I Should Bear Witness Unto the Truth

One of the ways that I would describe the character of the Savior as we see it in the New Testament is assertive. By this I mean that He was confident and direct; He was assured of His mission and He was not afraid to do things that His Father wanted Him to do even when others would find it offensive or strange. We see this of course in the beginning of His ministry when He went to the temple: “Jesus went up to Jerusalem, And found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting: And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers’ money, and overthrew the tables; And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father’s house an house of merchandise” (John 2:13-16). He was not afraid to challenge others and say things as they really were. No amount of peer pressure could get Him to act other than how His Father desired Him to act. When Peter, His friend and chief apostle, suggested that He should not be killed, Jesus said, “Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men” (Matthew 16:23). When it was something that really mattered, Jesus would not sit silently by and let the incorrect ideas of men prevail. He always stood up for His Father and His Father’s work no matter what the people around Him thought.

                Other experiences in the New Testament also show how He was always ready to speak up for the truth even when it offended others. He said to the Pharisees, “I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” When they argued against Him, He said this: “Ye are from beneath; I am from above: ye are of this world; I am not of this world. I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins.” He didn’t try to appease them or water down His message—He told them directly and boldly who He was and who they were following by rejecting Him. When they claimed special privilege by being Abraham’s children, He responded directly, “If ye were Abraham’s children, ye would do the works of Abraham. But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God: this did not Abraham. Ye do the deeds of your father…. Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do” (John 8:12, 22-34, 39-40, 44). He had a whole multitude of prominent Jews against Him, but He was not afraid to speak as things really were in His Father’s eyes. We see this again in His final week when He condemned a similar group of people: “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness. Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity” (Matthew 23:27-28). His words were direct and certainly offensive to those He was speaking against, but they were the truth and He was trying to help the people see the danger of the teachings of these religious leaders who rejected the very God they claimed to worship.

                I love one of the final assertions He made as He stood before the man who thought He had control over the life of Jesus. Pilate asked Him, “Art thou a king then?” Jesus responded with this bold declaration: “To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice” (John 18:37). Jesus was committed to bearing witness of the truth no matter what the consequence. He was meek and humble in how He submitted Himself to the Father’s will, but He was also assertive in always doing and saying those things that His Father desired of Him. As we seek to follow Him, we should likewise be willing to stand up for truth no matter what the cost.