I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. John 14:6

It’s not too well know even among believers that Christians were first called The Way or People of the Way as early as in the Book of Acts. The term referred to Jesus’ claim that He was “the Way.” It is interesting that of all that Jesus taught, claimed and revealed about Himself, the first Christians so identified themselves with Jesus as “the Way” it became their name.

Jesus had been preparing the disciples for His departure from them. I can only imagine their fear and agitation, realizing Jesus was leaving. With great compassion He then added “You know the way to the place where I am going.” They were not comforted one whit.

“Lord,” said Thomas, “we do not know where You are going, so how can we know the way? John 14:5
Jesus responded: “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.…”John 14:6

It was a radical claim. Jesus wasn’t only talking about His journey to the cross or the physical direction He was taking. He was describing a new access to God, the Way to the Father which can only be through Himself. And once again, the Lord turned everything upside down with His words. The Jews believed that the Torah, that is the Law and the Prophets, were the way to God. Any other way or person claiming so was blasphemy. In Acts 24:14 Paul describes how through Jesus, this is no longer so.

But this I confess to you, that according to the Way, which they call a sect, I worship the God of our fathers, believing everything laid down by the Law and written in the Prophets…

Jesus’ death and blood atonement rent the veil which had separated sinner from God. When reborn by faith in Jesus as Savior, the believer receives direct, joyful access to the Holy God. Jesus is the Way and The Way is Torah. The Way leads to eternal life and God.

Jesus’ statement was of course a stumbling block to the Jews who rejected Him. How dare this man make such a claim! Their answer was to crucify Him. It is still a stumbling block to the world which rejects His Word. How dare Christians say their Jesus is the Way to God, the enlightened ones argue? Their answer is to mock Christians as feeble minded, irrelevant and intolerant.

The world view says there are many paths to God, not one, and most certainly not the Way Jesus offers. A popular bumper sticker proclaims tolerance for all beliefs: “Coexist” is printed in a string of graphic symbols: the Islamic crescent moon, the hippie peace sign, male/female icon, the six pointed Jewish star, yin /yang of Confucianism and finally – the cross at the end. How many tolerant Christians embracing co-existence realize that a Wiccan pentagram sits atop the letter “i” ?

It makes no sense that beliefs which are intrinsically contradictory to one another all lead to the One True God. They can’t. They’re more like a clutter of road construction signs planted at the base of today’s Mount Olympus. The God of the Bible does not coexist there! All paths do not lead to God.

Because of technology no one on this planet risks getting lost, not even in the traffic jungle of New York City. To paraphrase, “all paths lead to GPS,” the global system which locates where we are and where we should go. But we’re more lost than ever. The gods of this age have gotten our souls so far off course that no amount of satellites in the sky can find us. This “ism” of one path just leads to more paths, like rat mazes with no end or purpose except to go round and round in a cage in some one else’s experiment.

I am so thankful Jesus saved me while I was lost. I had followed the path of pride which led to arrogance, humiliation and despair. The path of legalistic religion led to decades of rebellion against God. Philosophy and psychology? Roads covered by amoral landslides. Tolerance of all and everything brought neither wisdom nor tolerance. All my intellectual, humanistic, enlightened paths led to a dark dead end on a high cliff – and I knew I could not fly.

I no longer need or desire to walk my own way. The peace, love and purpose I have in Christ now is undeniable evidence that His Way is the only Way. It is God’s positioning system which finds me and becomes the Way home.