TRUTH
One phrase often heard over the past few years has been: “fake news.” The overload of information makes it increasingly difficult to try and determine what actually is truthful and what is merely interpretations, opinions, and/or hype. Problems occur when truth and fiction are intermingled and therefore the determination of what actually occurred, or is developing, becomes even more tenuous. This is not just a challenge of today’s times; even back in Biblical times the problem of what is true or false was present. After all, did not even Pilate ask: “What is truth?” (John 18:38).
One way to help separate truth from falsehood is to compare what actually has come to pass to what was said would happen. If the outcome of an event is one that has been previously forecast, then an individual would be safe in considering those previous statements as genuine. However, this implies that when we examine the past we must look at what actually occurred and/or was said without allowing any preconceived ideas to bias our interpretations. In other words, we must allow our data to determine our conclusions and not the other way around. Unfortunately, that has often been what has happened with the Bible. True events have often been mixed up with events not based in fact and thus, many people no longer look upon the Bible as reliable. In addition, there seems to be no real incentive to learn from past lessons as to what the future may hold. The truth gets so enmeshed with fantasy that it all ends up being just a story or “fake news.”
But isn’t that just what the Bible said would happen? “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (1 Corinthians 1:18). This would suggest that those who feel that the Bible is just “fake news” may have something to be concerned about.
So it is that the message, therefore, of what happened more than two thousand years ago just before Passover must also be scrutinized in the light of real vs. fake news. In the book of Zechariah, we read:
“…Behold, your king is coming to you;
He is just and having salvation,
Lowly and riding on a donkey,
A colt, the foal of a donkey.”
(9:9)
This scripture was written approximately 500 years before Matthew wrote:
“Now when they drew near Jerusalem,…
then Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them,
‘Go into the village…and immediately you will find a donkey tied,
and a colt with her. Loose them and bring them to Me’…
So the disciples went and did as Jesus commanded them.
They brought the donkey and the colt, laid their clothes on them, and set Him on them.”
(21:1-2;6-7)
This simple story from the Book of Matthew, relating some events which just preceded Jesus tumultuous entry into Jerusalem, refer back to the prophetic statement of Zechariah mentioned above. It’s really an insignificant detail in relationship to the whole event but it raises the question: why include it if it were not true? If it is true, does that not give credence to the rest of the story? If yes, then does it also not help give credence to the theme of the problem of sin and the need for salvation? People often don’t want to accept the theme of accountability and need for redemption because it interferes with their idea of freedom and their preconceived idea of what the world should be like aka that “…everyone (can do) what was right in his own eyes” (Judges 21:25).
If ever things are to be right in this world, we have to get past the idea that the Bible is “fake news” and accept the fact that the sacrifice of Christ, over 2000 years ago, is the only plausible way that we can have true freedom in this world and also have hope of seeing the next.
And that is something we all should think about.
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