Truth and Confusion

Truth and Confusion
John 14:4-6

4 And [kai] whither [hopou] I [ego] go [hupago] ye know [eido] , and [kai] the way [hodos] ye know [eido] .
5 Thomas [Thomas] saith [lego] unto him [autos] , Lord [kurios] , we know [eido] not [ou] whither [pou] thou goest [hupago] ; and [kai] how [pos] can we [dunamai] know [eido] the way [hodos] ?
6 Jesus [Iesous] saith [lego] unto him [autos] , I [ego] am [eimi] the way [hodos] , [kai] the truth [aletheia] , and [kai] the life [zoe] : no man [oudeis] cometh [erchomai] unto [pros] the Father [pater] , but [ei me] by [dia] me [emou] . KJV-Interlinear

4 'And you know the way where I am going.' 5 Thomas said to Him, 'Lord, we do not know where You are going, how do we know the way?' 6 Jesus said to him, 'I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me. NASB

Thomas objects, but as Jesus states, they know what is about to happen. So why does he display ignorance regarding the Passover Feast and the meaning it has carried for over 1500 years since the time of the Exodus? Well for centuries the Jews had been building up regulation after regulation. These regulations which were designed to guide ones day to day life, such that by abiding by them one could attain spiritual perfection (a false concept), had become superimposed on the scriptures and had replaced the study of the scriptures as the mechanism and path to righteousness. And of course we know that this is yet another wrong concept.

Thomas and the others were looking to an earthly kingdom. They had expected that they had been lucky enough to be alive when the Messiah had come into this world, had been chosen to walk beside Him, and they fully expected to be promoted in life to unbelievable positions in the kingdom which they expected to begin any day now. And of course this was a misplaced and an unreasonable expectation on their part.

They knew the prophecies from their study under John the Baptist. They knew the prophecies from what they had been taught or had heard from the scriptures. They knew of a Messiah. They were familiar with the various feasts and the sacrifices surrounding them. They knew of the writings of Moses. In none of these things were they surprised. They had even gone out of their way to see and hear and consequently follow John the Baptist. So they were not naive.

They were just focused on the wrong sequence of events (Second Advent) rather than on the purpose of the sacrifices and offerings which taught the need for victory over sin and death first before the kingdom of God could be established. A kingdom would not be of much use if it did not have any citizens within it.

So Jesus gives them the basics all over again. 'I' (Jesus Christ), the one and only Son of God. The person of Jesus in His humanity, combined with the essence of God, both in the same person, the unique person of the universe. There is but one person who can claim this identity. There is no other. No other prophet. No other son. No other cousin. No other offspring by which there might be a question of a past, present, or future 'additional' heir to God. No other 'person, place, or thing,' which can take His place.

I, Jesus Christ, am the way. He is the great 'I Am' We studied this in Exodus. He is the infinite, eternal, and only resource for all that is required in life. He is the 'way.' There is no alternate path to God.

Think of God in the abstract for the moment. God, or that word for deity, represents the ultimate pinnacle of perfection, security, and protection. It is the place where man strives to attain in order to escape the pressures and problems of this life.

God the Father represents that ultimate person or destination. Now remember that God the Father is a real being, a real person, one of three in the Trinity. He has essence, which excludes sin and death from His environment. Man, on the other hand is riddled and saturated with weaknesses, sin, and death. So man cannot simply make his own way to God. That would presume that man could rise above his own weaknesses and arrive at a level of perfection with God, on his own ability. Man is not omniscient, not omnipotent. Man has none of the essence characteristics of God. See the 'God' chart on the Index page on the web site.

So man in his infinite imagination tries to invent his own path to God. We call this, religion.

God on the other hand, defines a path to Himself, but through the work of Jesus Christ. Mans work is excluded from this plan. This means that only perfection can produce perfection. And man being excluded with regard to his own efforts, means that imperfection can never gain perfection. It cannot even be pretended, though many pretend. If cannot be invented, though many close their eyes to the truth, and deceive themselves.

'And the truth.' Jesus Christ is the 'truth.' Truth is where fact and reality come together. Pretense, invention, imagination, promises of virgins and the like, all are deceptions and therefore lies.

Our life is not simply getting through life in some form of successful fashion, then retiring to tea with the girls and golf with the guys. If that is your view then you are historical filler. Not a very good legacy for yourself.

Our life here on earth is supposed to be focused on our advancement to spiritual maturity which prepares us for this life and the next, and then our day to day life here on earth will be enhanced by our spiritual status, not the reverse.

Which brings us to the last part of Jesus' statement, 'the life.' Life does not begin, last, and end here on earth. In fact you have three components to your life. The first vessel is your physical body with biological life in it. The second is your soul with human life resident in it. The third is your human spirit with eternal life resident in that third vessel.

The first begins at conception - cell to cell. And ends and decays at death. It comes from the dust (the elements of the world, and returns to the elements - dust to dust). The physical body is eventually replaced with a new body at our resurrection. There are several resurrections for humanity. See the resurrection chart on the index page on the web site.

The second begins at the point of your physical birth when God imputes the spark of life, 'neshamah,' into your soul. Life comes from God and returns to God when death or the rapture removes you from this world. The soul and the human life contained therein, lives on and on forever. The status of your third vessel and third life determine where your eternal life will be spent - in heaven or in hell.

Your third vessel is your human spirit. This is created (your rebirth) at the point when you believe in Jesus Christ. If a person never believes and then dies without a human spirit, then they die without eternal security and their destination is the Lake of Fire. If on the other hand you believe in Christ, then at that moment, in that instant of time, God creates in you, a human spirit and into that vessel imputes eternal life. Thus you now have body, soul, and spirit. The physical body to be replaced with a vastly superior one at your resurrection.

Jesus Christ is the 'life.' He invented life. He causes all life. He sustains all life. And He takes life away in accordance with His will (which is in accordance with God the Fathers divine plan for all of history).

So we are to take note, that our existence does not exist for our pure pleasure of human invention, but for the greater purpose of deciding and ending the angelic conflict. That greater conflict between God and Satan.

We, none of us, will have anything, unless we gain it through Jesus Christ. He is the only source of life, of truth, of all that we are or can be. To exclude Jesus Christ and your daily Bible study from your life is the quintessence of stupidity. To pursue with a genuine and vigorous desire to learn and to grow up spiritually to spiritual maturity is the beginning of great wisdom and prosperity beyond your imagination.

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