“JESUS CHRIST BEFORE PILATE,” FROM MUNKACSY'S GREAT PAINTING
“What Is Truth?”
LET us see: Would the true, equitable answer have borne vital relation to the highest interests of mankind — to the eternal welfare of the human race?
Had Pilate waited for an answer, might not that answer have penetrated to the depths of his heart and mind, and have changed totally the remainder of his career on earth?
Pilate did not wait for an answer. To ask the question was apparently as far as his thoughts extended. He did not conceive what a universe of meaning lay stored, crystallized, in complete reply from the MAN he interrogated.
Then the Roman governor “went out to the Jews” to persuade them to release Him who from eternity had known what TRUTH IS: who alone could give its solemn, mighty definition; who alone could foretell the serious consequences to Pilate of not knowing, not heeding the answer.
Reader, let us not go out. Let us wait and see if an answer replete with great fact and power will not be vouchsafed us. Let us think eagerly, with hunger, on this grave inquiry. It is as far-reaching, as boundless, as the amazing universe. It concerns us. It enwraps our well-being here. It affects vastly our life hereafter.
The complete answer to the question, “What is truth?” reaches out to, and deals with, the entire creation of our God.
All God’s Universe Is True
In all God’s wide universe there exists nothing false, nothing misleading, nothing which falls short of the divine purpose, of its exact intent — except man, the dominion over which man ruled prior to his grievous lapse from uprightness, and the great deceiver, through whom came the disastrous plunge into sorrow and death.
Take a walk this icy morning in the driving wind, in the pelting rain, beside the white-dotted, tossing, loud-talking Pacific. Think upon its vast area — reaching from continent to continent. Note how it surges from Arctic to Antarctic latitudes. Consider the tremendous pressure of such a body of water upon its base. Conceive of the stanchness, the resistibility, of the floor, the bottom, over which sweep the proud waters, from century to century.
Why does the foundation never give way and plunge the earth into disaster inconceivable? Is it not because the basis, the groundwork, is laid without mistake, in certainty, in verity? Why do the angry, threatening waves seem to yield, at a certain point, to a force unseen, a power irresistible, and then break suddenly, and lave the broad beach with singing foam? Is it not because the waters are amenable to a law bedded in truth, in assurance, in accuracy?
Upheld by Perpetual Decree
But while we meditate upon the august scene, let us open the Bible at Jer. 5:22, and read a caustic message once despatched to the house of Judah — rebellious, and worshipers of idols:
“Fear ye not Me? . . . will ye not tremble at My presence, who have placed the sand for the bound of the sea, by a perpetual decree, that it can not pass it? and tho the waves thereof toss themselves, yet can they not prevail; tho they roar, yet can they not pass over it.”
And further: In that long list of marvelous interrogations by the infallible Author of all true science — embraced in the 38th and 39th chapters of the book of Job — there shines more lustrous truth on this subject of the ponderous sea.
The great Creator catechizes thus “a perfect and upright man” in the land of Uz: “Who shut up the sea with doors, . . . and said, Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further: and here shall thy proud waves be staid?” “Hast thou entered into the springs of the sea? or hast thou walked in the search of the depth?” Job 38:8, 11, 16.
Job had not entered into the springs of the sea, except by thought, by study; nor had he walked in search of its depth. Yet he knew well that God “hath compassed the waters with bounds, until the day and night come to an end;” that “He weigheth the waters by measure;” and he revered Him “who alone walketh upon the waves of the sea,” and “doeth great things past finding out.”
His Works Declare His Power
Now it is night. The hurrying rain has ceased. The speeding wind has died away. The heavens glisten with shining worlds. Constellations familiar to us speak, through the cleansed atmosphere, of Him who from eternity established their courses in mighty truth, in marvelous exactness, not one of them failing in obedience to His law for them.
Most brilliant, most eminent among them gleams Orion, or Cesil the giant, in full view now, in the high west, traveling in a magnificent neighborhood of the heavens; never ceasing to meet its sublime appointments; always eloquent of the profound, majestic truth of creation.
Over 3,400 years, nearly one half of the total week of time — 1,000 years composing each day — assigned to the history of the4earth before God shall create it anew (Isa. 65:17, 18; 66:22), have passed away since Job, an able scientist in a great desert land, discoursed briefly, with his nonconsoling visitors, on the subject of astronomy. Job 9:6-9.
Yet, to-day, Orion, the resplendent gem of the heavens, to which he called attention, speaks as eloquently, as positively, of the changeless truth of God manifest in the mighty works of creation, as it did in the day Job mitigated his keen physical suffering by giving utterance to great thoughts on science, charity, and uprightness of life, and possibly, to long and wide portrayal of his misery.
His Spiritual Realm Is Just as True
But this is taking only a material view of truth. The great subject has also its spiritual aspect — an aspect, like the former, reaching beyond the comprehension of men, for no mortal can define the bounds of the spiritual realm of God. The human mind can not conceive the total might, the varied power, of God, of Christ. The ability of the angels astonishes us. Yet, every act performed, every deed done, by the Creator and by His fleet messengers, is but an expression of TRUTH, truth intrinsical, inherent.
But happily, truth bears blessed relation to man, accomplishing for him good not always visible to mortal sight. It deals with his heart, his mind, his life. It is the power which attracts man, through the influence of the divine Spirit, to the Author of his being.
Admitted freely into heart and mind, it does admirable cleansing, makes the premises wholly sanitary, plants right seed, from which ripens fruit for heaven.
Finally, God is TRUTH. Christ, the Word, is TRUTH. The whole creation of God is TRUTH.
