08-I Am the Truth
I Am the Truth At the Last Supper, Jesus and His disciples were in the most intimate relationships. The Lord had instituted the supper and had commanded His followers to commemorate His death. For three years He had been teaching the disciples that the consummation of His life would be His death on the Cross as redemption for mankind. He was speaking intimately about His going to the Father and leaving His ministry to His disciples. How little they had learned! They wanted to know where He was going; how He was going; and what the Father was like. They wanted to know the truth.
Jesus summed up His answer in the words, “I am the way, the truth, and the life . . .” (John 14:6). His three-in-one answer of the way, the truth and the life, was equally true in all respects. He was the way; the way was truth; and truth was life. He personified the way, the truth, and the life. The way was not a philosophy but a person. The truth was not a system of facts but a person. The life was not a promise of something to come but a person.
JESUS IS THE TRUTH ABOUT GOD When Jesus spoke of going to the Father and of none coming to the Father but by Him, Philip wanted the Lord to show the disciples the Father. That would be sufficient, he declared.
There was disappointment shown in the answer which Jesus gave: “Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip?” Jesus had come into the world to reveal the Father to mankind. He had spent three years with the disciples. Philip wanted to know what the Father was like. Jesus manifested His disappointment in Philip, who had missed the revelation. Patiently, Jesus outlined it to the disciples again: “he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Show us the Father?” (John 14:9).
The only way to reveal the Father to man was through a personality. The plan of salvation provided that revelation. The Father and the Son agreed upon their plan, and the Son came into the world to live in the flesh the life of the divine. Philip, can you believe, “that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me; or else believe me for the very works’ sake” (John 14:10-11).
The highest truth is truth about God. The best revelation of that truth is through Jesus Christ the Lord. He came to reveal the Father. He is the truth.
JESUS IS THE TRUTH ABOUT KNOWLEDGE
Knowledge is not necessarily wisdom. A person may store up a fund of knowledge and yet have no wisdom. Scientists have gone astray after half-truths. They have evolved philosophies and followed reasoning and logic to eternal doom. It is not enough to know facts: they must be known in relationship to God. The so-called scientist who says, “we can know absolutely nothing absolutely” needs personality in his knowledge. Relativity is a scientific principle; but the Christian can reach proper relativity when he relates all truths to Christ.
Einstein declared, “The most beautiful thing we can express is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science.” His doctrine of relativity compared and contrasted things with things, facts with facts, knowledge with knowledge. He intimated that true relativity pointed to a higher power. The Christian does not need to intimate: he can assert. All truth is relative to Christ.
- Jesus is true fulfillment of all types in Old Testament Scriptures pointing to the Messiah.
- Jesus is the actuality of all the figures pointing heavenward.
- Jesus is the fulfillment of all the ceremonies which resemble actuality.
In other words Jesus is the whole truth of prophecy. He is the embodiment of truth. He is the true Messiah. In Him is the root of all knowledge. Real truth is in a person, and Jesus is that person.
The Mosaic Law was given as a schoolteacher to lead to the knowledge of Christ. John put it this way: “For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.” This is truth at its best. It is the consummation of truth.
JESUS IS THE TRUTH ABOUT HEAVEN
Jesus came into the world that He might reconcile the world to God. He came to earth in order that men might go to heaven. To those who believed on Him He said, “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32). The Jews were not able to understand what He meant about their being free when they never had been under bondage, they said. Jesus suggested to them that they were bond servants of sin. The only remedy for sin is Christ. So He said to them, “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed” (John 8:36).
Jesus identified Himself as the way, the truth, the life, the door, the Good Shepherd, the Messiah, a king, as from above, the light, and the resurrection. All of these have to do with preparation for and entrance into heaven. The last discourse of Jesus before His crucifixion pointed the disciples to their eternal home.
He began by saying, “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me” (John 14:1).
This is the key to heaven. Jesus is the door, the preparation, the consummation. He and the Father are as one. He is the perfect revelation of the Father, making heaven ready for His children, and His children ready for heaven.
What is heaven like? Jesus has answered that question by identifying its truth with His person. “I go to prepare a place for you,” He said, as He promised that if He did go and prepare the place, He would come again and receive the disciples unto Himself. That makes heaven very personal. The reason for going to heaven is Jesus. The way to heaven is Jesus. The person whom the Christian expects to see in heaven is Jesus. He promised to return for His children, and to take them home with Him, “that where I am, there ye may be also,” to put it in His words.
The physician was more than a medical doctor: he had a word for the soul. His patient said, “Doctor, I know I am going to die, and that I am going to heaven; but I am afraid. I wish I knew what heaven is like, do you?”
The doctor’s reply was a demonstration. “Do you hear that scratching on the door?” asked the doctor. “That is my dog. He does not know about a sick man in this room, about those beautiful flowers on the dresser; all he knows is that I am on this side of that door. I do not know about the streets of gold, the gates of pearl, or the tree of life in heaven, but I do know that Jesus is there and I want to be with Him.”
Sunset and evening star, And one clear call for me! And may there be no moaning of the bar When I put out to sea. For such a tide as moving seems asleep, Too full for sound or foam; When that which drew from out the boundless deep, Turns again home.
Twilight and evening bell, And after that the dark; And may there be no sadness of farewell When I embark. For tho’ from out our bourne of Time and Place, The flood may bear me far, I hope to meet my Pilot face to face When I have crossed the bar.