John Chapters 13 - 15
Part 3: The Way, The Truth and The Life
John 14v1-6
10th July 2010
After Judas had left the disciples at the Last Supper, and gone out to betray Jesus, Jesus spoke to the remaining eleven, to prepare them for what would soon happen. We saw last week that he taught them:
John 13v33-35
"My children, I will be with you only a little longer. You will look for me, and just as I told the
Jews, so I tell you now: Where I am going, you cannot come.
A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.
By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."
Jesus then spoke to Peter about how Peter would betray him that night (verses 36-38). Then He spoke to the whole group, saying:
John 14v1-4
"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me.
In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare
a place for you.
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be
where I am.
You know the way to the place where I am going."
But Thomas didn't understand what Jesus was saying. He was desperate to understand, so:
John 14v5
Thomas said to him, "Lord, we don't know where you are going, so how can we know the way?"
Jesus gently explained how they knew to the way: He Himself was the way! He used these wonderful words:
John 14v6
Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No-one comes to the Father except through me.
"I Am The Way"
Jesus was returning to Heaven, to be with His Father. To go there ourselves, to be with Jesus and with God the Father, we must know the way. And the way is Jesus. In these few words, Jesus explains so much of what we need to understand. To be with God, we need to know Jesus. There is a road that takes us to the very place where God is. The road is Jesus. If we will acknowledge our sin, and turn away from it, and accept Jesus's atoning sacrifice on the cross, we will come into a living relationship with Jesus, and with God.
But Jesus is not only saying that He will be the way when we die. He's saying that He is the way now. He is the way to God now. He is the way to live a successful Christian life now. It is through Him that we receive the power, love, peace and joy that we need to live today.
"I Am The Truth"
There's a lot of truth out there. "2 + 2 = 4" is true. "The sun is hot" is true. "The ocean is wet" is true, and so on. But Jesus is not just truth, He's The Truth. Jesus created the universe. What is true about the universe is only true because that's how He chose to make it. To put that another way, Jesus decided what would be true about the universe. He is the truth behind the truth. And Jesus is the truth about God. He is the exact representation of God's being (Hebrews 1v3). Jesus is God come in the flesh (Philippians 2:5-8). If you want to understand God, you need to study Jesus. He's not just one person who brought some truth. He is The Truth.
"I Am The Life"
Without Jesus, we are spiritually dead. We can walk and talk and think, but we have no relationship with God. We can know God through Jesus - The Way. We can know about God through Jesus - The Truth. And we can live with God through Jesus - The Life.
The eternal life that God offers us through Jesus is not just the same old life we knew before, but now stretching off into the distance, going on for ever. I would hate that. Eternal life in Jesus is the life of God - spiritually connected to our Creator. It's different from the old life in terms of quality as well as quantity. And it's available now - through Jesus.