It’s been about a decade since I started a sincere search for truth which led me to this wild ride of a life called, ‘Christianity!’ At first, I circled around it – judging the outside, then I peered into it – hoping to examine the inside. I kicked the tires before realizing that I would never know until I went all in. This meant actually reading Scripture. Listening to others is helpful when they draw you closer to The Truth, but they can never replace it. Talking about Scripture with a few friends may make you feel better, but again, it’s not enough.
If you want to know The Truth, you need to embrace the relationship that is offered with the One who is Truth! In John 14:6, Jesus claims to be the truth. I remember making a commitment to read the Bible in one year and when I got to John’s Gospel, I knew that I would finish the year and would be starting The Book all over again… and again… My favorite passage, because I appreciate irony, is John 18:37-38 where Pilate responds to Jesus’ Kingship with… “What is truth?” 🤦🏻♀️
As the year 2022 ended, I’ve been reflecting on the greatest gift to mankind – Jesus, Our Savior, Our Lord, Our King. I thought of the decades that the greatest gift sat in front of me – unopened, unappreciated, and ignored. I can only thank God for the spiritual gift of faith (1 Corinthians 12:9) that finally compelled me to grab that gift and open it with the awe and wonder of a small child at Christmas. 😍
Truth. Our current culture is fighting against the concept that there is a truth that applies to all people and it breaks my heart. I remember the confusion that I was once in – there is no peace when you reject truth. 💔 I can only imagine what others are going through. But now I want to fight – for them as Paul did in 1 Corinthians 9:19, 22. I was recently asked how does a Christian fight? I answered that we fight with the truth. In Ephesians 6:14, we learn that we stand firm in spiritual battles wearing the Belt of Truth. Tucked into that belt is the only offensive weapon we have; the Sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God. (Ephesians 6:17) The devil is a liar; he is the enemy. (1 Peter 5:8, John 10:10) He is deceiving many and we need to fight the devil from ensnaring others.
How do we do this? Let’s take our cue from Jesus. There are many times that He is teaching crowds, responding to the Jewish leaders, talking with His disciples, or meeting with people one-on-one. There are a limited number of times that He begins a response with ‘Truly’ or ‘Truly, truly’. Let’s look at the 25 times recorded in John’s Gospel.
| Verse | NIV | Audience | Notes |
| John 3:3 | Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again. | Nicodemus | Jesus points Nicodemus back to the creation story – you must be born again. Entry into Jesus’ Kingdom requires a new birth. |
| John 3:5 | Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. | Nicodemus | Jesus confirms that no entry into His Kingdom can occur by how we live in our physical life. Biological life cannot substitute for Spiritual life. |
| John 3:11 | Very truly I tell you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. | Nicodemus | The triune God has been unable to reach the leaders of Israel, through either the law or the prophets. |
| John 5:19 | Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. | Jewish leaders | Children do what they see their natural parents do… that is a glimpse of what Jesus is claiming here. There is the claim of His authority as well as His identity. |
| John 5:24 | Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life. | Jewish leaders | Belief in Jesus’ identity and authority as God gives eternal life. (Maybe not abundant life, but eternal life.) |
| John 5:25 | Very truly I tell you, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. | Jewish leaders | Those with spiritually open ears to accept Jesus’ identity and authority, in His day and in ours, will live. |
| John 6:26 | Very truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs I performed but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. | Crowd | Jesus can see the motivation of our hearts – do we honor Him to get things in this world only? |
| John 6:32 | Very truly I tell you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. | Crowd | Food for the natural body still leads to eventual death. Jesus, the bread of life, gives eternal life and is provided by the Father. |
| John 6:47 | Very truly I tell you, the one who believes has eternal life. | Crowd | Belief in Jesus’ identity and authority as God is essential to salvation. |
| John 6:53 | Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. | Crowd | Belief in the death of Jesus, as the sacrificial Lamb of God, body and blood shed for the forgiveness of our sins in necessary for salvation. |
| John 8:34 | Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. | J. leaders & crowd | The Law reveals our sins. A lack of repentance reveals our slavery to those sins. |
| John 8:51 | Very truly I tell you, whoever obeys my word will never see death. | J. leaders & crowd | Obedience to Jesus’ Word, includes the belief in His identity and authority. |
| John 8:58 | Very truly I tell you,” Jesus answered, “before Abraham was born, I am! | J. leaders & crowd | A clear statement of Jesus’ identity as God. |
| John 10:1 | Very truly I tell you Pharisees, anyone who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber. | Pharisees | The sheep pen – the metaphor for the collection of those saved – has only one entrance. |
| John 10:7 | Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. | Pharisees | The entrance to salvation is through Jesus. |
| John 12:24 | Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. | Andrew Philip | Jesus’ death and resurrection is the seed that produces the way to eternal life for those that believe. |
| John 13:16 | Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. | Disciples | Forget all concepts of pride – if Jesus can model a humble servant as our Lord and King, we are to do as well. |
| John 13:20 | Very truly I tell you, whoever accepts anyone I send accepts me; and whoever accepts me accepts the one who sent me. | Disciples | Our way back to God is through the Words of Jesus, delivered through time and generations by His servants. |
| John 13:21 | Very truly I tell you, one of you is going to betray me. | Disciples | A prophecy fulfilled by Judas – Jesus knows beforehand. |
| John 13:38 | Very truly I tell you, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times! | Peter | Will you really lay down your life for me?… another prophecy fulfilled by Peter. |
| John 14:12 | Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. | Philip & disciples | The greatest works of Jesus and His servants are leading others back to the Father. |
| John 16:7 | But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. | Disciples | Only God can pronounce what is ‘good’. Jesus’ death and resurrection is good in that it provides the Holy Spirit for us to do the ‘greater’ works. |
| John 16:20 | Very truly I tell you, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy. | Disciples | Prophecy of how people will react when Jesus is crucified. The disciples’ grief turns to joy at His resurrection. |
| John 16:23 | Very truly I tell you, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. | Disciples | In that day you will no longer ask me anything… When walking in the Spirit, our wills align with His and Jesus intercedes for us in our prayers. |
| John 21:18 | Very truly I tell you, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go. | Peter | Another prophecy regarding Peter’s death. (Although awful to face, it is comforting to know that Jesus knew beforehand.) |
Points to Ponder: There must be truth – concepts that reflect the reality we live in. Guidelines that help us navigate life in a world where sin is still present. Maybe the greatest truth we must wrestle with and accept are the ‘TRULY’ statements made by Jesus. Have we accepted the identity of Jesus and the authority of Jesus? Do we understand the exclusivity of His claims? We can not fight with the truth if we don’t believe the truth – if we don’t believe the truth found in Scripture, we lose the only weapon we have to cause the devil to flee from us.
When we realize that we ‘truly’ accept the claims of Jesus, there is freedom – almost immediate. We can then return to the scriptures and find all the other golden nuggets of His promises and His love that we skipped over because we were too afraid to believe them when, if we were honest with ourselves, we didn’t know if we even believed in Him.
This skepticism is easy to understand… as humans, many of our closest relationships… parents, siblings, spouses, friends… were marked by lies, deceit, deception, and broken promises. We build walls around our hearts so as to avoid additional pain. A relationship with Jesus is different.
As long as sin is present in this world, we are called to avoid it. It is evil and leads to death. Sadly, we cannot help others fight the evil around them when we compromise the truth. This is especially hard when loving them might mean some tough-love. 🙏🏻 I pray that when I cannot share the truth in a gentle, effective way, that God calls them directly to Himself or sends another Christian who can reach them. I pray that the false teachers, that approach with a more acceptable yet false, message are kept away. 2 Peter 2:1-2. And I pray all this in the mighty name of Jesus – my Savior, my Lord and my King. Amen. 🙏🏻