Introduction The Lord began the chapter with the statement Let not your heart be troubled. Jesus was leaving them. Jesus was returning to His Father in Heaven. Jesus reminds them that heaven is a real place. Heaven is a place of joy. Heaven is a prepared place. Heaven is an exclusive place. The passage begins with an assertion by Jesus (v.4); and continues with an assessment or argument by Thomas (v.5) which leads to further assurances given by Jesus (vv.6-7). Jesus offers the second assurance; the disciples know the Father now. I believe each person experiences a personal crisis; the need to know and see God. People want to know God; but shun the God of the Bible. We all want a description of heaven; but few people pause long enough to ask for directions to heaven. The world walks in endless circles but Jesus provides a compass; He is in fact the compass; that points true north; the true direction; so that we might get a bearing on which way heaven lies. The Way To God Jesus Takes (vv.4-5) John 14:4; And where I go you know, and the way you know. John 14:5; Thomas said to Him, Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way? How are we to think about the question of Thomas? Jesus said, where I go you know and Thomas says we do not know. Jesus has told the disciples He was going to the Father; to prepare a place for them; by way of the Cross. Clearly Thomas meets the statements of Jesus with contradiction and skepticism. Thomas still clings to the idea that Jesus is about to set up the Kingdom of God on the earth, releasing the people from the political and economic bondage imposed by Rome. Jesus now talks about going somewhere; a place where the disciples cannot follow. We may sympathize with Thomas at some level. Hidden in the contradiction, skepticism and doubt; I believe beats a heart that wants to be with Jesus. We live in a world where contradiction of the Word of God and skepticism towards God abounds. My friend Dr. Doug Groothuis tells of a meeting where a woman shouted I love 1
Jesus... but He never wanted anyone to worship Him! Doug saw heads nod in agreement; another member of the so called panel said; I find the way of Jesus helpful, but I can t exclude anyone s spirituality outside of Christianity. Someone else in the audience declared that Jesus was only a prophet and that the Quran was more important than the New Testament (see www.trueu.org/academics/lecturehall/a00000362.cfm; posted at Why Believe That Jesus Is The Only Way?--TrueU.org:Lecture Hall). A wise man was once asked how he had learned so much about so many things responded; By never being ashamed or afraid to ask questions about anything of which I was ignorant. Do people really want to know how to find God or follow Jesus? We can be grateful to Thomas and his great question; how can we know the way? The Psychiatrist Thomas Szasz wrote; Knowledge is gained by learning; trust by doubt; skill by practice; love by love. The doubt, the skepticism gave Jesus the opportunity to declare in unmistakable terms; His claim of exclusivity. The doubt also gave Thomas an opportunity to begin the process of trusting Jesus. Jesus is not a good way to heaven; or the best way to heaven; Jesus is the only way to Heaven. The Way To God Is Jesus (v.6) John 14:6; Jesus said to him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. Jesus now makes the sixth I AM statement in the Gospel of John. The seventh I AM statement takes place in John 15:1,5. Jesus alone is the way to God because He alone is the truth about God and He alone possesses the life of God (see John MacArthur; p.102). The statement in this one verse answers so many questions! Jesus begins by reminding Thomas and the others that the way to God is through Jesus Christ Himself. No can can find God, reach God, approach God, know God unless they go through the Lord Jesus Christ. This verse has generated hundreds of books and thousands of pages of controversy. The famous theologian Karl Barth wrote; Jesus does not give recipes that show the way to God as other teachers of religion do. He is himself the way. Does Jesus really mean what He says? Is Jesus the only way to the Father? Is Jesus the only way to abundant and eternal life? Is Jesus only one of many well meaning prophets who oversteps his boundaries; intruding into the politically correct position that there must be many ways to God? 2
The words of Jesus fall deaf on millions of people; who watch the princess of prime time TV; Oprah Winfrey. A Christian woman in the audience asks Oprah; What about Jesus?, Oprah insists Jesus can't possibly be the only way to God... And the audience erupts! Oprah was raised Baptist, but her faith has undergone a significant transformation towards New Age spirituality. Oprah denies the Biblical Gospel of Jesus Christ by teaching tens-of-millions of her viewers that there are many paths to God. Oprah doesn t simply represent the views of millions of Americans; but millions of so called Christians. Dr. Groohuis cites a Barna poll from the year 2000; which states that one out of four born again Christians believes that it doesn t matter what faith you follow because all teach the same lessons. 56% of non-christians agree! For many Jesus is not the way; but rather a way; one of many ways to heaven. If there are many paths to heaven why would Jesus speak such a horrible lie? F.F. Bruce; He (Jesus) is, in fact, the only way by which men and women may come to the Father; there is no other way. If this seems offensively exclusive, let it be borne in mind that the one who makes this claim is the incarnate Word, the revealer of the Father. If God has no avenue of communication with mankind apart from his Word...mankind has no avenue of approach to God apart from that same Word, who became flesh and dwelt among us in order to supply such an avenue of approach (The Gospel of John; Grand Rapids, Eerdmans, 1983; p.298). Jesus is the way. Jesus doesn t simply show the way, or tell the way. Jesus is the way to heaven. We cannot get there by being good, or going to church or saying our prayers. We don t go to heaven by voting Republican or Democrat, or balancing the budget or staying out of debt; or plunging into debt; we do not go to heaven because our good deeds out weigh our bad deeds. Think for just a moment about directions and conditions for entrance into Heaven. There are three necessary conditions for going to heaven; following; believing; living. All three are tied to one experience; salvation, being born again. The first century Jew would have spent hours and hours about the way a man should walk before God. For the Jew the way meant the way a person walked with God. The Lord told Moses and then repeated to Joshua; Therefore you shall be careful to do as the Lord your God has commanded you; you shall not turn aside to the right hand or the left. (v.33) You shall walk in all the ways which the Lord your God has commanded you, that you may live and that it may be well with you, and that you may prolong your days in the land which you shall possess (Deut. 5:32,33); Only be strong and very courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may prosper wherever you go (Joshua 1:7). The Psalmist wrote; Teach me your way O Lord (Psalm 27:11). 3
1. I am the way --we walk, we follow Jesus; we go in the same direction He is going; over and over again Jesus called people to follow Him ; this is not simply in principle, but in direction; this is both a way of life and the way to life. 2. I am the truth --we can define truth, debate truth, demand truth; but in the end we can only do one of two things with truth; accept it or reject it; embrace it or run away from it. William Blake said; A truth that s told with bad intent; Beats all the lies you can invent. Jesus doesn t simply claim to tell the truth; He is the truth. Faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior; is the one necessary condition for getting to heaven. What does it mean to believe and have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ? It means to believe and have faith that the testimony in the Bible is true about Jesus; that Jesus is both Word of God and Son of God. It means to have faith in the directions that He gives; it means embracing His word of redemption and His death on the Cross. If we are to believe the Bible; believe His claims; we discover an amazing truth; Christ s claims are exclusive; and not inclusive; it centers on Himself; and only Himself; it denies and excludes all other claims. When Jesus claims to be the truth; he invites us to believe the truth about Him. Carl F. H. Henry once wrote; Some people live their whole lives just around the corner from the world of truth. 3. I am the Life --Jesus doesn t claim only to give life; but that He is the source, the origin of life; Jesus said, I have come that they might have life (John 10:10). Life proceeds from one Source; creation and procreation; creation is origin; procreation is birth. Jesus told Nicodemus the religious ruler; Marvel not that I said to you; you must be born again (John 3:7). Following, believing, living; followers believe; believers, live, those who live-follow and believe. Jesus makes the outrageous claim that He is the only way to God for any seeking soul; Jesus is the truth of God s redemptive will and the purpose for all; Jesus is the source of life; the fountainhead of spiritual life for every one who accepts Him. The evangelist Gypsy Smith said; The way to Jesus is not by Cambridge and Oxford, Glasgow, Edinburgh, London, Princeton, Harvard, Yale, Socrates, Plato, Shakespeare or the poets, It s over an old fashioned hill called Calvary. Fidel Castro said; I ve always considered Christ to be one of the greatest revolutionaries in the history of humanity. But Castro is not saved. The singular problem of sin--requires the singular solution--a savior. The singular problem of sin requires a singular substitute for sin. If Christ is not the substitute, He is nothing to the sinner. If He did not die as the Sin-bearer, He has died in vain. Let us not be deceived on this point nor mislead by those who, when they announce Christ as Deliverer, think they have preached the gospel. If I throw a rope to a drowning man, I am not a deliverer. But is Christ no more than that? If I cast myself into the sea, and risk myself to save another, I am a deliverer. But is Christ no more? Did he risk his life? The very essence of Christ s deliverance is The Substitution of Himself For Us--His life for ours! He did not come to risk His life; He 4
came to die! He did not redeem us by a little loss, a little sacrifice, a little labor, a little suffering; He redeemed us to God by His blood (1 Peter 1:18-19). He gave all He had, even His life for us. This is the kind of deliverance that awakens the happy song, To Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood (Rev.1:5) Horatius Bonar. In order for someone to come to the Father Jesus must go to the Father. Jesus will rise from the dead. Jesus will ascend to the Father. Earlier Jesus mentioned going to His Father s House; but now Jesus is going to the Father--of the House. The House without the Father would certainly not be a home; it would cease to be Heaven. We as believers do not want to simply go to Heaven; we want to be with the Father, and be with the Son; we desire God s presence forever. The Final Destination (v.7) John 14:7; If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him. Some have suggested that the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are just different titles or modes or manifestations of the one true God. What does this verse mean? How does knowing Jesus insure knowledge of the Father; and how does seeing Jesus mean seeing the Father? Jesus Christ Himself is the perfect revelation of God. What does it mean to know the Father? The word translated know appears 141 times in John s Gospel; but it does not always carry the same meaning. There are four different levels of knowing according to John. The first level is existential; knowing something to be a fact, or knowing something to be true; the second level is knowing the truth behind the fact. You can know the facts or the truth, you can even know the truth that supports the fact; and still be lost, empty, barren, lost in sin; dead in trespass and sin! The third level introduces the concept of relationship; that is to know means to believe in a person and become related to that person. This is the way the word know is used in John 17:3; And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. Knowledge may fill a large brain; but it only inflates the small brain. Knowledge puffs up. Love edifies. The Bible in the Old Testament uses know in a euphemistic sense; in the sense of intimate relations (Gen.4:1). The fourth level or fourth use of know means to have a deep relationship or friendship with a person; it is the level Paul alludes to when he writes; That I may know 5
Him (Phil. 3:10). Jesus will describe this deeper relationship in John 14:19-23; (see Warren Wiersbe; TBEC Vol. 1; p.351; I have paraphrased and directly quoted from Wiersbe for this section). Jesus does not claim to be simply the perfect revelation of God; Jesus claims to be God. Jesus alone reveals God; and the moment a person claims to reveal God; in a way that is inconsistent with the revelation of Jesus; that person either wittingly or unwittingly places themselves in the position of being at odds with Jesus. The early church; the first Christians taught that Jesus is the only way to salvation. Only Jesus offered the final solution for sin. Acts 4:12; Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. Conclusion We want to know what heaven looks like; we want to know what the Father looks like. Jesus Christ is the human manifestation of the divine; and the physical incarnation of the Spirit. The Lord God said to Moses; You cannot see My Face: for there shall no man see me, and live (Ex.33:20). A.W. Tozer was often heard saying; To be right with God has often meant to be in trouble with men. Sometimes the kindest thing you can do for a person is to tell them a truth that will prove very painful. But in so doing, you may have saved him from serious harm or even greater pain. In a world such as ours, people must learn to take it. A painless world is not necessarily a good world (Sylvanus and Evelyn Duvall). Either sin is with you, lying on your shoulders, or it is lying on Christ, the Lamb of God. Now if it is lying on your back, you are lost; but if it is resting on Christ, you are free, and you will be saved. Now choose what you want. (Martin Luther). Heaven is a prepared place for people who have a prepared heart. Is Heaven prepared for you? Are you prepared for heaven? Are you following; believing; and living for Jesus? 6