YES, HE is Talking to YOU! (continued)
What is truth? Let us explore the words of the Master:
- Truth is righteousness; it is a thing that can be done as in being righteous. The Master says that the deeds of truth are wrought in God “And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God” (John 3:19-21). Compare this with Jesus saying of: “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness” (Matthew 6:33); interesting how truth works just as well in this.
- “But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth” (John 4:23-24). Vincent explains this to us in terms that are close to our understanding except that he attributes some of the characteristics of the personality to the Soul. He says of the phrase “in Spirit and in Truth” that: Spirit is the highest, deepest, noblest part of our humanity, the point of contact between God and man (Rom i. 9); while soul is the principle of individuality, the seat of personal impressions, having a side in contact with the material element of humanity as well as with the spiritual element, and being thus the mediating element between the spirit and the body. The phrase in spirit and in truth describes the two essential characteristics of true worship: in spirit as distinguished from place or form or other sensual limitations (ver. 21); in truth as distinguished from the false conceptions resulting from imperfect knowledge (ver. 22). Further to this we know that God is Spirit and that we are Spirit in the likeness and image of God. Jesus is telling us that for true worship we need to basically be born again; that is to have our personality consciousness focused on the Spirit and Soul, the Truth of being in man and not on the things of the world. Using somewhat Vincent’s words the Soul is the mediating principle between the life giving Spirit of man and the personality of man. The Soul is the possessor of Spiritual Truth and the conveyor of that truth to its expression in this world, the personality. While the idea of Spirit remains outside of the comprehension of man, its Truth, through the Soul, pours out to us as the reality of being, as life itself. Truth is that reality that is Life and that Life is Spirit.
- Again we have Truth as righteousness; as doing the words of the Master. “……If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. They answered him, We be Abraham’s seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free? Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever. If the Son therefore shall make you free , ye shall be free indeed” (John 8:31-36). Here we see again that Truth is an active part of life for the disciple and one who is truly born again, and who has the spiritual life of the Inner Man living through the personality consciousness. When we understand and follow the Truth that comes from doing the words of the Master, of living the life of the disciple, we are free and are no longer slaves to the sensual side of life or the carnal life of sin.
- “Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me. Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word. Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do . He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not. Which of you convinceth me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do ye not believe me? He that is of God heareth God’s words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God” (John 8:42-47). Truth is in opposition to evil. Here we see the working of good and evil in the words of the Master. We find here our first encounter in this entire blog with the word devil which is translated from the Greek word diabolos; a word we should define for our use before we continue. The Lexicon says that diabolos means prone to slander, slanderous, accusing falsely; a calumniator, false accuser, slanderer, metaph. applied to a man who, by opposing the cause of God, may be said to act the part of the devil or to side with him**. Strong’s says of diabolos: devilish, malicious, slanderous; as a noun, the devil, Satan, or a wicked person who is like the devil***. Not to leave out our favorite old dictionary, Websters says of devil: 1. In the Christian theology, an evil spirit or being; a fallen angel, expelled from heaven for rebellion against God; the chief of the apostate angels; the implacable enemy and tempter of the human race. In the New Testament, the word is frequently and erroneously used for demon. 2. A very wicked person, and in ludicrous language, an great evil. In profane language, it is an expletive expressing wonder, vexation, &c. 3. An idol, or false god. Leviticus 17. 2 Chronicles 11*. So we have some reference in these defining statements and from theology to the devil and to the Satan that we are taught of by the church. The whole idea of Satan needs to be left to another time for us except to say that the current Christian understanding has its basis in some allegorical statements in the Old Testament and some references to them in the New. For our current needs we will get some insight into this from the Apostle Paul who says “Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places” (Ephesians 6:11-12). This is how we will look at this idea of Satan until we have the chance to discuss it at length, as the power of the lower nature in this world. The powers and principalities that attract the personality consciousness to the things of the world; as the carnal nature of man replete with its lusts and greed and the propensity to anger. The Master is accusing them that do not hear (do) God’s word of being Sons of the carnal nature; of living in the way of the flesh and not attending to the things of the Spirit. He is telling them that they are living in the lie and not in the truth.
- This next occurrence of Truth in Jesus words is one of the most difficult sayings in the entire New Testament. It has become the source and the defense of the Christian attitude that their belief system the ONLY way to God. Based on these eighteen words much of the Christian world has doomed all others to life as heathens who cannot be saved without coming to Christ in Christianity’s self defined Christian way. This is the dialogue and what Jesus said: “Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way? Jesus saith unto him, I am the way , the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from hence forth ye know him, and have seen him” (John 14:5-7). We know what He says here and there is Truth in all the Master’s sayings but what is it that He means. First, let us understand that His response is to a direct question from Thomas about “whither thou goest; and how can we know the way?“. What we have discussed in many posts fits perfectly into this scenario; Jesus, speaking of the Christ and, as always, as the Christ Within, is showing Thomas the way. Drawn by the Father we come to the Son and for us the Son is the Inner Man, the Soul, the Christ Within. We come to Christ then by attending to the things of the Father, doing His will. This is not unlike any of the other similar statements from the Master regarding the Kingdom of God. It matters not how or what we believe; it only matters that we sense the promptings of the Spirit and we heed them and begin to live in the will of God and not in the will of the man in this world. Now there are deeper meanings here as there are in most all of the Master’s sayings and we will get to them another day. For now we need just to see how this saying is no different that any of His others regarding the relationship between Him and the Father; He says He is the Way and this is so in our context above much more so than the common belief that by believing in Christ and Jesus we are saved. He is the Way by showing and being the Path to the Kingdom. To come to Christ is to come to Spiritual life and to let the Christ Within, the Inner Man lead us in life and in doing His word. This is the Truth also; the truth of our lives in not found in this life of flesh, of which, we are told by the Master “….take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat; neither for the body, what ye shall put on” and He tells us a few verses further on “But rather seek ye the kingdom of God….” (Luke 12:22, 31). Is this not the same thing? And He is the Life; He is one with God and God is Spirit and God is Life. Jesus goes on in His words to Thomas saying that he should already know the Father because he knows the Son and this is a Truth for us all. When we know the Christ Within and do His word we are in the Kingdom of the Father and in His Presence.
There are a few more entries on Truth that we must get to in the Gospel of John and we will do that in the next post. In closing this post let us look at some bible sayings on Truth from the Book of Proverbs and from the Psalms. For all of us Truth should be our guiding Light; it comes from the Inner Man to the outer expression and is, from the viewpoint of the onlooker, the evidence of a spiritual life. We saw in the Prologue of John’s Gospel that “grace and truth came by Jesus Christ” to the world; we should see also that they come to each of us individually from the Christ Within.
- “Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart” (Proverbs 3:3).
- “He that speaketh truth sheweth forth righteousness: but a false witness deceit” (Proverbs 12:17)
- “Do they not err that devise evil? but mercy and truth shall be to them that devise good” (Proverbs 14:22).
- “By mercy and truth iniquity is purged : and by the fear of the LORD men depart from evil” (Proverbs 16:6).
- “Buy the truth, and sell it not; also wisdom, and instruction, and understanding” (Proverbs 23:23).
- “Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the LORD his God: Which made heaven, and earth, the sea, and all that therein is: which keepeth truth for ever:“(Psalm 146:5-6)
- “The LORD is nigh unto all them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth” (145:18).
We must see Truth not only in things that we say but in things that we think as well. We must see Truth as Righteousness, as being in opposition to evil and as being a necessary part of the Golden Rule and in our understanding of Love.
Note on the Quote of the Day
This daily blog also has a Quote of the Day which may not be in any way related to the essay. Many of these will be from the Bible and some just prayers or meditations that may have an influence on you and are in line with the subject matter of this blog. As the quote will change daily and will not store with the post, it is repeated in this section with the book reference and comment.
ANCIENT MANTRAM
Lead us, O Lord,
From darkness to Light;
From the unreal to the Real;
From death to Immortality
This mantram is one of the oldest prayers known in the world and is much in line with today’s theme of Truth in regards to the teaching of the Master, as well as overall Spiritual Truth. Lead us, O Lord from the darkness known by not standing in the Light of the Soul to that Light, from the unreality of this temporal worldly existence into the reality of knowing our True identity as Spiritual expressions of the One True God and from this death in personality form to the immortality found in knowing the Light and the Real.
- * Websters Revised Unabridged Dictionary, 1828 and 1913
- ** from New Testament Greek Lexicon on BibleStudyTools.com
- *** Strongest Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible – 2001
