I am the way, the truth and the life
John 14
The Way, the Truth, and the Life
1 “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. 2 In My Father’s house are many mansions;[a] if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.[b] 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. 4 And where I go you know, and the way you know.”
5 Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?”
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
John 14 includes one of the central tenets of our Christian faith–no one comes to the Father except through Me. We may try to talk our way around it, believing we are somehow being magnanimous by altering the truth to include other methods to be reconciled to God than by Jesus, but the truth does not change, truth cannot be altered. There is one way to God, and that way is through His Son, Jesus Christ, who became a sacrifice for our sins.
The promises in these verses are so sweet and so life-affirming:
- Let not your heart be troubled. In other words, be at peace.
- Believe in God, believe in me
- There will be a place in Heaven prepared especially for you
- If I go, I will come again so that we can be together
- I am the way
I love it when Jesus uses the terminology “I am,” which is reminiscent of God’s first words to Moses in the midst of that burning bush. Have you accepted Jesus as your Saviour, as your “I am?” There is no better time than now to turn to Him. Let not your heart be troubled–believe.
Peter’s denial
By your love, all people will know that you are my disciples.
Jesus predicts His betrayal
John 13:18-30
18″I am not referring to all of you; I know those I have chosen. But this is to fulfill the scripture: ‘He who shares my bread has lifted up his heel against me.'[b] 19″I am telling you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe that I am He. 20I tell you the truth, whoever accepts anyone I send accepts me; and whoever accepts me accepts the one who sent me.” 21After he had said this, Jesus was troubled in spirit and testified, “I tell you the truth, one of you is going to betray me.” 22His disciples stared at one another, at a loss to know which of them he meant. 23One of them, the disciple whom Jesus loved, was reclining next to him. 24Simon Peter motioned to this disciple and said, “Ask him which one he means.”25Leaning back against Jesus, he asked him, “Lord, who is it?” 26Jesus answered, “It is the one to whom I will give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish.” Then, dipping the piece of bread, he gave it to Judas Iscariot, son of Simon. 27As soon as Judas took the bread, Satan entered into him.”What you are about to do, do quickly,” Jesus told him, 28but no one at the meal understood why Jesus said this to him. 29Since Judas had charge of the money, some thought Jesus was telling him to buy what was needed for the Feast, or to give something to the poor. 30As soon as Judas had taken the bread, he went out. And it was night.
Seldom do any of us know what is going to happen before it occurs. We are generally not privileged to have foresight, but instead are burdened with 20/20 hindsight. Sometimes, because of Jesus’ divinity, we think He was omniscient because He was fully man and fully God. Besides bringing salvation to fallen man, Jesus came to show us God, to show us God’s heart, and to teach us how to live our lives before God and with man. Jesus gave us the example of praying always and it was through prayer that Jesus learned who would betray Him. How terrible it would be to sit at a table with someone who had been your friend, knowing that you would soon be betrayed by that same friend.
What can we learn from the above scriptures?
- Jesus knew His time was short, and He spent the last night with His disciples, His friends.
- Jesus tells His disciples of future events so that when His predictions come true His followers would finally realize who He is
- Believers would accept His disciples because they were sent by Jesus, and they would accept Jesus because He was sent by God.
May we follow Jesus’ example always by keeping our friends close and by learning God’s heart through prayer.
God chooses Moses
God Chooses Moses
Exodus 3:1-12 (New American Standard Bible)
Exodus 3
The Burning Bush
1Now Moses was pasturing the flock of (A)Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian; and he led the flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to (B)Horeb, the (C)mountain of God.
2(D)The angel of the LORD appeared to him in a blazing fire from the midst of a (E)bush; and he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, yet the bush was not consumed.
3So Moses said, “(F)I must turn aside now and see this marvelous sight, why the bush is not burned up.”
4When the LORD saw that he turned aside to look, (G)God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.”
7 The LORD did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. 8 But it was because the LORD loved you and kept the oath he swore to your forefathers that he brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt. 9 Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commands.
Have you ever been going along, minding your own business, and suddenly a life-changing moment occurred? This is what happened with Moses. You will remember he had fled Egypt twenty years earlier after killing an Egyptian for cruelty he witnessed toward a slave. Now he was shepherding his father-in-law’s flock and he witnesses something quite miraculous–a bush that is on fire, yet is not consumed by that fire. Even more startling was the voice coming from the bush that called Moses by name.
I love that when God called Moses He called him by name. It was a personal call, and God had a specific plan for his life and for his mission. And Moses, though not completely convinced he was the man for the plan, answered “Here am I.”
God did not call Israel because they were special, He called them to be special. The plan to deliver Israel was a microcosm of the larger plan to redeem the world through a chosen people. God desired to use Israel as a beacon of light to the world, to show that there is one God and His name is Yahweh, and to share His salvation with the rest of the world. It was the nation through whom our Savior would come, it was to be a nation of priests, and of missionaries to the rest of the world. He began by calling Abraham and waited until he and his wife Sarah were far beyond the age of child bearing to begin to fulfill His plan. The plan continued through Isaac and now God was calling Moses.
May you listen to God’s call upon your life, and may you choose to say “Here am I, send me.”
Jesus washes the disciples’ feet
Jesus washes the disciples’ feet
Seeking Holiness 