Season 2 Podcast 50 The Great Riddle

A New Voice of Freedom

The Great Riddle
Perhaps all of us have thought that it would have been nice if we could be old and wise before we were young and foolish so that we wouldn’t waste our youth. But that is not in God’s plan. We came to this earth to gain experience. With study comes knowledge; with knowledge comes understanding; with understanding comes wisdom through experience.

An increase in education does not necessarily lead to an increase in truth, Paul wrote to Timothy, speaking of our day, “Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.” (2 Timothy 3:7-8) Just as an increase in knowledge does not necessarily lead to an increase in truth. An increase in truth does not necessarily lead to an increase in wisdom. To gain wisdom, we must experience opposition.

You classic scholars will know the tragedy of Oedipus and the Riddle of the Sphinx. In Sophocles Play, Oedipus kills a fellow traveler who refuses to get out of his way. He travels on to Thebes. Unknown to Oedipus, the traveler was his real father, king of Thebes. Before entering Thebes, the wise Oedipus had to answer the riddle of the Sphinx which is given in the form of a paradox. The riddle was this:

“What goes on four feet in the morning, two feet at noon, and three feet in the evening?”

Those entering Thebes who could not answer the riddle were eaten by the sphinx. Oedipus correctly answered the riddle and saved the city of Thebes. The answer was man. He was a baby in the morning of his life crawling on hands and knees; an adult at noon, walking on two feet; and an old man in the evening of his life, walking with a cane. Oedipus was able to enter Thebes where he married the queen, his mother, and was crowned king in the stead of his father, not a very cheerful tale which inevitably led from one tragedy to another so brilliantly portrayed by the genius Sophocles.

Let me give you another riddle in the form of a paradox. If you answer it correctly, you may enter the City of the New Jerusalem. Shades of Sophocles, rather than the sphinx asking you the question, it is death. Just as Oedipus conquered the sphinx by answering the riddle correctly, you conquer death by answering the riddle correctly.

What goes from old in the evening to young in the morning, from young in the morning to old in the evening, and from old in the evening back to young in the morning?

As intelligences we are ageless. As spirit children of God, we lived with our Father in heaven for countless eons of time, before the earth was even created. At the appointed time we came to earth as a newborn baby, a veil drawn over our minds, having forgotten the spirit world, not knowing who our real Father is. From our youth in the morning, we grow old as we move toward the evening of our lives till finally death overtakes us. If on earth we discovered our divine heritage and accepted Christ as our Savior, we come forth on the morning of the first resurrection, born again, to be forever young.

Contemplation turns facts to knowledge; understanding law turns knowledge to truth. Experience alone turns truth to wisdom.

In the large scheme of things, it was God’s plan to make us old before he made us young. Earth is the gate upon which eternity swings. On earth, only, do we grow old for death alone can release us from our mortal labor; and in heaven we will be eternally young; and with the wisdom we gain on earth through our gray hairs and brutal experience, we will forever enjoy our eternal youth. God in his wisdom first created the earth for man before he allowed us to inherit our mansions in heaven. He allowed us to experience opposition here, happiness turned to joy through misery, so that we could have infinite joy with him. By obeying his laws here, we will there be free forever.