For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.” John 18:37.
Today your LORD (יהוה) God (אלהים) says:
I know the plans and purposes I have for you and they are for your total well-being in every area of your life and never for evil, harm, or destruction. Jeremiah 29:11; 3 John 1:2-4. The word I use for My plans for you is “shalom.” It is a Hebrew word and it means good health in your spirit, soul, and body, provision and prosperity, peace in every area of your life inside and out, fruitful work and activities, meaningful and satisfying accomplishments, and fullness of self-control and authority in your own life. It is a fully satisfying and fruitful life filled with good days with nothing missing, nothing broken, and no one alone. And that is shalom. And that is the only life plan I have for every one of you.
So, if your life does not testify to shalom, what is wrong? For clearly you are out of My Will for your life. And that is what happened to all mankind when Adam turned his back on the truth and began living a lie. He no longer was in agreement with Me in defining good and evil. And he accepted evil as his good. I never wanted anyone to KNOW evil in an intimate way, only to discern it and avoid it. I think in love, talk in love, walk in love and I am love and everything else is foreign to Me and does not enter Me.
I am absolute goodness so to participate in anything other than that you must reject Me in certain, or like Adam all, areas of your life. Evil is what happens when you do not stay in and rest in Me, that is, if you stop drawing your life from your source. And once you cut yourself off from your source, you will perish, like a fish out of the water or a plant uprooted out of the soil. Sin will kill you because it is not of your nature.
And who am I? How do you know the One that created all and is your source and the source of all good, provision, beauty, protection, direction, love, and life? My throne is in My Kingdom of Heaven, but I fill the universe and I am present everywhere.
How do you know what another is like? Primarily by their words because your mouth speaks from your heart’s abundance and who you really are will come out at some point. You can know Me in the same way—by My Words. And I have not kept My Word from you. It is available to all. It is written down for you through My prophets and followers inspired by My Spirit for I watch over My Word to perform it and it runs swiftly for it is living and actively working in the hearts of those who will hear it and receive it. It is especially available, more than ever before, for you today with internet, satellite, and all technological devises that broadcast and share My Word in every part of the earth where a signal can be picked up.
For anyone who will seek Me, that is, seek a greater One who is beyond what they see with their physical eyes with their heart, I make sure that the resources are available for them to find My Word, and, above all, to find My Word made flesh, Jesus, your redeemer and savior, through whom and in whom I reconciled you to Myself as if sin had never been. He paid your judgement and took your sentence of eternal death, and in Him I draw you back into Me, cleansed, holy, blameless, and beyond reproach. For those who reach out to and cling to Me in love I show My Salvation (Yeshuah is the word for salvation in Hebrew and that is the name I gave to Jesus from everlasting to everlasting).
Understand I want to give you a perfect life of shalom but there is only one way you can have that. And it is by continuing in My Word until you know the truth and then the truth will set you free. It is, simply put, by walking in the truth and not living a lie. Because the truth of what I have prepared for those who love Me is beyond all you can ask or imagine. It is wonderful. The truth of who I am and what I have freely given you will save your soul (your mind, will, and emotions), giving you peace and fruitfulness instead of worry and fear and give you joy no matter what the world, which is still under the evil one due to Adam’s submission to the devil and handing over his leasehold of the earth to him, sends your way.
Beloved, I pray that in all respects you may prosper and be in good health, just as your soul prospers. For I was very glad when brethren came and testified to your truth, that is, how you are walking in truth. I have no greater joy than this, to hear of my children walking in the truth. 3 John 1:2-4.
We know that we are of God, and that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us understanding so that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life. Little children, guard yourselves from idols. 1 John 5:19-21.
Jesus is the faithful and true witness that came to testify to the truth. You undo the works of the devil and tread him underfoot by the truth for he is the liar and the father of lies and a murderer from the beginning. And that is in today’s conversation with Pilate. Pilate could have grabbed hold of that but he was too caught up in keeping his promotion to governor and keeping in favor with Caesar to listen.
Where we left off yesterday, the chief priests and members of the Sanhedrin taken Jesus bound like a dangerous criminal to Pilate and were requesting Pilate to judge and condemn Jesus to death. They were accusing Him of seeking to overthrow the Roman rule and set Himself up as King. The Jews refused to enter into the Praetorium so Pilate could question Jesus, however, to avoid ritual impurity by entering a home of a Gentile. So Pilate entered again into the Praetorium, and summoned Jesus and began to question Him. First, as we discussed yesterday, he questioned Jesus about whether He was actually proclaiming Himself a King. But Jesus surprised him when he defined His Kingdom as not of this world. That disturbed him because that would be something supernatural was going on before him and he had heard of the miraculous works that took place at the hands of Jesus. So from that Pilate concluded Jesus was saying He was a King, not here but of somewhere. But when he questioned him further on this, Jesus gave him an answer that sums up what He came to do.
For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.” John 18:37.
He came to undo the works of the devil, for people had listened too long to the lies of the devil and were making that the foundation of their lives, and bring you back to the true life you were born to live. The life He defined as abundant life, life that overflows with everything good.
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. John 10:10.
The only way you can have a wonderful, powerful life of shalom peace is by knowing the truth that is Jesus, for He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. He is the way to true happiness now and forever. When you know Him and the power flowing from His resurrection to you, He told the disciples that they would have a joy no man could take from them.
And what was Pilate’s response to this great revelation that Jesus had come in this world from a Kingdom not of this world to testify to the truth? Pilate said to Him, “What is truth?” John 18:38.
But he did not wait for an answer. He left that question hanging and went out again to the Jews and announced to them, “I find no guilt in Him. But you have a custom that I release someone for you at the Passover; do you wish then that I release for you the King of the Jews?” John 18:38-39. Pilate was not comfortable with being a part of the obvious jealously the Jewish leaders had for this Man, Matthew 27:18, and for condemning an innocent man to death to please them and yet he did not want to have them reporting him to Caesar for setting free one they were accusing of treason and insurrection. But the Jewish people surprised him because he believed Jesus to be a favorite with the Jewish people who were not rulers for His miracles of healing and provision. But at this point the chief priests and the elders had persuaded the crowds to ask for Barabbas and to put Jesus to death. So Pilate asked more specifically, “Which of the two do you want me to release for you?” And they said, “Barabbas.” Pilate was frustrated because he wanted a quick solution to get Jesus off his hands, so he said to them, “Then what shall I do with Jesus who is called Messiah?” They all said, “Crucify Him!” And he said, “Why, what evil has He done?” But they kept shouting all the more, saying, “Crucify Him!” So they cried out again, saying, “Not this Man, but Barabbas.” Now Barabbas was a murderer and a robber.
Jesus was condemned and the guilty man was let go free. Do you see? Barabbas means
“Son of Abba,” that is, “Son of the Father,” and everyone who takes Jesus as Lord becomes My child and Jesus gave His life that you are set free. The One who knew no sin became sin for you so that you could become righteous with My own righteousness in Him. The guilty made righteous in the righteous One and the righteous One made guilty for you. He gave His life for His sheep so they would never perish but have eternal life.
And that is the truth He came to testify to. In Him you are born again from above free from all sin, judgment, condemnation, guilt, and shame.
He came to testify to the truth and everyone who is of the truth hears His voice.
And what was His testimony? What is the truth? He shared it with Nicodemus and confirmed it to the Peter and the woman at the Well and it is the cornerstone that holds the entire earth in place, not to be moved:
As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already.” John 3:14-18.
And the Holy Spirit testifies as well that in Him your sins and offenses I remember no more and witnesses with your spirit that in Jesus you have become My children and joint heirs with Christ.
It is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. For there are three that testify: the Spirit and the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement. If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater; for the testimony of God is this, that He has testified concerning His Son. The one who believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself; the one who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has given concerning His Son. And the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life. 1 John 5:7-12.
Yes, I too have testified. And the testimony is this, that I have given you eternal life, and this life is in My Son. He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have My Son does not have the life.
“Even in your law it has been written that the testimony of two men is true. I am He who testifies about Myself, and the Father who sent Me testifies about Me.” John 8:17-18.
I would that you would all prophesy. The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. And what is His testimony? He told you: For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.” John 18:37.
Now I will ask you with Pilate, what is truth? It is summed up in one word that gives you the whole pie of life without a single piece missing, yes, the blessed, fruitful life of abundance that I planned for you from the beginning: Shalom. And I give it to you in Jesus, the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening for our SHALOM fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed. Isaiah 53:5.
He came to preach SHALOM to those who are near and those who are far, for through Him you have your access in one Spirit to Me. In Jesus, you are of My household, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is being built together in love into My dwelling in the Spirit.
I love you. Do you remember the first word Jesus spoke to His assembled disciples on the day I raised Him from the dead as He stood in their midst despite the locked doors? Yes, “SHALOM.” It had been won for you in His life, death, and resurrection. You have the truth.
How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who announces peace and brings good news of happiness, who announces Salvation, and says to Zion, “Your God is King!” Isaiah 52:7.