“I am” statements in John 14:6 describe what Christ is to us. He is our way, truth and life. They are not separate concepts outside of Christ. He “IS” these things. Those of us seeking the way or path to God need only know Christ because He is the way. Those of us seeking truth need only know Christ because He is truth. The same is true with spiritual life. Thus those three concepts, the way, truth and life, are a person—Jesus Christ.
Many of us seek to know the truth or truths such as wisdom and knowledge as truths apart from ourselves. The Gnostic Christian sect believes truth comes through an accumulation of secret knowledge. The Buddhist seeks truth through deep meditation into one self as revealing of the ultimate truth, a state of being called Nirvana. Many other religions seek truth as revealed by principles of great leaders such as Confucius, Krishna, Mohammed, etc. Truth to them is always a concept separate from a God-head; a tangible quality that exists apart from our experience. They tend to exalt principles such as wisdom, knowledge, true sayings and truth according to our own consciences and concepts of morality. None of these concepts, which are obtained only through long seeking and study, are really the truth we are seeking. The truth is contained in and is that of a person, Jesus Christ. The real truth is Jesus Christ the perfect combination of God and man. Know Him and you know the truth. He is the living embodiment of it.
Many say they want eternal life so they seek it by doing many good works they think will please God. But God is not pleased with the works that originate from our own concepts of good. We cannot please God by doing good things. Only by being led by the spirit of God do we please God (Romans 8:14). When we know Him, and are being led by Him, we have eternal life.
Many say “What path or way should I pursue to please God?” Should I be a missionary? Do miracles? Become a hermit or a nun? Should I be a pastor or a leader in my church? You may become one or all of those things but these pursuits will not bring you to an awareness of the truth or a free pass to heaven. Jesus was very clear on this:
Christ spoke about those who did great works to please God.
“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.
Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’
“And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.” (Matthew 7:21-23). These were those who attempted to obtain life through their own methods; the result was that all Christ required was that they “knew Him”. We must know Him in order to please Him.
There are those who strive to keep the laws of God, like the 10 Commandments. It was proven in the Old Testament that Israel, with all its efforts, could not keep even the least of the commandments or Laws of God. them. This fact led to the inescapable fact that something more was needed on order to know truth and become righteous. Jesus Christ had to come into the earth into the earth to keep the commandments for us so that we no longer had to strive to do them. Christ came so that these laws would be written on our hearts; so that truth would become part of our nature. Only as we appropriate the nature of Christ, eat his flesh and drink his blood will we have those laws “written on our hearts” (Hebrews 10:16-17; Jeremiah 31:33).
How do God’s laws get written on our hearts? Since all these qualities exist in the man Christ we are open to be open to receive His nature. Our own nature must experience the transformation into His nature so that we become like Him. Then we know truth-we become the truth as He was.
How do we get to know Christ in this intimate way? Seek Him and keep on seeking, knock and keep on knocking until the door opens (Luke 11:9-13). Christ’s gift of grace is available to all. Just remember it is not separate from Him. He is truth. He is God. And it is His good pleasure to give it to us because He loves us.
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS AND MORE
The Law of the Old Testament (the Torah) was brought by God for a different purpose than most understand. The writer of Hebrews and the Apostle Paul make this very clear. Below is a summary of the Old Testament Jewish Laws and a discussion of the importance of these Laws to the ancient nation of Israel and to our lives today.
The Old Testament of the Bible conveys the history of the physical nation of Israel from the standpoint of God. In order to reveal His nature to the Israelis, God promulgated laws upon which the monotheistic nation was to govern itself both as a nation and as the individuals within that society. God made a covenant (contract) with the people of Israel that if they obeyed these laws their lives would be blessed by God (Deuteronomy 28:1-14). But He also warned that if the Laws were disobeyed there would be serious consequences Deuteronomy 28:15-68). The 10 Commandments were ten Laws that were part of over 600 laws that God enacted for the Israelites in the Old Testament (See Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy for the entire law). The laws covered everything from criminal law and punishment, civil laws, laws regarding the sick and dead, laws regarding foods, how to treat a stranger or your neighbor, animals, possessions, sex, offerings for sin and many others. The laws were both spiritual and practical. Provision was made within the laws for the removal of the consequences of breaking these laws, either intentionally or negligently, by sacrifice (see Leviticus Chapters 1-7). Since man seemed unable to obey the laws, he had to come to the priest periodically for cleansing of their sin, usually through animal sacrifice. Man had to be cleansed from sin since the consequence of only one act of disobedience (sin) resulted in death in God’s eyes. Romans 6:23 makes it clear that the wages (consequences) of sin is death. The single sin of Adam and Eve led to their ultimate death, and the death of all mankind (Genesis Chapter 2).
The most well known of these various laws are the 10 commandments. They are as follows:
Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them… Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain;…Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: Honour thy father and thy mother:…Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbor’s. (Exodus 20:3-17 King James Version).
As we know from the writings of the Old Testament, Israel could never fulfill God’s law. Thus, through the law, without forgiveness, all men were condemned. The Law was enacted not necessarily to test Israel but to show them that they had sin. Without some plan of redemption man was therefore doomed to condemnation due to his sinful nature. The law was man’s teacher that, in himself, he could never please God. The Law showed man he needed something greater than this Old Covenant to be able to be righteous before God. The impossibility of being able to do the law is apparent in the scriptures. Jesus said that even looking upon another with lust has already committed adultery? Who is never anxious, unbelieving or otherwise sinful in our actions and thoughts? Who is able to love God with ALL his heart and his neighbor as himself? (see Matthew Chapters 5-7, the Sermon on the Mount). Christ said our righteousness must exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees, who were Hippocrates,, acting as if they were righteous when in fact they were not (Matthew 5:20). Trying to do the commandments and be righteous in ourselves is meaningless to God. God says our own righteousness is not impressive but rather repulsive to Him. Isaiah 64:6 says: “But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags;”.
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