We are back in our study of the Road of Life, learning to share the Gospel using the Gospel of John. Last week, we learned to use John 11:25-26 and focused on three words: Resurrection, Die, and Live. So, to begin with, we want to go back to that page in our little Gospel of John, and, in the margins, write our passage for today: John 14:6. Now, flip over to 14:6 and underline it as I read it. There are four words that we will focus on today, which you can double underline: Way, Truth, Life, and Except.
Before we can consider those words, it’s helpful to get a bit of context. To do that, let’s step back a few verses and read vs. 1-7. From this additional context we can see that the statement Jesus makes in verse 6 is answering some anxieties that the disciples have over what he taught. Chapter 14 falls in the middle of an extended section of private teaching that Jesus had with his disciples between the last supper and his betrayal by Judas. He is with the eleven, preparing them for what is about to happen. He offers several assurances in spite of what they are about to see. One assurance is found here: “Let not your hearts be troubled…” Judas will soon betray him, the mob will take him away, the Sanhedrin will judge him, Pilate will mock him, the nation will turn on him, and all will watch him be crucified. Yet, through all of that, Jesus wants his disciples to be anchored in their faith, so he assures them that he (and they) will make it through this, and it is all part of God’s plan to prepare a place for them. In fact, all that Jesus is about to endure is intended to prepare a place for them, and once it is prepared, he will return to get them.
As a side note, it might be helpful to explain what this place is that Jesus goes to prepare. There is a great deal of lore that has formed around what Jesus says here because of the King James Translation of the passage, which says, “In my Father’s house are many mansions.” Much has been made of this in songs and popular Christian ways of thinking about Heaven. But, the point Jesus is making isn’t so much about living high on the hog in heaven, and more about being a part of God’s new temple. So, modern translations, like my ESV, translate his statement as “In my father’s house are many rooms.” They do this for two reasons. For one, the Greek word for “room” is mone, which means residence or dwelling. It isn’t referring to a particular type or size of house, but to a home. The other reason is because it doesn’t make any sense to have mansions inside a house. Jesus says that these mansions or rooms are contained inside of the father’s house. So which would be more likely? Well, a house has rooms, not mansions.
So, what is this house? In other places in the Gospel, when Jesus refers to his father’s house, he is speaking of the temple. For example, in John 2:16, he says, “My father’s house shall be a house of prayer.” Now, Jesus is going to prepare a place for his disciples in his father’s house, in the temple. But, the temple is already occupied by the Sadducees who are on their way to arrest Jesus. Does this mean that Jesus is about to clear the temple of all the hypocrites and make a place for the true believers? No, it means that Jesus is about to fulfill his promise to tear the temple down and raise it up again. Repeatedly he had said that if they killed him, he would rise again, and when he said that, he referred to himself as the temple. Jesus is about to go to the cross, where the forces of this world will do their worst. He will be torn down and buried. But, on the third day, he will rise again as a new creation. That resurrection will be the beginning of a new temple. And, everyone who believes in him will be added into that temple. As Paul says in Eph. 2:22, “In [Jesus] you are being built together into a dwelling place [a house] for God by the Spirit.” So, this church (the people) is the place that Jesus went to prepare. The kingdom of God that proclaims the resurrection of Jesus is the temple that God is building.
Unfortunately, this does not provide the comfort that the disciples needed, so Thomas asks, in verse 5, “We don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” Now, certainly, Jesus had warned them repeatedly that he would be crucified and rise again. He’d even portrayed that as bread and wine in the supper he’d just shared with them. And yet, they remained dull to what Jesus is about to do. Thomas asks for the whole group, where are you going and what is the way?
This sets up what Jesus says in verse 6, “I am the way, the truth, and the life, no one comes to the father except through me.” So, let’s break this down by focusing, first, on what he means by saying that he is “the way.” Of course, this is intended to answer what Thomas asks, “What is the way to where you are going?” Jesus answers that by saying that the way to where he is going is not a road. He is the way. In other words, if we want to find the way to the presence of the Father, and to the kingdom of God, we have to go through Jesus. Hebrews 10:20 says that we can enter the holy place (that is the presence of God) by the “way of his flesh.” Eph. 2:18 says, “Through him we have access in one Spirit to the Father.”
The second word we should focus on is “the truth.” Not only is Jesus the way to the Father, but he is also the true revelation of the Father. As John said at the beginning of his Gospel, in chapter 1:17-18 - “For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God; God the only Son, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.” Even though God revealed himself in the OT, he was never fully understood. Even though the law was perfect in its truth, it could never be perfectly obeyed. Not even Moses could fully reveal the nature and will of God. But, Jesus brings grace and truth, not because he is another good teacher, but because he is God the Son.
The third word we need to see is “the life.” As we’ve seen repeatedly in this study, Jesus points to himself as the source of life. John 1 told us that, “in him was life, and that life was the light of men.” John 3 said that “whoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life.” John 6 revealed him to be the bread of life. In John 10, he said that, as the good shepherd, he would lay down his life for the sheep. And, in John 11, he told Martha that he is the resurrection and life.
Finally, let’s consider the word that ties all of this together: “except.” Jesus ends this statement by saying, “No one comes to the Father except through me.” This is a loaded word because, in it, Jesus claims that access to the Father is restricted. Most people in our modern world are offended by this claim because we think of religion as a personal decision that isn’t really true in the way that scientific truth is. We think that all religions should get along. We think that, as long as someone is sincere in their faith, it really doesn’t matter what they believe. But, this doesn’t even make sense logically. All religions claim to rightly understand God. Hinduism sees God as a force that exists in every living thing. Islam, on the other hand, believes that God is totally separate from his creation and incapable of interacting with it. They can’t both be true. Every religion has its own exclusive doctrines about the nature of God, man, sin, salvation, heaven, and hell. We do not all basically believe the same things.
Christianity makes an exclusive claim to be the only way to heaven because of what Jesus teaches here. Notice, Jesus uses the definite article, “the”, when he makes this statement: “I am THE way, THE truth, and THE life.” Some people say, well, I can’t really say whether God exists or not, but I’m a good person, so surely God will let me into heaven if he does exist. WRONG! Jesus is the only way to the Father. Some think, well, I believe in God, so that should be enough? WRONG! Unless you believe in Jesus Christ as your savior, you have no access to the Father. Some say, well, my friend is a Muslim, and he’s a good person who is more faithful to his religion than I am to mine, so surely he is getting in. WRONG! Jesus is the only true revelation of God, and you cannot be saved without him.
Perhaps you have thought that there is no need to repent, no need to confess faith in Christ, no need to follow him, because God is loving and accepting of all faiths. Hear this saying of Jesus for the warning that it is - He is the only way, the only truth, and the only life. If you do not turn to him, you will never inherit eternal life.
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