John 14:6 I Am the Way, the Truth and the Life

[HKHaugan]

1 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. 2My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. 4 You know the way to the place where I am going.” 5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” 6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."

I have always been fascinated by the order of the words “the way, the truth and the life.” Why that particular sequence? To me understanding Scripture calls for seeing the context, that is, the situation in which a passage occurs, the overall culture of the time and the Old Testament heritage. The reason for that is Scripture possesses principles which transcend culture, time and circumstance. These principles are adaptable no matter where you are, with whom you relate and for the demands of the moment. They are given in Scripture to enable us to be vessels through whom God demonstrates His character and purposes.

Vs.6 contains one of the seven ‘I am’ passages in the Gospel of John. Each of these point to one basic theme, the present. “I am” does three things. First, it is identifying Jesus as being God the Son through whom the universe had its beginning. Second, it’s God’s voice to Moses after Moses asked what He should answer if Pharaoh questions his authority. Third, it makes absolutely clear that Jesus is always present in every present moment and every next moment. As Hebrews 13 tells us, He is the same “yesterday, today and forever.” Jesus is timeless, the Father is timeless and the Holy Spirit is timeless. God is timeless.

What this means for us is that when everything comes to an end, ---the rapture, the transformation of existence as we know it, the judgment day, the new Heaven and the new earth---all the promises of God will be realized and we will be taken into a timeless experience of His presence. We will have no memory of the past with its ‘troubled hearts,’ sin, evil, pain, sorrow, regret, guilt and remorse. We will be in the company of all those whose faith in Jesus grows forward not backward. We will find ourselves in the fulfillment of Jesus’ idea of His Body, His Church, His family being His bride. Eternity is not a series of endless days. It is being in the present presence of God and that has no end. There is no way we can really comprehend what all that means in our present condition but that is what hope and promise are all about. It is what lies ahead. What Jesus promised His Resurrection assured. Our hope is a spiritual gift of assurance that what He has promised will take place. In the presence of Jesus there is no past or future tense, only the present. Our task now is to live in His presence so that others can see the truth of who He is and witness to the hope that is in us by living His presence where we are.

This has just been an introduction to the why of the order of the way, the truth and the life. We’ll look at that sequence in the next writing. For today keep His Word before you because that is His mind actively working through the Spirit in each of us. Again be thinking of the situation in which this sequence occurs, the overall culture of the time and the Old Testament heritage.