I am the way, and the truth, and the life

John 14:6, Matthew 28:18

The Greek relating Jesus’ words in our passage is emphatic: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). In another instance, Jesus was even more emphatic: “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth” (Matthew 28:18).

No one in all of human history ever made this claim. Other religious leaders said, “I know the way, truth, life”; Jesus claimed to be the way, truth, and life.

We need to be clear on these claims to absolute truth.

Jesus said, in essence: I am God; I am preparing your place in heaven; I will take you there; I alone can take you there.

Acts 4:12 asserts, “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.” The Bible clearly claims that Jesus Christ is the only way, the only truth, and the only life.

The text begins in John 14:1: “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me.” The Greek syntax indicates the stopping of an action currently in progress; the phrase could be rendered as “stop letting your hearts be troubled.”

Jesus has just instituted the Lord’s Supper, at which he told his disciples again of his impending death (John 13:33). Imagine a loved one who just told you that he or she would die tomorrow—it is no wonder that they were “troubled.”

If anyone deserved to be comforted while facing his own “troubled heart,” it was Jesus on this night. Soon he would suffer the worst torture and execution humans can invent. And yet he is the one comforting them!

Jesus will soon die for their sins, abandoned by them at the cross. Jesus comforts us still with these precious words. He claimed to be the only way, which we’ve discussed. He claimed that he is the truth, the one who established all reality, the one by whom we measure everything. In addition, he is the only way to walk life.

Consider four claims by our Lord:

1. Jesus claimed that he is God (John 10:33).
2. He is preparing heaven for us.
3. He will take us there himself (14:3).
4. He is the only way to God (v. 6).

Allow these truths to settle in. Jesus claimed to be the exclusive means to a relationship with God, a weighty claim.

Do you believe it?

Consider how the culture opposes claims to exclusive truth. Why do Jesus’ words not give us the option to allow everyone to follow their own morality and path?

Are you taking that message in and believing it?

Or do you follow Jesus alone?

Make a spiritual commitment whether you will stand with Jesus, regardless of what the culture says.