There are moments in life when God hangs His magnificent glory on the coat stand and sits in your beautiful living room, and just floors you. Now, obviously, God cannot hang up His glory, for it is to Him as our skeleton is to us. But God can sit with us and open our eyes to things in His Word that are so shockingly plain-sight, we tremble in His presence because we missed it.
John 8:28–30 is such a passage.
“When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He…” (John 8:28, ESV).
Here, Jesus foretells the method of His own execution. But He also declares that it will become the very evidence by which His identity will be vindicated. In contrast to human truth claims, which often collapse under scrutiny, Jesus’ statement is not merely predictive, but evidentiary. He does not ask to be believed based on force, manipulation, or ideology. He lets truth be what it is and will be. And it is at the cross, the most grotesque and humiliating instrument of empire, that the glory of God will shine.
Truth Claim vs. Claiming the Truth
In this moment, Jesus reverses the performative machinery of the ancient and modern world alike. He reveals that while others claim truth to elevate themselves, He, who is truth, will be lifted not onto a throne but onto a cross. The irony is brutal: those trying to exalt themselves end up crucifying the only one who deserves exaltation. Christ is exalted not by celebrity but by nails. His “lifting up” is not applause, but atonement.
This distinction between claiming truth and being the truth is critical. The illusory truth effect, a well-documented psychological phenomenon, shows how repeated exposure to a claim can make it feel subjectively true, even when it is false. Familiarity becomes a surrogate for evidence, particularly in emotionally laden or traumatised individuals who are seeking coherence in chaos.¹ Human beings begin to believe falsehoods simply because they hear them often enough.
In contemporary identity discourse, this distortion plays out across social media, law, and policy. For example, research in the World Journal of Clinical Cases confirms that exposure to emotionally repeated claims alters neurological processing, particularly in areas related to belief and identity maintenance.²
But reality does not submit to repetition. It exposes it.
The LGBTQ+ movement’s slogan “born this way” has been widely accepted, yet extensive biological and psychological studies, including those cited in the New Atlantis report, have found no conclusive evidence of an innate, fixed sexual orientation or gender identity.³ The illusion is powerful, but it is not true. Similarly, people who identify as animals (e.g., “furries”) or claim species-fluid identities are experiencing reality distortion, not revelation.⁴
These examples show that truth claims are often not truth itself.
The UN and the Crisis of Arbitrated Ideology
Nowhere is this confusion more visible than in the domain of international law. The United Nations, in its evolving Human Rights Framework, has increasingly encoded ideological identity into legal protection, detached from biological or theological truth.⁵ While the intent may be inclusion, the outcome is institutionalised deception. Laws made on false premises, particularly about identity, risk being complicit in long-term psychological, medical, and social harm.
As one legal scholar put it, “When law departs from nature and theological anthropology, it begins to collapse under the weight of its own contradictions.”⁶ When truth is reduced to self-perception, justice becomes impossible. Ryan Richard Thoreson, Queering the Politics of Global Sexual Rights, agrees, “The internationalization of sexual orientation and gender identity rights is marked not only by their institutionalisation in UN forums, but also by the discursive construction of such rights as self-evident, universal, and beyond ideological dispute.”⁷
Yet Jesus, by contrast, doesn’t merely make truth claims. He claims truth by becoming its embodiment. He says: “I am He… I do nothing of Myself… I always do those things that please [the Father]” (John 8:28–29). His death becomes the footnote. And His return, glory fully actualised, and will be truly peer viewed as the dawn hits that their past reviews were inaccurate.
Literary Theology and the Metaphor of the Thesis
To those who live in a world addicted to performance and posturing, Christ’s act is the ultimate reversal:
The Cross– His footnote: evidence cited in blood.
The Tomb– His bridging sentence: from silence to vindication.
The Ascension– His thesis statement: “This is who I am.”
The Return– His fully actualised reality: “This is who I have always been.”
Final Reflection
Jesus does not shape truth to fit our wounds. He reshapes us to fit the truth of Himself. In my own life, I once believed many things about who I was that were not true. Not because I meant to lie, but because my brain had confused familiarity for fact. My identity had been shaped by repetition, not revelation. But Christ, who is truth embodied, shattered that illusion, not by argument, but by crucifixion. His obedience proved His glory. And by His lifting up, I was set free.
So can you.
Jesus loves you. Let Him.
Pic. Credits: Global Cognition
Practical Application
The moment Jesus says, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He” (John 8:28), He invites us to see obedience not as burden, but as revelation. His crucifixion becomes the ultimate truth claim, not a philosophical argument, but a demonstration of divine coherence.
So what do we do with that?
Examine your “truth claims” in light of the cross. Ask: Have I believed things because they felt familiar? Or because they’re grounded in reality and in Christ? The cross is where God proved truth with scars, not slogans.
Challenge illusory beliefs gently, but clearly. Whether in conversation with others or yourself, pause before affirming ideas based on repetition or comfort. Instead, ask, “What does Jesus say? Would this belief still hold if crucified?”
Obey without needing applause. Jesus pleased the Father, not the crowd. If your obedience to God leads to rejection or misunderstanding, you may be closer to Christ than you think.
Let truth prove itself over time. Jesus didn’t coerce people to believe. He lived the truth and let the resurrection vindicate Him.
Walk in faith knowing that truth does not panic, it simply is.
Pic. Credits: The Navigators
Prayer
Father,
You are Truth, radiant, unchanging, and holy. Thank You for sending Jesus, the Son of Man, who was lifted up not in glory by men, but in obedience to You. Thank You that His crucifixion was not defeat but vindication; not madness, but the highest logic of love.
Search me, Lord, and reveal where I have lived by illusions. Where I’ve mistaken loudness for truth, repetition for reality, or fear for wisdom, unravel the lies.
Teach me to trust Your truth enough to obey You, even when it hurts. Even when I’m not seen. Even when I’m misunderstood. May I lift up Jesus not only in belief but in the pattern of my life. Let me be one who lives as though the cross is real, the tomb is empty, the ascension is a fact, and the return is soon.
In Jesus’ Holy Name,
Amen.
Pic. Credits: NPR
Footnotes
1) Lisa Fazio et al., “Knowledge Does Not Protect Against Illusory Truth,” Journal of Experimental Psychology: General 144, no. 5 (2015): 993.
2) Yuhong Yu et al., “Emotion and Cognition in Psychological Resilience,” World Journal of Clinical Cases 9, no. 25 (2021): 7625.
3) Lawrence S. Mayer and Paul R. McHugh, “Sexuality and Gender,” The New Atlantis, no. 50 (Fall 2016): 7.
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