the good shepherd who laid down His life for the sheep (10:11).
Although betrayed and abandoned by the disciples and condemned by liars, Jesus was the truth. While he spoke the truth, he himself is the truth incarnate.
When Jesus Christ was on trial for his life, John recorded this exchange, “You are a king, then!” said Pilate. Jesus answered, “you say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me” (John 18:37).
In the next verse Pilate then responded, “What is truth?”
The eternal Son of God became a man and was full of grace and truth (John 1:14). In Jesus, truth came into this world from outside of this world. Jesus was born not to hide truth about God, but to testify about it in a world of spiritual darkness. In a world of unbelief.
In his book Hitler’s Cross, Erwin Lutzer made this observation:
“Since the Germans for centuries had celebrated Christmas and Easter, Hitler had to reinterpret their meaning. Christmas was turned into a totally pagan festival. For the SS troops, its date was changed to December 21st, the date of the winter solstice. Carols and nativity plays were banned from the schools in 1938, and even the name Christmas was changed to “Yuletide.” Crucifixes were eliminated from the classrooms and Easter was turned into a holiday that heralded the arrival of spring.”
Hitler changed Christmas to suite his ideology. Christmas carols were modified to reflect Nazi beliefs and ideology including references to the “Savior” pointing to Hitler himself, “Savior Führer.” These were among some of the steps taken to hide the truth of Christianity because it was dangerous to Nazi ideology. This is unbelief.
Jesus challenges this by testifying, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” The real problem is our sin and unbelief. Unbelief that results in seeing ourselves as our own judge and sin as a social construct and not our worst problem. Unbelief fails to see who Jesus Christ is, what he has done, and what he is doing. John provokes belief, “but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” Turn to Jesus and his death and resurrection for forgiveness of sin and believe. He gives real hope. This changes everything.
Pastor