LESSON 12 CHRIST HIMSELF IS THE TRUTH PART 1 (ODELL)

"I am the way, THE TRUTH, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father but by me.” 

Thomas asked the question, “How can we know the way?” Verse six is Christ’s answer, “I am THE WAY.” The recognition of this truth does not come by way of our intellect. Rather, it comes by way of being brought graciously into an experiential union with Christ Himself Who is “THE WAY.” Nothing BELOW Him is the way to the Father for the saints to walk in. Let us now examine in what sense Christ is “THE TRUTH” of the way for the saints to walk in. Christ is said to be “THE TRUTH” in the following manners: 

FIRST: CHRIST ALONE  IS THE EFFICIENT CAUSE OF THE DECLARATION OF TRUTH in the same sense He is the efficient cause of all other realities around us. Col. 1:10,17 reads: “For BY HIM were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: All things were created BY HIM, and FOR HIM: And He is before all things, and BY HIM ALL THINGS CONSIST.” In these two verses, “all things…that are, in heaven and earth” were created “BY HIM and FOR HIM.” We are told the same thing three times. John got this! That same “word” which was “in the beginning…with God…WAS GOD.” The same WORD was the Maker of “all things” according to John 1:1-3. “All things were made BY HIM; and without Him was NOT ANYTHING made that was made.” No wonder the apostle Paul exclaimed to the Jerusalem saints, “But we see Jesus…crowned with glory and honor…for Whom are all things, and BY HIM ARE ALL THINGS,” Heb. 2:9-10 in part. And again, in I Cor. 8:6, he spoke of the “one Lord Jesus Christ, BY WHOM ARE ALL THINGS, and WE BY HIM.” Hence, Jesus Christ is the efficient cause of the declaration of Truth in the same sense He is the cause of “ALL THINGS.” Beautiful! 

SECOND: CHRIST ALONE IS THE SUBJECT MATTER AND THE OBJECT OF ALL TRUTH SO DECLARED. The conscious awareness of Christ is very clear with respect to this point. “Search the scriptures, for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which TESTIFY OF ME,” John 5:39. He was addressing a group of Pharisees seeking to kill Him even though they thought they had eternal life because they knew Old Testament Scripture. It appears they had faith in their knowledge as compared to a recognition of “THE TRUTH” Himself! 

Hear our Redeemer King declare, ‘“The scriptures…testify of ME,’ they are about ME!” In another Gospel record, just before His ascension, Christ spoke to His troubled disciples saying, “These are the words which I have spoken unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the Psalms CONCERNING ME,” Luke 24:44. The reality is this: Every book of the entire Bible is about Jesus Christ Himself! Which is why He referred to the “volume of the book…written of ME” in His testimony to David to be recorded 1000 years before His incarnation, see Psalm 40:7. He is pictured or prophesied in each of the sixty-six books as well as typified in the lives of many different characters, creatures, or ceremonies in the Bible. 

For example: In Genesis, He is the seed of the woman sent to bruise the Serpent’s head and to be a descendant of Abraham who would be the Messiah King in the line of Judah. He was typified in the persons of Melchizedek, Issac and Jacob. In the Gospel of Matthew, He is the Messiah. In Mark, He is the Miracle worker. In Luke, He is the Son of man. In John’s Gospel, He is the Son of God. And in the Revelation, He is the “Alpha and Omega, the first and the last…the lion of the tribe of Judah…the Word of God…The King of kings, and Lord of Lords…the bright and morning star.” See Rev. 1:7; 5:5; 19:13,16 and 22:16. 

The Lord Jesus Christ, once seen through the eye of gifted faith, as the Declarer, Subject, and OBJECT of Gospel Truth, the child of God is blessed to behold transcendent excellency in Christ. It is then, at that moment, the child of God is overcome by it. This gracious operation of Christ is such, the believer is voluntarily carried out of himself in surrender to the Kingship of Christ. This is the cause why souls, when once they are brought to see Christ as He is in Himself, see nothing so lovely as Him. 

With respect to this very truth, we will refer you again to Elder Paul Hobson who had this to say regarding Christ THE TRUTH of God. “Thy wisdom, oh saint, is one with Christ; it rises and raises thee in its rising, to be employed in the glorious beholding of Christ. What can thy soul desire more? The mystery of the Father and the Son is the OBJECT of thy eye, John 14:7. This is that which out-glorieth all glory below itself. This supplies thee with all good when all things depart from thee but itself. Those streams can never run dry, whose fountain always flows forth to fill them. That heart can never be at a loss, who is always employed amongst, and in the enjoyment of eternal gains. {Ez. 34:15-16} … If Christ be the conveyor of truth, who can hinder?” A GARDEN ENCLOSED & WISDOM JUSTIFIED, 1647. 

Lesson: Nothing BELOW Jesus Christ Himself will afford any comfort to a troubled soul. This is your Divine Consolation, Christ Himself is THE TRUTH. Further, no one believes in the proper sense of the word, until being brought into experiential oneness with THE TRUTH. We hope to dive deeper into this last thought next lesson. Let us pray to that end. 

Dan O’Dell, a debtor to mercy, 
Weslaco, TX. Feb. 1, 2024