Jesus said, “I am...the truth...”

Many have taken that to mean that “truth” is simply a set of facts that can be intellectually known. With this erroneous definition securely under their belt, these gird up their loins with the lie that faith is then the simple acknowledgment and intellectual agreement with those facts. Nothing could be further from the real truth.

Man, being finitely limited to a finite, four-dimensional universe (space - length, width and height - and time) has difficulty grasping onto concepts of the eternal and the infinite. But there are two natural phenomena that God incorporated into our existence that give us a parable as to the nature of truth. These are music and light.

Music is currently divided into twelve major keys (A through G sharp with corresponding sharps and flats) with each having a related minor key. These major and minor keys each have seven differing tones which are repeated across a several-octave range until sound “disappears” both above and below the ability of the human ear to hear it though other animals and various instruments can detect it.

Similarly, light, when viewed through a prism, separates into seven colors (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet). Each color blends with other colors to make various shades and pigmentations. Even black (the absence of all light) and white (the presence of all light) are a function of light. Light also “disappears” above and below the ability of the human eye to see it though animals and instruments can detect it.

Truth is similar in nature to these two phenomena. Our language even routinely borrows from these two phenomena to describe our ability to handle truth: “His arguments were off-key and did not sound right to me.” “How you understand what I say depends on what shades of meaning you ascribe to my words.” “Each man must live and be judged against the light he had available to him.” Each of these statements betray the underlying recognition that music and light bear deep similarity to the nature of truth.

This is not to say, as paganistic pantheism says, that “All roads lead to God” - though there is a sense (a shade of meaning) in which even that is true. It is appointed unto all men to live as they see fit and thereafter to come face to face with God and give account for their lives. But Paul tells us that those who have disobeyed the truth will incur God’s wrath and judgment while John tells us that those whose names are found written in the Lamb’s Book of Life do not experience the second death (the death of the soul), eternity spent in the lake of fire built to ultimately, finally and completely contain and dispose of the devil and his angels. It is true that all roads do lead all men to their predestined appointment before God but it is the nature of one’s life here in this body that determines the tone and outcome of that encounter!

Jesus is the truth. How one perceives Him is dependent upon what spiritual “colors,” “pigments” and “shades” one has come to be able to see and recognize. How one hears Him is dependant upon what spiritual “sounds,” “notes,” “scales” and “chords” one has come to be able to hear and recognize. How well we understand Him is dependant upon whether we try to see Him with our unaided human eye or with the “prism” of His Holy Spirit who guides us into all truth. How well our life “harmonizes” with His life (found in the Godhead and in His true followers and in creation itself) depends on whether we will submit first to general, basic “music application and theory” and then second, to His leading and direction as “Conductor” of the orchestra of life.

It is the role of Satan to deceive, accuse, distort, kill and destroy. His voice is the blot of darkness and the strident discord we see gaining ascendancy in the world - the world that is routinely and increasingly disdaining the truth as was expressed in and by the Person Jesus Christ. Though the devil will be given a fair chance to demonstrate his ability (or rather his inability) to make good his boast that he will be just like the Most High God, his attempt to control life as God created it will ultimately and quite quickly fail because he is a liar and there is no truth in him. No life, as given by the holy and transcendent Creator, can be long sustained by lies. Any life built solely upon lies is destined to crumble and cascade down, leaving only a residue of bad fruit and ruined and desecrated lives. This is as true of the agnostic or atheistic miser as it is of the most dedicated but secretly self-directed “pastor” of a “church.”

Interestingly, the Spirit of God is said to also be sevenfold (incorporating His unique eternal, transcendent nature with wisdom, understanding, counsel, power, knowledge and reverential fear) and each of these express something about truth. “I AM...the truth...” This is a most profound statement indeed.

Let he who has ears hear.

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