Does Jesus lie? Non-believers may not have a good basis to answer that question. And even believers sometimes doubt its answer. But to answer in the affirmative, it would help to have an explicit example of where Jesus did lie. Otherwise given the vast history of things He predicted that came true, and the personal examples in your own encounters with Jesus, I believe you will find that Jesus does not lie. So lets give it a stretch and look for an instance that proves this theory wrong. You might begin with prophecy and its interpretation. Does being wrong about how you interpret prophecy make Jesus the liar? To believe that is to state, you are completely right, and if reality deviates with what you believe, it must be Jesus who lied about it. Given how often you are wrong in life in general about a great many things. It seems hardly plausible, that in matters of scriptural interpretation, you suddenly became all knowing – and Jesus must have lied, if reality does not work out the way you interpreted it would.
More likely, a second look, a deeper study, will find more meaning in the same texts you studied before. More likely, the other meanings that may emerge offer you a different way to see things, perhaps a better way, perhaps a way closer to what Jesus originally intended, than what you gathered the first time you read it through. To trust to the interpretation of the church leaders, and church tradition, is to walk the path of our Pharisee forefathers, and wind up in the same end result – kill Truth, rather than change our minds. On the other hand, looking to so many of the Biblical prophecies that have been fulfilled, and so accurately, tends to give one confidence that Jesus knows what He is talking about. His record is very very good. This inspires confidence that again Jesus does not need to lie. The Truth is always better for us to know, and always what He reveals to us, even if the revelation is slow – because that is the speed our minds need to receive it without blowing a gasket.
Just a few segments ago, Peter stated that Jesus was the Son of God, a revelation given to him by God the Father. Jesus called him blessed to receive it. And immediately Jesus asked His disciples not to tell anyone about it yet. Instead He began revealing to them that He was to die at the hands of church leadership, be tortured no less, and crucified; but then to rise on the third day. As for Peter’s revelation, Jesus asked His disciples to keep this from His otherwise would be followers – they were NOT ready to hear it yet. While it was true, it was a Truth, not everyone was ready to hear. Then the remainder of what Jesus told His disciples, they DID NOT LIKE hearing. Peter even tried to rebuke Jesus, and tell Him this would never happen. Yet again an unpleasant truth, but then a truth so glorious the history of the universe would soon be defined by it. Even then His disciples could not get over the fact, their own interpretation of the role of the Messiah, like the church leadership of the time, was wrong. Did it make Jesus a liar? No. Things unfurled exactly as Jesus had predicted, including the fantastic parts that could only happen after the horrible parts.
Outside of the miracles (and they were astonishing, perhaps terrifying, and yet so glorious), the disciples looked up to Jesus as one of their own. Jesus was different to them, but more the same than different. For the most part Jesus looked like any other man, since Adam, until then. But to increase their faith yet again, this was about to change. Matthew picks up the story in the last verse of chapter sixteen, that in context, continues the next thoughts right into the first verses of chapter seventeen. Perhaps it would have been better if placed there, but no matter, we are capable of continuing a read as needed. It begins in verse 28 saying … “Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom.” And so begins our intense analysis; did Jesus lie?
We interpret this text to mean … some of you disciples … not all, but a few … will not die … until you see the Son of Man coming in His Kingdom (or in our minds, the second coming of Christ, which the whole world continues to wait for). Since ALL the disciples died, we know this could not have been true. In fact, ALL the disciples (short John but not for lack of trying) met martyr’s deaths, ugly, gruesome, torture of extreme bodily pain, which was only relieved by death itself. That was how reality unfolded, which definitely does not jive with our traditional interpretation of this verse – so again I ask did Jesus lie? Or perhaps, did Jesus have something else in mind, then what we traditionally think? The answer is contained in chapter seventeen of Matthew’s gospel, in the very next texts as this story continues.
It picks up in verse 1 saying … “And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart,” You will note this is a few of the disciples, or “some” of them. In reality, these represent three key disciples who will serve in the new Christian church’s leadership. James will head the new church in Jerusalem (its traditional headquarters, as the impact of the Messiah was first to be felt by the traditional bloodline of Abraham if they but accepted it). Peter will be the first great evangelist, spreading the gospel far and wide across the then known world. John would be the chief prophet to not only the Hebrew church, but to the Christian faith all the way from that time to the last remnant to walk the earth before His return. These three disciples were taken apart from the rest, and up the mountain they hiked, likely to the place where Jesus went to pray at night. Chances are, none of them thought anything strange about it at first.
Matthew continues in verse 2 saying … “And was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light.” This is the true form of the Son of Man. This is Jesus, NOT like one of them, burdened by our world of darkness, but how the Son of Man looks in His kingdom – just as He said only six days earlier at the end of chapter sixteen in the gospel of Matthew. This is not baby Jesus in a manger. This is not good-time Jesus at the Wedding in Cana. This is not tortured Jesus upon a cross, dead. This is Jesus alive as He was following the resurrection, the same way He will look past His ascension from this world forever more. This is Jesus at home in His kingdom. And true to form about the kingdom of Jesus, it was not meant to be alone in.
Matthew continues in verse 3 saying … “And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him. [verse 4] Then answered Peter, and said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here: if thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias.” The first thing that appears in the Kingdom of Jesus are the redeemed for which He is destined to die and return again triumphant. These represent the first fruits of the Kingdom. Elijah is there never having tasted death, translated while still alive (like Enoch before him). Moses did die, but was resurrected by Jesus and taken to heaven early (partially because Satan was trying to mess with the body). Both architypes are representations and reminders that Jesus will go through whatever comes to Him personally because His ability to visit with Elijah, and Moses, and Peter, James, and John depends on it. His love will motivate Him to face whatever comes, because His Kingdom is not a Kingdom at all without His children in it. It is not home without you, without me. He so loves the countless millions He intends to fill His home up with, that association and fellowship have become the treasure He prizes above all else. The streets of gold are for you to have fun with – your company, is what He is looking forward to with such a passion you can hardly comprehend it.
Peter offers the best his brain can think of. He immediately assumes the place must be the important thing. He offers to build three tabernacles, that is, three temples to worship in. One for Elijah, one for Moses, and one for Jesus. But Elijah wants no temple, nor does Moses. The lives of men are not worthy of worship, even those of the great Biblical heroes we admire still today. It is only Jesus that is worthy of worship. The cleaned-up versions of Elijah and Moses, depend on Jesus following through with the sacrifice He is still to make. There is no holiness in Elijah or Moses, that does not first originate in the transformative power of the love of Jesus, which they have fully agreed to accept, even though it will change them completely from who they were, unto who they are at this moment, and every moment going forward. Peter is too much a baby in the faith to begin to contemplate this yet. He has not even finished speaking when he is interrupted, by none other, than God the Father who is also present.
Matthew continues in verse 5 saying … “While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him. [verse 6] And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their face, and were sore afraid.” God stops Peter in his tracks, there is no need for tabernacles that honor men, not even elaborate temples to honor Jesus, there is ONLY need to listen to what Jesus says. God the Father appears clouded in a brilliant cloud, barely able to contain the majesty and glory of who He is. He speaks saying … This is my beloved Son. Any doubts about the identity of Jesus, or the fact, that this is what His kingdom is and will be are shattered into a million pieces. God the Father proceeds to acknowledge the life of Jesus to this point, in saying that He is well pleased with His Son. In case you thought Jesus was ever wrong, let it go. In case you thought Jesus did not have all the facts, well, one of you might, but it is not Jesus. God the Father wants you to listen to Jesus His Son.
And in this verse crumbles the entire Muslim faith. An endorsement of Jesus as the Son of God, and the way by which entry to the Kingdom is attained. The One God is in three parts, and the Father says, to listen to His Son. Case closed. Every other supposed claim to deity is shattered in this one verse. One God who asks you to listen to His Only Son. This right here is all you need for salvation. This Jesus will be all you ever need. And listening is free. Just like the transformation Jesus longs to bring to your life, to end the pain and death you embrace, and offer you a life beyond imagination that starts in the here and now, not just after the grave. And what happens when human men encounter the God of the ages. They fall flat on their faces and become exceedingly afraid. The fear in them, is a reflection of the sin in them. Before Adam fell he looked forward to the walks with Jesus in the Garden of Eden. But after he fell, he immediately feared allowing his sin to come in to contact with the perfect love of God. And no matter how good you think you are – the mirror of the Father God – will reveal the truth of how much farther you have yet to go.
Matthew completes this vision of the Kingdom in verse 7 saying … “And Jesus came and touched them, and said, Arise, and be not afraid. [verse 8] And when they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no man, save Jesus only. [verse 9] And as they came down from the mountain, Jesus charged them, saying, Tell the vision to no man, until the Son of man be risen again from the dead.” And here in this sequence of verses is the direct interpretation to the last verse of chapter sixteen. Some of the disciples, still alive, saw Jesus in His Kingdom, with the saved, and with His Father. A vision not the complete reality, because until the final days, we will remain unable to see God the Father until all our evil has finally been washed away. But this version does not require a second coming, only a vision of what the end result of the second coming will one day look like. Not only does it prevent Jesus from being a liar, you don’t have to bounce around scripture looking all over the place to find a convoluted meaning for what it means. You literally only have to keep reading. Just a few more verses in sequence.
And in case you thought prophecy had only one meaning … hang on to your hat … Matthew continues in verse 10 saying … “And his disciples asked him, saying, Why then say the scribes that Elias must first come? [verse 11] And Jesus answered and said unto them, Elias truly shall first come, and restore all things. [verse 12] But I say unto you, That Elias is come already, and they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed. Likewise shall also the Son of man suffer of them. [verse 13] Then the disciples understood that he spake unto them of John the Baptist.” Church leadership, and church tradition, and the common people of the church – all believed that the prophecy of the coming of Elijah before the coming of the Messiah was a literal one. Jesus, here states, no, it was a figurative one. It was the message of Elijah to restore all things, i.e. for the nation to repent, that was needed to prepare the way of the Lord. For if we will not repent, we will not submit, we will not allow Jesus to change us, and so keep Jesus at arm’s length (our choice, not His).
In the very next sequence of texts, as if to reinforce the point that we do not always get it right. Jesus reinterprets what scripture intended to say for the followers willing to listen directly to Jesus, instead of to tradition, or the church leadership to tell them what they should think. Does Jesus lie? Only you can answer that for yourself. But for me, He never has, and I believe He never will. He simply does not need to lie. The Truth is who He is. The Truth is the core of the gospel. The gospel is not good news based on lies, it is good news founded in a power that can transform you no matter where you are, what you have done, or how you think today. Submit yourself to Jesus and watch how much better your life gets. Watch your priorities change. Watch what you treasure turn to thinks that really matter, and how your treasure keeps growing based in a love you can barely describe. Watch your interpretation of scripture begin to change, not towards heresy, but towards a fulfillment and proximity to God that only comes from being in harmony with God. There is no end to the upside, and in all of it, no reason to lie ever again. No wonder He is called the Truth. And the Truth had more yet to say …
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