READ John 14:1-6
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%2014&version=NIV
In John 14:6, the Lord makes a powerful, unequivocal statement. Jesus clearly says, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me." People have fought that statement for 2,000 years. Some say the Lord didn't mean for it to be taken literally. Others categorically reject His authority to make the claim at all.
However, as believers in the lordship of Jesus Christ, we must take what He says as truth. So let's think for a moment about the word picture in that verse. When Jesus calls Himself "the way," many people imagine a one-way street. They take this to mean that there are lots of roads, but He is the only one that leads to the Father.That's a good image, but I think we can do even better.I like to think of Jesus not as a road, but as a bridge—our bridge to God.
Consider the apostle Paul's warning in Romans 3:23: "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (emphasis added). The picture here is of a great chasm between us and God, and we cannot make it across. Unable to bridge the gap, we fall. So, what is the only way across a chasm? A bridge, of course. And that's what Jesus is for us. He stands in the gap, providing safe passage across the void and into the loving arms of the Father.
Meditate on this mental image. When we imagine ourselves helpless and lost—with heaven across a great divide, just out of reach—we can truly appreciate the power of the cross.
- Charles Stanley
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%2014&version=NIV
In John 14:6, the Lord makes a powerful, unequivocal statement. Jesus clearly says, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me." People have fought that statement for 2,000 years. Some say the Lord didn't mean for it to be taken literally. Others categorically reject His authority to make the claim at all.
However, as believers in the lordship of Jesus Christ, we must take what He says as truth. So let's think for a moment about the word picture in that verse. When Jesus calls Himself "the way," many people imagine a one-way street. They take this to mean that there are lots of roads, but He is the only one that leads to the Father.That's a good image, but I think we can do even better.I like to think of Jesus not as a road, but as a bridge—our bridge to God.
Consider the apostle Paul's warning in Romans 3:23: "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (emphasis added). The picture here is of a great chasm between us and God, and we cannot make it across. Unable to bridge the gap, we fall. So, what is the only way across a chasm? A bridge, of course. And that's what Jesus is for us. He stands in the gap, providing safe passage across the void and into the loving arms of the Father.
Meditate on this mental image. When we imagine ourselves helpless and lost—with heaven across a great divide, just out of reach—we can truly appreciate the power of the cross.
- Charles Stanley
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