Some suggest that this was a genuine question, but Pilate didn’t wait for an answer. It seems that he spoke these words as an exit line. Pilate asked, “What is truth?” And he said this as a judge charged with bringing justice.

Imagine yourself standing in a court of law on false charges, and your only hope is that the judge will uncover the truth.

The judge asks if you have anything to say. You reply, “Well, I have come to this court to bear witness to the truth.” But the judge snaps back, “What is truth?” How can you have justice if there is no such thing as truth?

Pilate miscarried justice because he did not believe in the truth
But Pilate was not the only judge in this conversation. Jesus said, “The Father... has given all judgment to the Son” (Jn. 5:22). Two judges stood face to face, one from earth and the other from heaven.

Jesus will bring justice because He knows the truth
He said, “I came into the world to bear witness to the truth” (18:37). There is a realm in which the whole truth is known, so there is a realm in which justice will be done.

Normally a judge hears evidence to discern the truth. But on the last day, Jesus will not be seeking the truth. Jesus will bring justice because He already knows the truth completely.

If you know your own heart at all, you know that you’re a long way from loving God with all your heart and from loving your neighbour as yourself. This is the reason we all need to humble ourselves and embrace Him, so that when the day of justice comes, we will have a defence.

Is your heart prepared for the day when Jesus will come to bring justice?

Jesus tells us here that there is a realm where all truth is known. It is not in this world. Jesus came into the world to “bear witness to the truth.”

The Bible tells us that in this world, we know “in part” (1 Cor. 13:12). That is why we often feel that we are only getting part of the story. Where on earth is the truth fully known?

Jesus tells us here that there is a place where truth is known. God knows the truth. He knows every thought, word, and deed of every person. God knows the truth about all that is, has been, and will be.

One of the most encouraging signs in our world is that there is a new hunger for truth in many hearts. We’ve been told for a generation that there is no such thing as “the truth.” There is only “your truth” and “my truth.” How can there be justice if there is no such thing as the truth?

If there is such a thing as “the truth,” there can be a conversation about what it might be. We can pursue the truth and seek after it together. We can disagree, we can debate.

But if there is only “your truth” and “my truth,” discussion becomes difficult. To question “your truth” feels like a personal attack. People are so deeply divided that it is hard to have a reasonable conversation.

If you long for the truth, you are not far from the Kingdom of God. If you hunger and thirst for the truth, you will be drawn to Jesus. He came to bear witness to the truth. The truth of who God is. The truth of who you are, of what life is, and of how your life can be blessed.

In what ways have you sensed that the world’s idea of “truth” is lacking?

This is the last statement of Jesus about why He came into the world. The chief priests have brought Jesus to Pilate’s house, and Pilate has to make a decision about Him.

The religious leaders “began to accuse him, saying, ‘We found this man misleading our nation and forbidding us to give tribute to Caesar, and saying that he himself is Christ, a king’” (Lk. 23:2). So Pilate’s first question to Jesus is, “Are you a king?” Are you the king of the Jews?

Pilate is a secular ruler. To him, the word “king” means a monarch who rules over a particular country. If Jesus had said, “Yes, I am a king,” Pilate would have been misled into thinking that Jesus was a rival to Caesar.

So Jesus asks, “Do you say this of your own accord?”—that is, are you using the word “king” in the way that the Romans use it?—“Or did others say it to you about me?” (Jn. 18:34).

Jesus is challenging Pilate to make his own investigation into the truth. “People say many things about me. But here I am, right in front of you. Make your own investigation! Don’t simply echo what other people think. I am a king. I have a kingdom. But you cannot put a geographical limit on it. You cannot put a historical timeframe on it. It spans generations.”

“King,” as it is normally understood, is not a big enough word to describe Jesus. He is the King of kings and the Lord of lords. The Kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ transcends all other kingdoms.

Have you made your own investigation into the truth of who Jesus is?