John 14:6 - No One Comes To The Father Except Through Me. (part 2)
John 14:6 - No One Comes To The Father Except Through Me. (part
2)
John 14:6 (NKJV) Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth,
and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
INTRODUCTION
Jesus is not one way among many, but the way to God (cf. Ac
4:12; Heb 10:19-20). [NIV SB]
Jesus says he is the only way to God the Father. Some people may
argue that this way is too narrow. In reality, it is wide enough for
the whole world, if the world chooses to accept it. Instead of
worrying about how limited it sounds to have only one way, we should be
saying, "Thank you, God, for providing a sure way to get to you!" [Life
Application SB]
Some would say that a single way is entirely too restrictive.
But that attitude fails to see the desperate state of the human
condition. That there is a way at all is evidence of God's grace and love.
The state of human rebellion can be seen in this: We are like people
drowning at sea who are graciously thrown a life-saving rope but who
respond by insisting that we deserve a choice of several ropes along
with the option of swimming to safety if we so choose. (Life
Application Commentary)
Jesus did not merely show the way to God; He said, "I am the
way." He did not claim merely to know the truth; He said, "I am the
truth." He did not merely point to the abundant life; He said, "I am
the life." Therefore, within Christianity if there is no Christ,
there is no way to God, no truth about God, and no vitality.
How could Jesus make such claims? If He was only a man, His
claims are preposterous. But if He is who He said He is, and if He did
what He said He would do, His claims make sense. Jesus claimed to be
God and to have come to earth to die for our own sin. We deserve to
die for our own sin, but Jesus died in our place. He who was
sinless accepted the guilt of our sin and died for us. No one else
could do it, but He could and did. Thus, He literally became the door
by which sinful men and women can approach the Father. James Boice
[Time with God SB]
How could a loving God send someone to hell when that person
never heard the Good News of Jesus? In fact, says Paul, in creation
God has revealed himself plainly to all people. Also, everyone has
an inner sense of what God requires. All people are wired for a
personal relationship with God, and if they seek him they will find him.
No one will go to hell simply because he or she missed out. God
watches over every individual, knowing the number of hairs on every
head. He reveals himself and touches lives, but people must choose to
respond appropriately to whatever understanding they have.
God could have kept humans in ignorance about himself, but he
chose to reveal himself in nature, through the Scriptures, and in
Jesus Christ. Those who've been given greater revelation have a
greater responsibility to respond to it, but no one has been left
completely in the dark. Because God has made certain facts about himself
plain, people will someday have to give an account before God of why
they chose to ignore his existence and his character. [The One Year
Bible for New Believers re Rom. 1:18-20]
QUESTION
Is This Fair, Just And Right? Is This What One Would Expect Of
God Almighty?
Many people reject Christianity because of these verses (John
14:6 and Acts 4:12). These verses seem to say that all God's
creatures who have not heard of Christ and accepted Him as their Savior
and Lord would be lost. Thus masses of His creatures would be
automatically deprived of salvation just because they had not heard of Christ
or refused to accept Him as their Savior and Lord. This would
include most if not all Moslems, Hindus, Buddhist's, Primitive peoples,
etc. If true this would be so unfair and unjust of God that most
could not accept such a God. The answer to this dilemma is found in
John 1:9:
John 1:9 (NKJV) That was the true Light which gives light to
every man coming into the world.
Christ is the "Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into
the world." John 1:9. As through Christ every human being has life,
so also through Him every soul receives some ray of divine Light.
Not only intellectual but spiritual power, a perception of right, a
desire for goodness, exists in every heart. But against these
principles there is struggling an antagonistic power. The result of the
eating of the tree of knowledge of good and evil is manifest in every
man's experience. There is in his nature a bent to evil, a force
which, unaided, he cannot resist. To withstand this force, to attain
that ideal which in his inmost soul he accepts as alone worthy, he
can find help in but one power. That power is Christ. Co-operation
with that power is man's greatest need. ED29
Wherever there is an impulse of love and sympathy, wherever the
heart reaches out to bless and uplift others, there is revealed the
working of God's Holy Spirit. In the depths of heathenism, men who have
had no knowledge of the written law of God, who have never even
heard the name of Christ, have been kind to His servants, protecting
them at the risk of their own lives. Their acts show the working of a
divine power. The Holy Spirit has implanted the grace of Christ in the
heart of the savage, quickening his sympathies contrary to his nature,
contrary to his education. The "Light, which lighteth every man that
cometh into the world" (John 1:9), is shining in his soul; and this
Light, if heeded, will guide his feet to the kingdom of God. COL385
It was morning; the sun had just risen above the Mount of
Olives, and its rays fell with dazzling brightness on the marble
palaces, and lighted up the gold of the temple walls, when Jesus,
pointing to it, said, "I am the light of the world."
In the manifestation of God to His people, light had ever been
a symbol of His presence. At the creative word in the beginning,
light had shone out of darkness. Light had been enshrouded in the
pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night, leading the
vast armies of Israel. Light blazed with awful grandeur about the
Lord on Mount Sinai. Light rested over the mercy-seat in the
tabernacle. Light filled the temple of Solomon at its dedication. Light
shone on the hills of Bethlehem when the angels brought the message of
redemption to the watching shepherds.
God is light; and in the words, "I am the light of the world,"
Christ declared His oneness with God, and His relation to the whole
human family. It was He who at the beginning had caused "the light to
shine out of darkness."[2 Cor. 4:6.] He is the light of sun and moon
and star. He was the spiritual light that in symbol and type and
prophecy had shone upon Israel. But not to the Jewish nation alone was
the light given. As the sunbeams penetrate to the remotest corners
of the earth, so does the light of the Sun of Righteousness shine
upon every soul.
"That was the true light, which lighteth every man that cometh
into the world." DA463-4
GOD AND GOD ONLY IS SOVEREIGN
That God has an "eternal purpose" for all things is both
scriptural and logical. If God is God at all, He is sovereign. He cannot
work independently of His own nature, for then He would cease to be
God, something that is impossible. He is a wise God; therefore, His
eternal purpose is a wise one. He is a powerful God; therefore, He is
able to accomplish what He purposes. He is a loving God; therefore,
what He purposes will manifest His love. He is an unchanging God;
therefore, His purpose is unchanging. . . . .
Words like "predestination" and "election" frighten some
people and are greatly misunderstood by others. "If God has an eternal
purpose, then why bother to do anything?" some people ask. "Why pray? Why
send out missionaries? After all, God will certainly achieve His
purpose!"
But not without us! God has ordained (and this is amazing)
that His purposes shall be fulfilled in and through His church. Why
pray? Because prayer is one of God's ordained ways to accomplish His
will in us and through us. Why send out missionaries? Because He has
commanded us to carry the gospel to the ends of the earth, and our
obedience is a part of His ordained plan. God's eternal purpose,
established "before the world was," is not an excuse for carelessness and
disobedience. It is one of our greatest encouragements to obedience and
service.
God's eternal purpose is not fatalism. Rather, it is the
perfect plan of a loving Father, and our Father loves us too much to
harm us. He is too wise to make mistakes. "The counsel of the Lord
stands forever, the plans of His heart from generation to generation"
(Psalm 33:11). Note that important phrase: "the plans of His
heart...."
Please keep in mind that a part of God's eternal plan is the
fact that man shall have moral freedom. Divine sovereignty and human
responsibility do not conflict or contradict each other; they are friends, not
enemies. . . .
"But why did God plan it this way?" some may ask. Because His
plan is the best. God cannot ordain less than the very best. There
are some things about God's plan that we may not understand, but we
agree with our Lord's affirmation of faith in Matthew 11:26, "Yes,
Father, for thus it was well-pleasing in Thy sight." And if any of us
gets the idea that God needed our help as consultants, we had better
listen again to Paul: "For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who
became His counselor?" (Romans 11:34). God did not need our help in
framing His great plan, nor does He need our criticism of it. But He
does want to share with us the privilege of working out His plan in
this world. . . . . . .
These truths were not given so that we might debate, but that
we might surrender and worship. It is not a big head, but a burning
heart, that proves we have grasped something of the meaning of God's
eternal plan. from Prayer: Basic Training by Warren W. Wiersbe,
FINAL THOUGHT
Several years ago I was speaking at a Bible club at UCLA,
using John 14:6. A young fellow came up to me afterward and said, "Dr.
McGee, I have one criticism of that verse. It is too dogmatic." I said
to him, "I agree with you. It is dogmatic. In fact, it is the most
dogmatic statement I can think of. But it is the characteristic of truth
to be dogmatic."
Then I gave him the illustration of a teacher I had when I was
first starting school. She taught me that two plus two equals four.
She was not broad-minded about it. She had no tolerance for anything
else. To be honest with you, I was very broadminded in those days. As
far as I was concerned, two plus two could equal three or five. But
she insisted that under every circumstance, two plus two equals
four! You just cannot get any more dogmatic than that. But I have
thanked God for her since then because I now do business with a bank
that is equally narrow-minded. Also, when I figure out my income tax,
I have found that the government has the same narrowminded idea
about two plus two.
May I say to you, my beloved, truth is always dogmatic. And if
it is not dogmatic, it is not truth. by J. Vernon McGee [Passages
Of Life SB]
SUPPORTING TEXTS
Isa 43:11 (KJV) I, even I, am the LORD; and beside me there is
no saviour.
Isaiah 45:22 (NKJV) "Look to Me, and be saved, All you ends of
the earth! For I am God, and there is no other.
John 14:6 (NKJV) Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth,
and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
Acts 4:12 (NKJV) Nor is there salvation in any other, for there
is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be
saved."
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