BY GREG CRUM
“Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way? Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” John 14:5-6
The last four weeks we have taken some time to think about who Jesus really is. The world has their opinions of Jesus, and religion has painted a certain picture of him, but is that really who he is? Is that the way the Scriptures describe him? If you’ve had the opportunity to follow along with the evidence provided in this series of articles you’ve seen that Jesus is much more than most have been led to believe. As Colossians 1:12-18 reveals, he is the force that keeps everything we know held together. Because of that, forever and always, he should have the ”preeminent” position in God’s Creation and in our lives!
So, Jesus is much more than the world will ever let on and much different from what religion makes him out to be, but here’s the thing: what they think about Jesus, who they see him to be, is not as important as who you personally believe he is!
In Mark 8:27-28 we read that Jesus posed the most important of questions to his disciples, “But whom say ye that I am?” Sure, he was interested in who the crowd thought he was, but he knew that the disciple’s personal salvation didn’t depend on other people’s faith—it depended on their own. He made the question personal because the disciple’s understanding of the identity of Jesus needed to be personal.
Fast forward two thousand years and this question posed by Jesus is still the most important of questions for each individual to answer accurately. I mean, our eternal salvation hinges on it, so we want to get this right, right?
Now, the best answer from us concerning who Jesus is, the most accurate answer, is going to come from the source of absolute truth, the Word of God himself! What do I mean by that? Well, who did Jesus say he was? What was his testimony concerning himself? His word on the matter is all that will ever matter, so it’s important to take that to heart.
That’s what we’ve been trying to do these last four weeks, and so far, we’ve seen that Jesus said he was The Resurrection and the Life. Powerful revelations indeed, but Jesus didn’t stop there in relaying to humanity who he really was. There’s more insight in the pages of the Bible, and we see that in John 14 in particular.
In John 14 we have recorded that Jesus told his disciples that he was The Way. Okay, that’s a bold statement for sure, but what does that really mean? Well, what is a way? Most dictionaries describe a “way” as “a thoroughfare for travel or transportation from place to place, an opening for passage, the course traveled from one place to another, or a characteristic, regular, or habitual manner or mode of being, behaving, or happening.” When you think about it, Jesus is all of this—He’s this in its fullness! He is the way in every possible meaning of the word!
You might be thinking, “How so?” “What does it mean for me when I recognize and embrace that Jesus is The Way?” First, it means that he can become your way out! According to Romans 3:23, every human has sinned and fallen short of God’s standards of living. That’s bad news when you consider that Romans 6:23 reveals that the payday for sin is death. Our sin situation had us heading for destruction with no way out, that was until Jesus showed up.
Thank God, The Way showed up at just the right time and made a way out of that eternal death and destruction for us. On that famed cross of Calvary, he died so we could receive the pardon from our sins that none of our deeds could ever merit. In I John 2:2 we read that he became the “propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.” I don’t know about you, but I’ll be ever thankful that Jesus is my Way out of death, Hell, and the Lake of Fire that I deserved!
Greg Crum is the pastor of Calvary Temple in Lovely.