Knowing truth is not always convenient

So many in our day want to argue that there is no such thing as truth. I have found oftentimes that people who say this don’t believe it. What they usually mean is that they don’t agree with the truth because it is inconvenient for them or makes demands on them that they don’t like. It’s more of an emotional appeal than it is anything factual. Sometimes it is dressed up as factual, as someone might claim that there is no way to actually know truth or that maybe the Bible doesn’t contain truth. But these approaches are grasping at straws and become self-refuting since they must themselves be statements of truth that don’t have any verification. In the end, truth is something that we know because we can’t know anything without it.

This doesn’t mean that God doesn’t provide us with evidence. He’s God and he wants us to know and understand the truth that is in Jesus, so he made sure that his people could verify the things he said and did. This shows that God understands and cares for his creation, particularly mankind who has been made in his image.

The most important verification in Scripture surrounds the person and work of Jesus Christ. God gave four witnesses, four Gospels, which agree without being identical. He provided an entire Old Testament to declare beforehand what he would do. There were prophets who declared who Jesus was and what he had come to do. Finally, there is the life of Christ itself. He was a person who existed and about whom these things were written. We find evidence for his existence in Scripture as well as outside of Scripture. Lastly, we see the effects of his life. The fundamental shift that takes place before and after Jesus Christ is undeniable proof of his existence as more than a mere man. The Gospel of Luke finds its place in the midst of this discussion.

Luke 2:21-40 continues this instruction. Luke offers three lines of verification: the Old Testament, the voices of those in his own day, and the life of Jesus itself. Our passage opens with Luke telling us that Joseph and Mary followed the Old Testament purification laws after Jesus was born. Mary brought a sin offering, according to Leviticus 12. This law was given as a reminder of the reality of sin, that it impacts even our young children. Jesus had not sinned, nor would he ever sin, but Mary was a sinner and so she followed that law. The fact that this law was in place, as a reminder of the reality of the fallen world, and that Jesus’ parents obeyed it is a reminder of the seriousness of sin.

On their way, though, they are interrupted by a prophet. “Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ.” (Luke 2:25-26) Simeon had been waiting for this moment, he had been promised this moment and now it had come – the consolation of Jerusalem was there before him in this little baby.

Next, we read, “And there was a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher.” Asher was of the northern Kingdom, Israel, and represents that Kingdom in welcoming the savior of the world. This is significant as the Father is announcing the birth of Jesus through the mouths of so many different people. So, we have the testifying of Jesus to Joseph and Mary through Simeon and Anna, representing south and north, male and female.

Lastly, we read “the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom. And the favor of God was upon him.” For the fifth time he points out that they had done everything according to the law of God. There could be no question in the reader’s mind that Jesus was the fulfillment of all of God’s word – even his laws. Luke is writing so that we can have certainty about the things we have been taught. We learn, as children, about who God is and what he has done. As we grow, we want to think more deeply about these things to understand more about the world around us. Honest inquiry will lead us to a deeper understanding of the truth.

Pastor Everett Henes, the pastor of the Hillsdale Orthodox Presbyterian Church, can be reached at pastorhenes@gmail.com.

This article originally appeared on Hillsdale Daily News: Opinion