John 14:6

I am the Way, the Truth, the Life

Introduction

Jesus has mentioned that He was returning to the Father, but the disciples are baffled and perplexed, and Thomas voices their concern, Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way? (John 14:5). It is a wonderful thing that this question from a doubtful man provoked one of the greatest things Jesus ever said. No one need be ashamed of his doubts, because it is blessedly true that he who seeks will, in the end, find (Luke 11:9).

Jesus claims to satisfy the human longing for God. I am the way and the truth and the life (John 14:6). He did not mean that He taught them the way, or showed them the way, but that He, in His own person, was the way, the truth and the life. He Himself was the final key to the mysteries.

Men long to know truth. Is there a God? What is He like? How can I find Him? How can I enjoy Him? There are all sorts of ways to satisfy this interest and question. People have devised their own systems of beliefs, made up myths and stories to explain gods, created images in wood and stone. But the Gospel tells us God has not left us to our own opinions and gropings. He has taken the initiative and fully and finally revealed Himself in Jesus Christ, His Son.

Jesus Christ says, I am the way to God, I am the truth about God, and I give the very life of God to souls. The answer to your seeking and searching and longing is found in me.

I am the Way

His words immediately presuppose that at present we are not in contact in any real sense with the living God. We are cut off, severed, out of communion. The whole Bible revelation about our guilt and condemnation in sin is presupposed here. We are all guilty debtors. There is the need for a mediator and a bridge to bring us in touch with God.

By His Cross, on which He bore our sins, and by His intercession in heaven preparing a place for us, He is the way. He is not only guide and teacher, but He is the door and the ladder and the road through whom we draw near to God. Brought near through the blood of Christ (Ephesians 2:13). In this office, note how exclusive Jesus’ claims are – I am the way. No one comes to the Father except through me. He expressly shuts out all other ways of salvation but Himself.

What relationship does this have on foreign missions? Some may question, why preach the Gospel? Why are not other religions just as good? Are they not all different ways to God? No, Jesus’ claim is exclusive. A mediator, ransom-payer, redeemer is necessary – and it is He, and He alone. He is the only bridge, door, ladder between earth and heaven.

This is one of the crucial issues between Roman Catholicism and Protestantism. The use of other mediators is a plain denial of the exclusive claims of Christ. For the sake of truth and for Christ’s honour, His exclusive claims are not to be compromised.

Again, this has a bearing in evangelism. Men, until enlightened by the Holy Spirit, inevitably place their trust in themselves, e.g. works, prayers, sincerity, earnestness. Jesus is the only way. Earnestness will not take men to heaven. Sincerity will not wipe away sins. It is not true that it does not matter what a man believes, as long as he is sincere, diligent and well meaning. We are not to pretend to be wiser than God; therefore we must insist that Jesus is the only way.

There are not many ways to heaven. There is only one way. It is not true that all men are children of one great family. God is the Father to none but those who believe in Christ. He is the perfect way, and the free way. We may have Christ for the taking. He is the permanent way, joyful way, and the only way. He is the way for everyone.

I am the Truth

Truth is the scarcest commodity in the world. Plenty are seeking it, but few claim to have found it. Truth does not lie in some abstract system of propositions or list of rules. In Christ we find the truth in a person, in His teaching, authority, character, work – in all that He is. Only Jesus is the truth, because He is utterly perfect. He is the final and perfect expression of God as far as our human mind can understand.

The disciples kept asking Show us the Father, and Jesus kept telling them, Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father (John 14:9). This is a tremendous statement. No man has seen God at any time. Even Moses saw only His back, but not His face. Yet to look at Christ is to look at God. The invisible God has been made the visible Christ. God has made Himself known. His glory has been seen in the face of Christ Jesus. We long for a God who is near, can be seen and loved. Nothing else will ever stay our hunger or answer our questioning minds. The sight of God in Christ brings peace to the heart, quietens our troubled spirit, and satisfies our enquiring mind.

Because of mutual indwelling – Him in the Father, and the Father in Him – they had unbroken communion. His words were the Father’s words. His works were God’s works. While He spoke and acted, God was at work. His words, His gentleness, His sympathy, His commands, His warnings – all God’s. He has brought God’s message and God’s heart to men. He is the final proof of God’s existence, and the fullest revelation of God as far as the human mind can grasp.

Apart from Him, we grope in the darkness. In Him we have the light of life. “God helping me, I have made up my mind to stand or fall with Jesus Christ. If He is the truth, I am saved; if He is the truth, the man who leans on his own understanding is damned!” (Brownlow North).

I am the Life

Christ brings the very life of God to dead men’s souls. Spiritual vitality which is in God is communicated to us. Because of sin, we were spiritually dead. Christianity is not a system of philosophy or code of rules. It is the impartation of divine reality. The Christian life is not a burdensome effort to do our best. It is being made alive, quickened and provided with all that pertains to life and godliness.

Life is given now. The life in Christ flows into the believer, as sap in the vine enters the branches. God’s life in the soul. Richer and fuller life in His presence after death. Perfected when in the Father’s house of many rooms. Christian experience is a pale shadow of what shall be.

Eternal life is a secure gift, and no one is able to pluck us out of His hands. It is ours because Christ was the Son of Man lifted up that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but shall have everlasting life (John 3:16). He has delivered men from perishing eternally, and given the free gift of eternal life.

The issue we must face – life or death? Salvation or perishing eternally? Christ is the only one who can make life worth living and in whose company death is only the prelude to fuller life. This is eternal life – that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent (John 17:3). This text was the means of John Knox’s conversion. At his deathbed he asked his wife, “Go and read where I first cast my anchor.” After he had lost the power of speech, his wife asked him if he had hope, and he answered by lifting his finger and pointing it upward. Happy is the man who casts his anchor where John Knox did. Have you secured your gift, by knowing Him?

Conclusion

Jesus is the way to God, the truth about God, and the life of God. In Him, and no one else.

“Without the way there is no going;

Without the truth there is no knowing;

Without the life there is no living.”

If we have Him, we have all. If we reject Christ, we lose all. Everything hinges on our relationship to Him. Refuse your own works, opinions and efforts, and instead welcome Him as the way to God, embrace the truth, and receive the gift of life.

To Christians – use Christ daily as the way; believe Christ daily as the truth; live on Christ daily as the life. This is the way to be a well-informed, thoroughly furnished and firmly established believer.