Jesus Is the Only Way

Lesson #224

We need to finish up John 14:6: “Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me”” (ESV). We know Jesus is the way to our Father’s house and to our Father and that Jesus, as the Word, is the absolute truth; the source from which all truth comes. As the creator of the universe and all that it contains, think about the body of truth there is in areas like science, mathematics, philosophy, theology, etc. The source of all advancements we make; all discoveries made through research, finds it source in Jesus the creator.

Jesus said he was also “the Life”, which is a repeat of John 11:25 when he claimed to be the resurrection and the life. “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men” (John 1:4 NASB); he has life in himself; he is the source of eternal life (John 3:16). It is his life that gives life and light to our spirit. Without it we are spiritually dead and separated from God. Without eternal life we will spend an eternity, separated from God and under his wrath; a condition no one wants to experience.

Jesus then said, “No one comes to the Father except through me.” There are particular places located through the world where one cannot enter without special clearance. We need special clearance to come to the Father and that clearance is obtained through Jesus Christ. The Father is holy and to enter his presence we would also have to be holy; a status that we can obtain only through coming to Jesus in obedient faith. No other perfect man has died in our place for our sin and risen from the dead. It is through that finished work, provided by Jesus that we have access to the Father. There is no other way in spite of what other religions believe. “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12 NIV).

Jesus then concludes his answer to Thomas by saying, “If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him” (John 14:7 ESV). Without the Spirit indwelling them I don’t think the disciples will understand this statement. We will see in the next lesson, but first some closing comments on the verse. The disciples still did not fully understand that Jesus was to die and be raised from the dead. They still saw him as a temporal earthly Messiah and did not understand the spiritual, eternal extent of what he was to accomplish. If they had understood what Jesus was sent to accomplish then they would have also understood the Father. This will all begin to take focus after the disciples meet Jesus after his resurrection, but until then there will be confusion. A good summary of this is found in Hebrews 1:3: “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven” (NIV).

Prayer

Father, it appears that eternal life can be obtained in one of two ways: A gift of God through grace or by enough good works. Our lesson makes it very clear that Jesus is the only source of life to replace our spiritual death we were born with. All life has its source in Jesus the creator of all things. No amount of work on our part will ever produce life. Most think living a good enough life on earth will be rewarded by a gift of eternal life, but if it could how would it not be a miserable extension of life like it is on earth. Father, unless a person is born again it is impossible to understand and embrace by faith the way through faith. The disciples and their lack of understanding make that clear. Thank you for providing the way through Jesus.