What Manner of Man
(A weekly program for knowing and following Jesus Christ)
By Richard M. Eyre
WEEK 34: LIGHT OF TRUTH
Perhaps this facet of Christ’s character transmits the same light as the facet previously discussed, for intelligence has been defined by the Lord as “the light of truth.”
The Savior referred to himself in three ways:
- “The Son of man” or “the Son of God” (meaning the Son of exalted man, the literal offspring of God the Father in the flesh);
- “Life” (for he gives life to all); and
- “Light” (for light also he gives to all).
When Christ says that he is Light and when we speak of the “light of Christ” or the “light of truth” or the “light of the gospel,” there is much more than symbolic truth contained in those descriptions. Christ is more than a symbol or flight or an analogy with light: he is the source of light (and light is far more than what we know it to be).
He is responsible for the light our eyes see, and he is responsible also for the light our minds see. These two types of light are related: they both illuminate and they both come from the same source. All that awakens, opens, cleans, energizes, brightens, frees, and lifts in light. All that illuminates and brings joy is light—just as all that closes, confines, dims, hides, or hurts is darkness.
Christ’s influence is an army of light—a light brigade that aims to shine into every corner and every mind.
One cannot think about or ponder the true Christ without feeling both the brightness and the warmth and the light. I feel it as I write and you feel it as you read; but even more, each of us feels it when we pray.
Not only can things we see be classified as light or dark: things we hear and things we feel can also be thus classified. Gospel principles, moral thinking, even mathematical or logical facts have a “ring of truth”—a light of truth about them that is unmistakable to one in tune with the Spirit.
There is not a phrase of scripture from our Lord that does not carry that light, that ring of truth; and there was not an action or thought in his life that did not reflect and magnify its brightness.