The Light, Life, and Truth

Moroni gave us these powerful words of the Savior, “For behold, I am the Father, I am the light, and the life, and the truth of the world” (Ether 4:12).  Other scriptures affirm that he is indeed the personification of these three things: light, truth, and life.  Alma declared to his son Shiblon, “Behold, he is the life and the light of the world. Behold, he is the word of truth and righteousness” (Alma 38:9).  To the Nephites the Savior said, “Behold, I am the light and the life of the world” (3 Nephi 11:11). To Thomas the mortal Messiah declared, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6).  Section 88 of the Doctrine and Covenants describes Him as “the light of truth” and that he is “the light which is in all things, which giveth life to all things, which is the law by which all things are governed.”  He declared, “Then shall ye know that ye have seen me, that I am, and that I am the true light that is in you” (v6, 13, 50).  In our dispensation He declared, “I am the light which shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehendeth it not” (Doctrine and Covenants 10:58).  And to Hyrum Smith the Savior proclaimed, “I am the life and the light of the world” (Doctrine and Covenants 11:28).  The scriptures repeatedly affirm that Christ is the source of and personification of light, life, and truth.

               Another place in the scriptures where the Lord is described as light, life, and truth is in Doctrine and Covenants 93.  He declared, “I am the true light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world” (v2).  He is “the light and the Redeemer of the world; the Spirit of truth, who came into the world, because the world was made by him, and in him was the life of men and the light of men” (v9).  John bore record that Christ is “full of grace and truth, even the Spirit of truth,” and the Savior affirmed, “I am the Spirit of truth” (v11, 26).  The glory of God is intelligence or “light and truth” (v36).  I believe it is in this context, knowing that the Savior is the light and the truth of the world, that we should consider the command in the same section: “But I have commanded you to bring up your children in light and truth” (v40).  To bring up our children in light and truth is to bring them up to come unto and be like He who is Light and Truth, even the Savior.  Frederick G. Williams was told, “You have not taught your children light and truth, according to the commandments,” and surely that injunction is for all of us—we are to teach our children light and truth, which especially means to teach them of Christ, the Light and the Truth.  And to do that, we must teach them to keep the commandments of God: “And no man receiveth a fulness unless he keepeth his commandments. He that keepeth his commandments receiveth truth and light, until he is glorified in truth and knoweth all things” (v27-28).  We gain light and truth—and ultimately life in the eternal worlds—by keeping the commandments that the Lord has given us.  If we want our children to gain light and truth and come unto their Savior, this section suggests that we must teach them to keep His commandments.  Then can His Spirit indeed testify of truth and bring them to the light of the Savior.