Jesus is the Life

The third part of this “I Am” statement is Jesus saying, “I am the life” (John 14:6 [EMTV]). Just as there is no way apart from Jesus and no ultimate truth apart from Him, there is no life apart from Christ. Jesus said, “For just as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself, and has given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man. Do not marvel at this; for an hour is coming in which all those in the tombs will hear His voice and shall come forth–those who have done good, to a resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to a resurrection of condemnation” (John 5:26-29 [EMTV]). Jesus would lay down His life at Calvary. He would rise again on the first day of the week. Paul wrote, “But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit indwelling in you” (Rom 8:11 [EMTV]). We find our hope for life, not in the latest medical treatment or so-called miraculous nutritional supplement, but in Christ, the first-fruits of the dead.

Application: When we look at Jesus, we see the very definition of life. We do not need to continually try to describe it. We do not need to look for the latest guru to reveal some profound new teaching to us. What we do know is that in Christ we have redemption. Baptism serves as a sign of our uniting with Christ in His death and resurrection. As He has life, so He will grant to us to live. We may die now, but we have a hope that just as Christ was raised from the dead, so too will we be raised from the dead.

Jesus is the Truth

Jesus is the Truth. Jesus does not merely convey truth to us. He does not just communicate partial truth to us. He does not communicate the opinions of men. He claims to be much more. Hendricksen points out that Jesus is “the very embodiment of the Truth.”¹ John told us that Jesus is the Logos, the Word of God incarnate when he wrote, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1 [EMTV]). He also said, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14 [EMTV]). Hendricksen reminds us, “Jesus is the truth because he is the dependable source of redemptive revelation”² When Pilate asked Jesus, “What is truth?” (John 18:38 [EMTV]), he did not see that the Logos, the Word incarnate was standing right before him.

Application: We can look for truth, but if what we find does not lead us to the Truth, then what we have found is something other than the truth. We can find no ultimate truth apart from Jesus Christ. The Islamic works or the Buddhist middle way are not valid, authentic ways to reach God. Jesus Christ has not only revealed the Father to us, but is the only way in which we can reach God. Any other claim to truth leads into a false path that will lead to destruction.

1Hendricksen, John., p. 268.

2Ibid.

Jesus: The Way

Jesus is the way. He is not “a way” or “telling us about the way,” or pointing us to someone else who can show us the way. No, Jesus claims to be the way. There is a uniqueness to Christ. This is nothing new. In chapter 10, Christ referred to Himself as the Good Shepherd. He also characterized Himself as the door to the sheepfold. He did not say that there were many doors. We can see from the beginning of the Old Testament things which show us that God is not a pluralist.

There was one entrance to the garden of Eden. After Adam and Eve had been expelled, an angel with a flaming sword was stationed at the entrance to guard the way so that they might not be able to get to the tree of life. No matter how hard Adam may have searched, there was no way He and Eve could get back into the garden and have access to the tree of life.

There was one entrance into the Ark. God told Noah to build the Ark and to have a door in it. It is through that door that Noah, his wife, his sons, and their wives entered. It was through that door that the animals who were to be preserved entered. It is that door that stood open for anyone who wished to enter the Ark. The Scripture teaches us that God waited patiently to execute His judgment while the Ark was being built.¹ However, those who did not heed the warnings of Noah to enter the Ark, who chose to stay outside, perished. There were not hundreds of little boats going along in the wake of the Ark, nor were there other arks prepared by other people directed by other gods. There was but one Ark, and one entrance into it. The one way in which anyone then could have been saved was to enter into the Ark via the door.

 

There was one entrance into the Tabernacle, and later, into the Temple to get to the most holy place. There were not multiple entrances. by which people could get in. There are many other examples which could be used, but this should illustrate that Jesus did not teach the ideas we have of pluralism and inclusivism, that there are many ways to “get to God.”

Hendricksen says, “This is another of the seven great I AM's of John's Gospel . . . . In the predicate of each of the words way, truth, and life is preceded by the definite article.”² He goes on to say, “Jesus does not merely show the way; he is himself the way. It is true that he teaches the way (Mark 12:14; Luke 20:21), guides us in the way (Luke 1:79), and has dedicated for us a new and living way (Heb. 10:20); but all this is possible only because he is himself the way.”³ Hendricksen also makes a valid point about us being saved by the person of Christ, not some nebulous principle or undefined force. He uses this illustration: “In the school the pupil is educated not primarily by blackboards, books, and maps, but by the teacher who makes use of all these means.”⁴ Jesus did not come to merely teach us about God, but to reveal God to us and to make a way for us to God through Himself. He is our way to God.

We cannot hold on to the thought that there are other, equally valid ways of approaching God. There are many examples that God is not pleased when we try to do things our way. The rebellion of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram give evidence of that. They rebelled against the appointment of the Aaronic priesthood, and they perished. Scripture tells us that “the ground under them split apart. And the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, with their households and all the people who belonged to Korah and all their goods. So they and all that belonged to them went down alive into Sheol, and the earth closed over them” (Num 16:32-33 [ESV]). Jesus is the way, and there is no other.

1See 1 Peter 3:20

2William Hendricksen, New Testament Commentary: Exposition of the Gospel According to John, Vol. 2 (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 1953), p. 267.

3Ibid.

4Hendricksen, John, p. 267.