BY GREG CRUM
“At that day ye shall ask in my name: and I say not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you: For the Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God.” John 16:26-27
Here in the 16th chapter of the book of John, we read of revolution. A revolution of greater impact than any that ever shaped a nation or field of learning. What was this “sudden and momentous change in situation,” and how could it eclipse all movements of men’s reform both before and after?
It was the change in man’s ability to access an audience with the God of the Universe. Jesus explained to his disciples that, because of what he was getting ready to do for mankind through his death and resurrection, we would no longer have to depend on another to communicate with God. The middleman was circumvented, the “red tape” was cut, no more forms in triplicate, just straight access to God merited by nothing more or less than the shed blood of Jesus Christ. Jesus made a way where previously there had been no way!
This, my friends, is what Jesus does. He is the way-maker, specifically to God, because by his very constitution he is the Way. He said it himself and has proved it to humanity as a whole and individually since our existence. This is what we began to think about last week as we continued to investigate who Jesus of the Bible really is.
Over the last five weeks we’ve noticed that Jesus is much more than the world will ever let on and much different from religion makes him out to be. And that’s a great revelation, but what they think about Jesus, who they see him to be, is not as important as who you personally believe he is! This is a greater revelation still!
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?” He made the question personal because the disciple’s understanding of the identity of Jesus needed to be personal. Fast forward 2,000 years and this question posed by Jesus is still the most important of questions for each individual to answer accurately. 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! His word on the matter is all that will ever matter, so it’s important to take that to heart.
With all that said, in John 14:6 Jesus told his disciples that he was “the way” to God. Notice that he didn’t say he was “a” way, but “the” way, as in the only way.
This is so significant and can save the seeker so many hours and days of fruitless and frustrating effort. Once we fully trust Jesus to be the only and every way needed in our lives, the doors to all the ways we need to navigate this life swing wide open. Jesus is allowed by our faith to be in our lives who he really is, the Way—the “thoroughfare for travel from place to place, the course traveled, and the method or manner of doing or happening.”
That Jesus said he is the way is important to us on a personal level. How so? Well, as we mentioned last week, it’s important because he is our way (and only way mind you) out of sin and the penalty of eternal death that sin requires. We’re not getting into Heaven based on our good character or deeds. Don’t be fooled: you’re not that good, could never be, and God doesn’t grade based on the “Bell Curve.” (The best of the worst still don’t get in).
Secondly, Jesus as our way is personally meaningful because he is our way forward. Once we are out of that sin trap, Jesus doesn’t leave us stranded, just doggie-paddling in the cesspool of life. He opens the way for us to have a better quality of life. In Ephesians 4:20-24 we read that we can be “renewed in the spirit” of our minds and “put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.”
Brothers and sisters, Jesus did so much for us on that cross. He didn’t just provide us a way out of Hell. He provided us the opportunity to become “new creatures” and to have the capability to live this life in the power of the Spirit and the character of our Father.
Greg Crum is the pastor of Calvary Temple in Lovely.