The way, the truth, and the life—only Almighty God would have the audacity to call himself that! Yet Jesus is just that. Jesus is our way to a fulfilling relationship with God, and there is no other way. Jesus is the eternal, ultimate truth dwelling in flesh with us, and there is no other truth. Jesus is the resurrection life that our souls yearn for, and there is no other life. Thomas à Kempis put it well: “Without the way there is no going; without the truth there is no knowing; without the life there is no living.” Jesus—Jesus alone and nothing else—is everything that humanity most deeply needs.
In this day and age, people have tried to validate all religions by saying they are merely different ways to get to God. They will use the illustration of a group of blind mice encountering an elephant and trying to figure out what it is. One mouse feels the elephant’s leg and thinks it’s a tree; another feels its ear and thinks it’s a blanket; a third feels its trunk and thinks it’s a rope—but in reality they all only have one part of the big picture. If you ever hear someone describe religions as blind mice like this, ask them how they happen to have the sight to know it’s an elephant. Plus, the teachings of Christ make it very clear that there are no other parts of the picture. Christianity is unapologetically exclusive; Jesus is mankind’s only way to get to God.
The fact of the matter is that God is God of the whole world—every society, whether or not they recognize him, belongs to him. And just as importantly, Jesus is his representative and even representation for the whole world. And his role as such lives on today through his church full of people that know him, love him, and worship the Father like him. You want to know what God looks like? Look at what Jesus looks like in the world today!
Do not minimize Jesus’ role in our salvation. He did not just provide us a way to Heaven; he is the way. His glorious work accomplished it all for us and cancelled out any work we might need to do. All that’s left to us is to trust that this is true. As Jesus told his disciples, believe in God; and in the same belief, believe in him. He is your soul’s way to all that it desires. He is sovereign truth and ever-blessed life. And he is coming back soon to bring us home. Believe in him.
