John 14:6 “I am the way, THE TRUTH, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father but by ME.”
Not only is Christ the efficient cause of the declaration of truth, the primary subject matter, and the OBJECT of truth declared; He is THE TRUTH essentially considered as He is in Himself. This brings us to our third heading which is:
THE VERY ESSENCE OF CHRIST IS TRUTH. There is no such thing as truth outside of Christ. Hear the witness of Christ Himself, “I AM... THE TRUTH.” Herein is found His own consciousness regarding His union with truth. This is not the only time He spoke of Himself in this manner. In John 8 we find Christ speaking in the “treasury as he taught in the temple,” verse 20. He was addressing the Jews “who believed in Him,” verse 31, when He said, “If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed.” He finished this line of thought with these famous words in John 8:32, “And, ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” Once again, as the story unfolds, the lawkeepers challenge Him with their natural heritage replying, “We are Abraham’s seed, and were never in bondage to any man: How sayest thou, ye shall be made free?” See verse 33. To which question Christ referred them to Himself, “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed,” verse 36.
In verse 32, Christ declares, “The truth shall set you free.” And in verse 36, “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.” THE TRUTH is the Son. And the Son is THE TRUTH. There is no such thing as truth outside of Christ Himself which is why He told Thomas, “I am the way, THE TRUTH.” He knew Himself as THE TRUTH because He Himself is the very “WORD” Who was “with God” in the beginning and “THE WORD WAS GOD,” John 1:1. Jesus Christ is “THE TRUTH” PERSONIFIED! All “truth” is bound up in the Person of the Eternal “Word” of God. Because this is so there are many important ramifications for us to realize. Several of which follow:
1st: Jesus Christ Himself is the “Alpha and Omega” of all truth, to the same extent and degree He is to all things created in heaven and on earth. Because Christ is the PERSONIFICATION of truth, Peter identified Him as the “Chief Cornerstone” in I Peter 2:6 upon which our entire life is built. Compare I Cor. 3:11-13.
2nd: Because Christ Himself is THE TRUTH, Paul referred to Him as “the wisdom of God” in I Cor. 1:24. The reason being, there is no wisdom without truth and there is no such thing as wisdom outside of Christ for IN HIM “are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge,” Col. 2:3. Since all truth and wisdom are bound up in Jesus Christ, He is most able to be our great “counselor” regarding the way we should walk to take us to the “place prepared” for us to be. This qualifies Him to be rightly considered as “Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, and the Prince of Peace,” Isa. 9:6.
3rd: Being the embodiment of all truth, Christ is most able to be our constant “deliverer” from all our states of ignorance regarding Who He is, what He is doing in our lives, and THE WAY we are to take to get to where He is as He has promised! See John 14:3 with Rom. 11:26-27.
4th: Being the PERSONATOR of Truth, John identified Christ as being “faithful and TRUE,” Rev. 19:11. And being all that is “TRUE” He cannot be anything less than the “faithful” witness of the TRUTH AS IT IS IN HIM. See Rev. 1:5; 3:14.
5th: Christ is the “first and the last” truth according to Rev. 1:17. All truth flows from Him Who is the “fountain” of all the truth there is! Compare Zech. 13:1. This is our only “fountain” and source of our deliverance from sinful fear due to our state of ignorance while not knowing Him Who is Himself “the true God and eternal life” according to I John 5:20.
6th: As we are brought graciously to recognize THE TRUTH as it is in Christ Jesus, it is easier to conceive of Him as the “TRUE VINE” He considered Himself to be in John 15:1. Apart from Him, we ourselves, “can do nothing,” John 15:5. Who but the embodiment of the One True and Living God, Who supplies every need of every branch united to it, Who but Christ in Whom is “hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge,” is most suited to answer to our ignorance as our Mediatorial Prophet? He it is Who guides us into all THE TRUTH that He Himself IS??? Compare Luke 24:19. And, being set free from our ignorance by THE TRUTH, we are brought to look outside of ourselves to Him Who is our “TRUE VINE” and discover our experience of peace comes from Him Who is the “prince of peace.”
7th: Since these things are so, how great is our need to behold Christ as He is in His own TRUTH? Further, how great is our need to see Him as our great “teacher” like Nicodemus did in John 3:2?
8th: Christ Himself is “THE TRUTH” described by John “which is, which was, and which is to come,” Rev. 1:4.
9th: As the sum, substance, subject, and OBJECT of all truth, Jesus Christ is “THE WORD” in John 1:1, the “WORD OF GOD” in Rev. 19:13, and the only “WORD OF LIFE” in I John 1:1 Christ Himself is your Divine Consolation and nothing BELOW Him. He is the only way to it and the only TRUTH of it!
THE GRAND LESSON: The Scripture is in union with Christ Who is Himself THE TRUTH OF IT. To deny the truth of scripture is to deny Christ. He alone is “full of grace and truth.” Grace and truth come from Him to His eternal children. He is the only TRUTH of the only WAY for the saints to walk in on their pilgrim journey to their heavenly Zion, and nothing BELOW Him will answer to their need. Next lesson we hope to establish the real meaning of Christ’s lesson in John 14:6 as to how He is the “LIFE” of the only truth regarding the only way there is to the Father. I love you.
Weslaco, TX. Feb. 2, 2024.
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