Truth and the Nature of God

Jesus made a very powerful statement about himself that needs to be remembered and heeded by any and all who profess faith in him today: "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me" (Jn. 14:6). In today's world everyone is being conditioned to accept just about anything and everything as being normal. Anything and everything that is, except for the statement from Jesus that we just read. In order to understand the significance and weight of what Jesus said, we need only look at the flip side of it. If Jesus is THE way, then there is no other way at all. Period. Where there is no way there is only confusion and oblivion. He didn't say that he is A way, but rather that he alone is THE way. If Jesus is THE truth, then there is no other truth apart from him that exists. Apart from truth there is only lies. Intellectual opinions, 'educated' theories, speculated guesses maybe; but lies nonetheless, because Jesus alone is truth. That's what he said. Jesus didn't say that he is A truth, but rather that he is THE truth. And if Jesus is THE life then that means there is no other life apart from him. Where there is no life there is only... you guessed it... death. He did not say that he is one kind of life, but rather that he is THE life. If Jesus is the ONLY way for anyone to get to God, then what that means very simply is that there is no other way to God except by and through him, like he plainly said. If one has no way at all to reach God then he will find himself only in oblivion, in lies, and in death. Jesus said something else in another place to put across the same exact, inevitable point: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber... Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep" (Jn. 10:1,7). There it is again, this time with the emphasis on being someone who belongs to God. If we are in Christ then we are his sheep and we belong to God. If we are not in Christ then we are not his sheep and we don't belong to God, at least not yet. And anyone who claims to be of God, who is apart from Christ, is a thief and a robber as he said.

What this all means is that in the worldwide push for a 'global community,' it will eventually be required of everyone to accept every religion as being valid. That should not surprise anyone, seeing that people are already being required to accept things like homosexuality and transgenderism as being just as normal as... well, being normal. In order for anyone who confesses Jesus Christ as their Lord to accept that kind of religious agenda, they will have to be in denial of what Jesus said about himself in our text verse. In order to accept any other religion as being valid, we would have to say that Jesus is at best, A way, A truth, and A life. We would also have to be saying that Jesus was lying about him being the only way to God. I'm sure that it's evident that this is not a dilemma we want to create for ourselves, but if it isn't plain enough then try this on for size: "Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels" (Mk. 8:38). And if that isn't convincing enough we can always take a look at this saying: "If we suffer [for his sake], we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us" (II Tim. 2:12). So we simply cannot acknowledge that Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Atheism and the like, are valid religions and acceptable to either God or ourselves. I believe we can say that we're 'getting down to it' in this world right about now. Nonetheless we need to take heart, seek God with diligence, and not be afraid what men can do to us. These things that are upon us in this world, and that are coming soon, can be intimidating unless we keep our faith very renewed, and we "Look unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith" (Heb. 12:2). We need to also remember these words of Jesus, which apply so greatly to such things as we are facing: "And I say unto you my friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him" (Lk. 12:4,5). Yes, things are getting pretty serious, so I would say that means that we had better be serious as well. May God help us all. Amen.