How Many Ways To God?

In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. And you know the way to where I am going." Thomas said to him, "Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?" Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." John 14:2-6 ESV

The disciples who were with Jesus for over three years saw Him heal the sick, calm a storm, walk on water, and even restore life to a man who'd been dead for days. They also heard Him teach profound truths both to the multitudes and to themselves as they traveled about.

But for all that time they spent watching and listening to Jesus, there was still much they did not understand about Him. When He spoke about going and preparing a place for them, and coming again to take them to be with Him, they weren't sure what He was talking about.

Therefore when He told them "you know the way to where I am going" Thomas had to speak up. He felt he needed to explain to Jesus that He was mistaken. How could they know the way to where He was going if they didn't even know where it was that He was going?

Jesus wasn't perturbed by what Thomas said. He understood both the situation and His disciples much better than they did. He didn't try to resolve their dilemma by showing on a map the way to where He was going. Nor did He give them a list of directions to memorize so they wouldn't get lost on the way to the location where He would prepare a place for them to be with Him.

Instead of providing a map or directions to show the way, Jesus answered Thomas with one of the most amazing things ever spoken by anyone. Jesus told him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me."

The place where Jesus was going was to be back with the Father. Later He would return and take them to be with Him in the presence of the Father. And there is only one way to come into the presence of  God the Father. That one and only way is a person,  Jesus Christ.

Why is Jesus the only way to God?

Because God is perfectly holy. We are all sinners. None of us as sinners could tolerate to be in the presence of the one true and holy God. As sinners we reject God and His Lordship over us. With our sinful thoughts, words, and deeds we rebel against God. We deny that He knows what is right for us. We declare by our actions that we deem ourselves to be better at determining what is best for us. We don't want Him to tell us how to live.

We totally deserve the judgment of God. And there is no way to fool God into thinking otherwise.

But there is a way to be accepted by God. One way. Only one way.

Jesus is that one way. He was sinless. He always has and always will do what pleases His Father. He deserves no judgment, no rejection, no punishment from His Father.

When Jesus was declared guilty by men, and crucified and put to death by men, it was not as a consequence of sinning against God. What men did to Him was because they did not like what He said, even though everything He said was true. They didn't like what He did, because they wanted to be the ones to decide who did what and when. They had decided they knew what was best and they didn't want Him around to interfere with what they wanted to teach and do.

Jesus suffered and died on the cross. He got what we deserve, not what He deserved. He went to the cross on our behalf, in our place. On that cross, His Father rejected Him, treating Him as if He had sinned the sins we have committed.

Jesus died because the wages of sin is death, and He took that payment on our behalf. His body was laid in a tomb. But on the third day after the crucifixion, Jesus left the tomb with a resurrection body what could never die again. His sacrificial death to atone for our sins was acceptable to the Father.

Only Jesus, having paid for our sins by His death on the cross, is the way we can be accepted into the presence of God. If we reject that way, if we reject Jesus and tell Him we'll find another way to be acceptable to God, we'll simply be adding more sin and rebellion against God than we already have committed.

How many ways to God? One. That way is Jesus. He is both Son of God and Son of Man, who came in the flesh as a baby so that he could be one of us, and grow up and then suffer and die for us. He got what we deserve. We can be blessed with the eternal life and unending joy that He deserves.

If at this time you do not acknowledge Jesus as your savior and lord, I urge you to take the time to get to know Him in Scripture. Read the Bible, starting with the New Testament. When you come to know Jesus, you will come to know the way, the truth, and the life.