I am the way, the truth, and the life (2)
I am the way … (John 14:6).
If you came to my house, you would generally come in the front door. But you could also go through the back door or the patio door that opens onto the garden. In the Old Testament, the Tabernacle which God designed had only one entrance. There were no side or back ways into God’s dwelling place. God was demonstrating to us that there is only one way into His presence. When we come to the New Testament, we learn that way is a Person, Jesus Christ.
The Old Testament promised God’s Messiah. The Jews and even the Samaritans looked for Him. The woman at the well told Jesus she knew the Messiah was coming (John 4:25). A Saviour was expected. But Jesus was a surprise to His people. They understood the Messiah to be a mighty deliverer who would set them free from Rome and establish an earthly kingdom. Instead, the Lord Jesus revealed Himself as a far greater Saviour, not only dealing with the needs of His people in Israel, but the One who was “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). God made it clear when sin entered the world that a sacrifice was needed to bring people to God. It was God who made the first sacrifice when He killed the animals to clothe Adam and Eve (Genesis 3:21). Abraham explained to Isaac that God would provide a lamb for a burnt offering (Genesis 22:8). When God instituted the Passover, He said when He saw the blood, He would pass over them (Exodus 12:13). All these pictures and types looked on to the Lord Jesus who “not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption” (Hebrews 9:12). Now we have boldness “to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus” (Hebrews 10:19).
When the passenger ferry Herald of Free Enterprise sank outside the Belgian port of Zeebrugge in 1987, many people lost their lives. There were heroic stories of those who tried to save others. In one remarkable instance, a man made himself into a human bridge so that people could walk over him to safety. This is what the Lord Jesus did for the world; He became the way to God by the sacrifice of Himself. When we came to Christ, we knew with absolute clarity that Jesus was the only way to God. We trusted implicitly in the Lord Jesus, and the blessing of salvation filled our hearts.
But during our lives we often go our own way and struggle in our own strength. We are like a brother who was once travelling through Israel. He wanted to find the way to a particular place. He stopped a local man and asked him. The man said he would take him. But the brother said he only needed to know the way. The man replied, “I am the way.” Now in resurrection and the power of an endless life, the Lord Jesus is still the way and He is able to save completely those who come to God through Him (Hebrews 7:25).
We don’t merely need directions. We need the One who still says to our hearts, “I am the way” and who invites us to walk day-by-day with Him.
