John 14:6 Let us first start out by reading this passage first. Jesus was having a very important conversation with his disciples, and here is what Jesus has to say to Thomas in John 14:6 (NIV), “Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’” There are first of all many religions out there in this world and their followers all claim that their beliefs are the only right beliefs, and their ways, the only right ways. They are taught within their individual faiths that they have the keys to the afterlife, and some claim that they believe in the state of Nirvana or the point in which one reaches the point of state nothingness. One common thread among all of these other religions is that the members of these religions can only reach the afterlife by working for it. Although I do respect their integrity, one of the most senseless things to me is how the Buddhist must reach the final state of Nirvana. From what I understand this is from the repeated process of reincarnation of one’s life into another so that upon each time that person can achieve a higher state of morality, spiritual being, and understanding. Christianity is the only religion in which one doesn’t earn eternal life but it is a gift and is given upon salvation after repentance. But then that is not all that was said by Jesus within this verse. Jesus said that He was the truth, and the life. So first let us discuss this truth. Everything that is real that we should believe in, should have faith in, all facts in this world and put our trust in comes from Jesus. This is such a huge reality that it should take a moment for all of us to take in. Remember what is says in Hebrews 11:1 (NIV) that, “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” Yes, everything that is real and everything that we should believe in, all the facts that we can put our faith on come from Jesus and His Holy Word from Creation forward even though at times we may have to rethink how we look at how we discern some scripture. Let us look at some examples from modern life and History: The first states that Jesus, God and the Holy Spirit were there at the moment of creation – remember that Jesus is part of the Trinity and Jesus in Revelation 22:13 refers to Himself as the Alpha and the Omega (the beginning and the end) just like His Father. In Genesis 1:2 (NIV) it states, “Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.” This speaks of the Holy Spirit. Then in Genesis 1:26 (NIV) it states, “Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals,[a] and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” This verse speaks of God and Jesus within the same verse. So they were both there. The neat thing about the creation event is the seven days in which God did His work. Did God lie? Well did our Lord lie? No! Also can we rectify these seven days with scientific theory? Let us look at a couple of real important scriptures concerning God and time. The first is 2 Peter 3:8 (NIV), “But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.” This should tell us that the Lord is outside of time and doesn’t measure time or think of it as we do. Then there is Isaiah 46:9-10 (NIV), “Remember the former things, those of long ago; I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me. I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say, ‘My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please…’” What this should tell us and does tell us is that the Lord transcends all time and therefore time is meaningless to Him as a measurement. So the bottom line is can one day in creation be a million years? According to these scriptures and others it can. This reaffirms that Jesus is Truth. Earth is just part of the Universe which God created so many billions of years ago. Scientists know that the Universe and everything in it is very ordered and complex. Although you have to be a very highly trained scientist in the varied fields which study the Universe to see this. Those scientists today are ever discovering more and more about God’s ultimate Creation. For instance, what we see as dark space from the surface of this planet and presume to be empty is largely and is made up of huge amounts of very small particles which are leftovers from previously exploded stars and a substance known as dark matter which bends a light source. They now have theorized that there is a huge Black Hole at the center of every Galaxy which acts as the garbage can for the galaxy. This is truth coming from our Lord. Moving on, I want to refer again back to the part of John 14:6 in which Jesus states that He is “the life”. Now to further understand what I will be talking about here is two quotes from the Gospel of John: 1. John 3:16 (NIV), “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” The Ancient Greek word for eternal used here comes from a family of words: “aionios, aionion, aioniou”, which according to the Greek-English Lexicon mean - without beginning or end and eternal. 2. John 11:225-26 (NIV) Now Jesus at this time had gone to Bethany to the home of the deceased Lazarus and had gone there to do a mighty work for the glory of His Father but to also comfort Martha and Mary, the sisters of Lazarus, and here is what He said to Martha in these verses, “Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?’” The life in which Jesus refers to is this and I believe it is two-fold; first a very rich spiritual life with Jesus, and In Jesus which is available to us upon salvation and rebirth in which we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, and the second is eternal life which Jesus gave us freely by his Sacrifice on the Cross and Resurrection. So the truth in Jesus’ Word becomes self-evident within these verses as you will see. Now let us go back to the Old Testament but before we do we need to once again refer to John 14:6 but this time we need add the part in it which Jesus states, “No one comes to the Father except through me” The Book of Isaiah is largely a book of prophecy but it is also Isaiah’s own written account of what God had told him as divine instruction, correction, and direction for the people of Israel and therefore us as we are now part of His people as well. The original Book of Isaiah now sits on display in a British Museum, wrapped around a column, encased in Plexiglas, and surrounded by an inert gas. So let me give you some verses that pertain to this that also speak to what Jesus states in John 14:6. 1. In Isaiah 55:8-9, 11 (NIV), the Lord states, “’For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,’ declares the Lord. ‘As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts…so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.’” I don’t know about you but this tells me that God is way far above us in all ways and in our petitions to Him we are going to need an intercessor. So guess what folks in His infinite love and mercy for us he has provided that intercessor for us. 2. So let us again turn to Isaiah which is loaded with Messianic prophecies about Jesus and to let everyone know, these prophecies were written over 400 years before the birth of our Lord. So turn with me now as I read Isaiah 53 (NIV), “Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem. Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away. Yet who of his generation protested? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was punished. He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand. After he has suffered, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities. Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.” Isaiah 53 is divine prophecy and it foretells of the coming of our Lord Jesus and His mission on Earth. Now this prophecy says one thing really important about Jesus as our intercessor. In Isaiah 53:11 it states, “by His knowledge my righteous servant will justify many” and that is in plain language telling us that Jesus is to be our intercessor. 3. Now we should know that the Holy Bible supports itself in evidence and that is what is so powerful about the Word of God and another of God’s truths. WE shall now go to John 10:1-5 (NIV) and on this occasion in John 10, Jesus is speaking to a group of Pharisees and giving them some instruction about Himself and here is what He says, “’Very truly I tell you Pharisees, anyone who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber. The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice.’” So Jesus tells them that He is the master and the intercessor and the gate is the metaphor to the path of righteousness or eternal life. One more thing everyone. No one on this planet or anywhere else can save us from our destruction that we were born into by the sinful life we live and no one but our Lord can turn our lives around. There is no other true faith out there. I also should not list the proofs that modern archeological scientists are discovering concerning the Bible. In truth that is not the end all concerning the truth of our faith and what we should believe in. So let me repeat first of all what it states in Hebrews 11:1 (NIV), “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” Then let me add this challenge from the Lord in closing. This is what it says in Psalm 34:8 (a Psalm of David), “Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.” God Bless you all, Selah!
Posted on: Mon, 05 Jan 2015 23:29:43 +0000
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