Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me (John 14:6).
How can we understand this verse, these three aspects of Jesus? This passage takes place while Jesus is with His disciples in the upper room, just shortly before they leave for Gethsemane to be betrayed by Judas. Jesus told them several minutes earlier that He was leaving. That saddened them. That’s when this chapter starts and Jesus tells them not to be troubled. As part of His encouragement to them, He reveals this phrase about Himself.
The Way
Jesus is the way to the Father and to the glorious dwelling places, the many mansions that He is making for us. He is the only way there. A good gospel presentation always shows Jesus as the means of salvation. Not faith in your good deeds, your church, or any human figure.
Jesus told them in 14:4 that they already knew the way. Don’t misunderstand what salvation is. Faith in Jesus is not a means to something other than Him. Faith in Jesus is the destination. Keep on believing Him and you are on the way, on the path. When we first believed in Jesus we received every spiritual blessing. Now we read the bible to learn of them and believe Jesus for each one we discover. They all result in trusting the Savior. The Bible points us to Him. Faith is grounded in Him, pointed at Him, all the time. We never graduate to something beyond Him. This faith in Jesus is the path, the Way that profoundly changes us.
Someone once asked if we can have salvation apart from a relationship with Jesus. Of course not. He is the whole point of our salvation. He came to reconcile us to God. When we stick with Him, then we are already walking on the path of salvation. With Him, we are, in a sense, already home. We say with the disciples in John 6:68, “To whom else shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” Stay in the elevator and it will get you to the top. Stay in Jesus and He’ll get you to the Father and the many mansions.
The Truth
If we are trusting Jesus, as opposed to trusting in our good deeds or this world’s idols, then that’s because the Spirit has shown us the truth. The world is full of smoke and mirrors. It intrigues the mind, entertains the soul, and dazzles the eyes. When we turn from that to Jesus, then we are acting on the truth. We see that Jesus is more substantial than what the world gives. The truth is always more than what the world is giving us.
What is the truth about love? Jesus is; He modeled love perfectly, even loving the unlovable. But we would favor only those who do good to us. What is the truth of righteousness? Jesus is; He perfectly pleased the Father. Yet we think it the greatest thing to please ourselves first. We have the truth when we imitate Christ in spite of the selfishness we feel.
The Bible doesn’t seem to define what truth is. Instead, it gives us a shortcut to it by pointing us to Jesus. “Grace and truth came through Jesus,” John 1:17 says. We didn’t know what truth was until we saw Jesus. For example, we thought it was fine to live life apart from God. Now we know we were living a lie, not the truth. Jesus’ love for the Father opens our eyes. We learn that loving God is a positive thing. When we really know the truth, it changes us. We move from loving sin and the world to something greater. We grow more into the image of Jesus from glory to glory by the Spirit of the Lord. The truth makes a difference. That’s how you know whether your Bible times are making a difference — you are getting life-changing truth instead of head knowledge. You are seeing Jesus.
Jesus is the truth of what we may become as human beings made in the image of God. (No, we won’t take on His attributes as God.) Gaining head knowledge alone doesn’t do this. The truth is something the Spirit reveals to us. And the Spirit loves to tell us about Jesus.
The Life
We wonder what life is supposed to be about. For an answer, we have only to see Jesus. Again, it’s a shortcut. Focus on Jesus and you’ll know life.
His life with the Father was the example of life. Jesus Himself imparts life to us in the form of a relationship. Isn’t this is what happens when we enter into a terrific relationship with someone and things click? You can be with a whiny, negative person who drains the life out of you. A positive minded person restores life. The life that Jesus imparts is greater.
In Him was life, John wrote. He’s not just the example of life. He imparts life itself. He upholds all things by His life and power. He renews our strength that we may soar on eagle’s wings, and run and not faint. He spoke — and dead Lazarus came alive. Jesus imparts life. You know the way to go when you need your life revived.
Jesus was exhausted by the well in Samaria, but after His talk with the Samaritan woman He said to his disciples who wanted Him to eat, “I have food to eat that you know nothing of.” He was revived. He obeyed the Father and it was life to Him. The Father gave Him His own joy. This is life imparted. Jesus said in John 15:10-11 that He will give love and joy to us who obey Him. This is life imparted. Again, we have a taste of this when we are in company with another who energizes us. We further learn in John 14:21-23 that the life is Jesus living His life through us just as the Father lived in Jesus. God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself. Paul’s great goal was that we would know “Christ in you, the hope of glory.”
We want to know the purpose of life. Why were we put on this earth? The Bible points us to Jesus and His relationship with the Father. Though He has gone away, we experience His touch every day as we are with Him in Spirit. He really did rise from the dead. He really is alive. We really do sense His life at times. When we sacrifice other things to pursue this relationship with God, then we are on the “way,” we truly grasp the “truth,” and spiritual “life” revives us. All because we take the shortcut and just trust Jesus.
Living with Jesus is not boring when He is imparting His life and sense of purpose to us as we wait for Him to come and take us to His glorious home.
