I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
John 14:6
Many people consider this claim by the Lord Jesus to be extremely arrogant and narrow-minded. “Surely there are many ways to God, and we can each follow our own path!” They don’t understand the seriousness of the sin that separates us from a holy God.
For centuries, God taught the nation of Israel that they were sinners and that “the soul who sins shall die” (Ezekiel 18:20). Yet in His grace, He allowed a substitute to take the place of the guilty sinner and instituted the system of blood sacrifices we read about in the Old Testament.
The Old Testament system of animal sacrifices was God’s temporary provision for dealing with sin and guilt, but the New Testament explains that the blood of bulls and goats couldn’t take away sins (Hebrews 10:4). These sacrifices were merely “a shadow of good things to come” (Hebrews 10:1), object lessons pointing to the provision that God Himself would make when He sent His only begotten Son to be “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). God alone has the right to determine the entry requirements for heaven, and He has decreed that nobody can come to the Father unless the wages of sin are paid. Since the Lord Jesus is uniquely qualified to pay for our sins, He alone is the way to God. Those who reject God’s gracious provision of His Son as the only payment He accepts, will forever be paying for their sins in the “second death”, that is, eternal separation from God in the lake of fire (Revelation 20:11-15). Some people reject God’s provision with outright hostility; others reject it with simple indifference.
But not only is the Lord Jesus the way to God, He is the truth. He was not merely a prophet sent from God; He is Himself God, come in the flesh (John 1:14; 1 Timothy 3:16). He came not only to pay the price for our sins, but to reveal God to us (John 1:18). He is the truth because as the One who eternally dwells in the bosom of the Father, He is the supreme revelation of God. That is why He boldly claims, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father” (John 14:9). To know Jesus is to know God.
And He is not only the way and the truth, but He is the life. He is the One who as the Creator of all things is the source of all life (John 1:3-4). He claimed to have life in Himself (John 5:26) and proved it by raising Lazarus from the dead (John 11:25).
The Gospel of John was written so that we might “believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name” (John 20:30-31). Jesus said He came that we might have life, abundant life (John 10:10). This abundant life is a living, loving relationship with God (John 17:3) that we enter through faith in His name.
There are two fundamental truths that we must accept as true. We must believe all that the Bible says about our sin, and we must believe all that the Bible says about His Son. And if you believe these things to be true, confess your sins to God and ask Him to accept the sacrifice of His Son as the payment for your sins.
DNW