I am the way, the truth, and the life (1)
I am… (John 14:6).
Of all the “I am” statements of the Lord Jesus in John’s gospel, “I am the way, the truth, and the life” is the most comprehensive. The Lord Jesus is the only way of salvation, the absolute truth and the One who gives and sustains life. We live in a world which has all but ceased to believe in absolutes. Everything is relative to how the individual feels and thinks. The Christian faith is based upon the absolute statements of the Son of God. Thomas was confused and told the Lord that the disciples did not know where He was going, so how could they know the way? Thomas, even as a disciple of Jesus, failed to understand the work of Christ but his question served to draw the answer that still bows our heart in worship: “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” In verse 8, Philip also failed to understand the Person of Christ when he asked Jesus, to show the disciples the Father. You sense the disappointment in the Lord’s heart when He replied, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me?” (verses 9-10).
It has always been difficult for people to understand how the lowly Jesus of Nazareth could be the way of salvation, the embodiment of truth, the One who is life and the perfect expression of God. That is why we need to consider the first two words of our verse, “I am”, before exploring the meaning of the way, the truth and the life. These two tiny words link
the Jesus of the New Testament to the Jehovah of the Old Testament. The God whom Israel worshipped was the Person who created everything. He was all-knowing and all-powerful. He revealed Himself to Moses in Exodus 3:14 as the “I am”. It is interesting that in the same passage God speaks to Moses about His people. He saw their oppression in Egypt, heard their cry of suffering, knew their sorrows and as the “I am” He was going to come down and deliver them (Exodus 3:7-8). This theme runs powerfully through the whole of the Old Testament. God is presented as the only Saviour. His word is truth, and He is the Creator and upholder of life. But the “I am” was only known from a distance. Even Moses was not allowed to see Him in all His glory. The High Priest could only go into the Holy of Holies in the Tabernacle and the Temple on a special annual occasion. God’s presence and His power to save was unquestioned, but there was always a distance between Him and His people.
The fullness of the heart of God and His true nature were never fully revealed until Jesus came into the world. We must always remember that the Person who came into creation was the Creator. It was God who became Man. It was the Son who became the Servant. John chapter 1 declares, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). The deity of the Lord Jesus is presented throughout this gospel. It is John who records Jesus’ words, “Before Abraham was, I am” (John 8:58). When the officers came to arrest Jesus of Nazareth, He replied, “I am He” and they drew back and fell to the ground (John 18:6).
The deity of Christ is fundamental to the Christian faith. Today it is questioned and denied with many other fundamentals of the Christian faith. How important it is that we assert the truth and live in the joy of knowing the One who, as He went in love to Calvary, said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.”
