Transcript

“Trail” magazine is one of the most widely distributed climbing magazines. The February 2004 issue provided directions for climbers descending Britain’s highest peak, Ben Nevis.

Returning from the 4,409 foot summit in bad weather requires explicit instruction. The article gave step by step advice on navigating the trail down. The problem was that the directions were wrong.

“The potential consequences of following the advice provided by Trail are clear. Anyone following a bearing of 281 degrees from anywhere close to the summit landmark will be taken directly over the north face. I find it incredible that Trail has published advice which is so obviously and dangerously wrong.”

Trail magazine admitted that a crucial step, and a sentence was missing, in the instructions which were inadvertently omitted. Those following the article would pay a high price for the missing information. In poor visibility, climbers depending upon the directions would walk off the edge of a 1,000 foot drop, one of the longest in Britain.

Spiritually speaking, there are many false ways and lies and error that lead to death, the second death of the lake of fire. But Christ is “the way, the truth, and the life.” He is “the way” to the Father and believing in Him we find the “truth” that leads to “life” eternal.

In this episode of our series, “Who is Jesus,” we will see that He is “the way, the truth, and the life.”

John 14:1-4: “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.

“And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know.”

In the previous chapter, as the Lord and His disciples were in the upper room and after they had eaten the Passover supper, the Lord gave them some troubling news.

First, the Lord said, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, that one of you shall betray Me” (13:21).

Second, He told them, “Little children, yet a little while I am with you. Ye shall seek me: and as I said unto the Jews, Whither I go, ye cannot come; so now I say to you” (13:33).

And third, He told Peter, “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, The cock shall not crow, till thou hast denied me thrice” (13:38).

After receiving all this troubling news, the hearts of the disciples were troubled and perplexed. They did not fully understand what lay before them. But the Lord told them, “Let not your heart be troubled.”

The simple but profound solution to the troubled hearts of the disciples, and ours too, is believing, to trust the Lord. As the Lord told the disciples, “ye believe in God, believe also in Me.”

Christ told the disciples to trust in God and to trust in Him just as they trusted in God.

Because He is God, Christ told them to have the same trust in Me as you do in the Father.

Belief in Christ is not something additional to faith in God; it’s the same thing. This is a strong claim to deity by Christ and statement of equality between the Father and the Son.

The disciples could trust Him and they could fully believe and rely on what He was about to tell them as coming from God because Christ is God Himself.

And what the disciples should trust to comfort their hearts was, “In my Father’s house are many mansions.” To understand this well-known verse, we need to place ourselves under Israel’s future hope and calling, and not ours.

Our hope is heaven, and most interpret this verse in light of the hope of heaven. Israel’s hope was a glorious, everlasting kingdom to be established on the earth with her Messiah reigning from Jerusalem over the entire world.

“My Father’s house” is defined for us in this very Book. Earlier in John, when Christ drove out the money changers from the temple, He “said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not MY FATHER’S HOUSE an house of merchandise.”

So we learn that the Father’s house in John 14:2 is the temple. Christ is addressing His disciples here who were troubled about Christ leaving them and so He comforts them with truth concerning their future hope with Him.

And their future hope with Him, the Messiah, was in the millennial kingdom after Christ’s second coming to Israel.

Thus, “My Father’s House” refers here to the millennial kingdom, and the temple that Christ will have and reign from in Jerusalem in that future day.

In that future glorious structure, “are many mansions,” Christ said.

A man had a rich friend who owned multiple mansions on vast properties. When he went to visit his friend’s mansions, however, the buildings were dilapidated and everyone there had very bad etiquette. He reported back to his friend that although he had many impressive properties, overall, he had very BAD MANORS.

These mansions in verse 2 are most often interpreted as glorious mansions in heaven above that await the believer.

However, the Greek word translated as “mansions” simply means dwelling, residence, abode. In verse 23, Christ told His disciples, “If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our ABODE with him.” The word “abode” is translated from the same Greek word as “mansions.”

The picture that Christ painted of His future millennial temple is that of a huge building with many rooms, abodes, and dwelling places or in which people reside, and the disciples will live in some of them.

In the previous chapter, after the Lord told the disciples He was leaving, Peter asked Him, “Lord, whither goest Thou?” The Lord answer that question here, “I go to prepare a place for you.” Christ was going to the Cross.

Christ’s death for the remission of sins at the Cross prepared believers to join Him eternally in His kingdom. Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection and victory over sin and death gave the kingdom saints a permanent place in His kingdom forever.

The Lord said, “and if I go and prepare a place for you,” meaning through His death and resurrection, after which He would “depart out of this world unto the Father” (13:1).

Then, as the Lord said in the parable of the ten pounds, “He said therefore, A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return.”

Christ is the nobleman. The far country is heaven that Christ went to when He ascended and departed out of this world unto the Father. When it is time in God’s plans and purposes, Christ will “receive for Himself a kingdom” from the Father.

And as Daniel wrote, “I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him.

“And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.”

Christ will receive the kingdom from the Father’s hand, and then He will “return,” as the Lord told His disciples, “I will come again.”

He told His disciples that His departure was certain, but His return was just as certain, and they should believe it, as He said, “ye believe in God, believe also in Me.”

This return of Christ is not the Rapture of the Church to catch the members of the Body of Christ to heaven, which takes place before the Tribulation.

This return of Christ is the Second Coming of Christ to Israel, when He comes to establish His kingdom on the earth.

The Lord told the apostles that, after He returns at His Second Coming, He would receive them unto Himself, “that where I am, there ye may be also.” Where the Lord Jesus Christ will be, where He will live and reign when He returns, is Jerusalem in the temple.

Thus, along with the high honor of sitting on twelve thrones judging and ruling over the supreme nation of the world (Matt. 19:28), the disciples will live in the Millennial temple with the King, the Lord Jesus Christ. This is where Christ will be after He returns to Israel and that is where His disciples will be also, with Him.

So when Christ said, “Let not your heart be troubled,” He assured and comforted them by their millennial hope, and of His return to Israel to establish His kingdom and their permanent place with Him in it when He reigns.

Christ then told the disciples, “whither I go ye know, and the way ye know.” Christ had often told the disciples that He was to die, and rise, and return to the Father.

In Matthew 20:17-19, He told the disciples, “And Jesus going up to Jerusalem took the twelve disciples apart in the way, and said unto them, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem; and the Son of man shall be betrayed unto the chief priests and unto the scribes, and they shall condemn him to death, And shall deliver him to the Gentiles to mock, and to scourge, and to crucify him: and the third day he shall rise again.”

In John 7:33, we read, “Then said Jesus unto them, Yet a little while am I with you, and then I go unto him that sent me.”

Christ told them that they knew where He was going, and the way He was returning to the Father, that it was through being betrayed, delivered to the Gentiles, being scourged and crucified, and that He would rise again.

But as Luke 18:34 reminds us, the disciples heard it when the Lord told them about the Cross and His resurrection, but “they understood none of these things: and this saying was hid from them, neither knew they the things which were spoken.” Thus, Thomas had a question for the Lord.

John 14:5-7: “Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way? Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

“If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him.”

Christ told them that where “I go ye know, and the way ye know.” Thomas admitted to the Lord plainly that they did not have any idea where He was going, and if they did not know where He was going, then they definitely did not know the way there either.

Christ was going to the Father, and thus He said for any man to go to the Father like He was, it had to be through Him. He is the way to the Father.

Christ is “the Way” to the Father, “the Truth” to believe, “and the Life” through Whom believers receive eternal life. A way is a path or route. Christ is the pathway to God the Father, salvation, and eternal life. He is the One Who bridges the vast gulf between God and mankind and brings man to God.

The Lord Jesus is not just one of many or other ways to the Father; He is the ONLY Way (Heb. 7:25). As Acts 4:12 says, “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.”

Christ does not just know the way or show the way; He is the Way, because salvation is in a Person: the Lord Jesus Christ.

As “the Truth,” Christ not only teaches the truth; He is the Truth. He is the very embodiment of Truth. As the Truth, all that He is, does, and says is truth, including His words, “no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me.”

In this context of the Israel’s program and the gospel of the kingdom, the truth concerned His Person and identity, and the truth that He is the Messiah and the very Son of God.

Those who believe in Christ believe in the Truth. And to believe in Christ is to receive life, because He is “the Life.”

As John 1:4 says, “In him was life; and the life was the light of men.” He is the source of all physical, spiritual, and eternal life, and all believers live through Him.

All three descriptions of Christ are dynamic. The “way” brings us to God; the “truth” sets men free from their sin; the “life” provides eternal life with God.

Christ said “I AM the way, the truth, and the life.” At the burning bush, God revealed Himself to Moses by the name “I AM THAT I AM” (Ex. 3:14), a name which declares that He is the eternal, self-existent One.

When Jesus said “I AM the way, the truth, and the life,” He was proclaiming His Deity, that He is God. He was rightly claiming God’s name of life and power.

And as the I AM and the Son of God, it is He who provides the way to God the Father which no one else can possibly do. He is the single and only way to God.

And He, the I AM and the Son of God, is the truth Who perfectly proclaimed the truth and message of God and gave knowledge of God, being God Himself. To know Christ is to know God and to know truth.

And as the living and eternal I AM and the Son of God, He is life, and He exclusively holds access to eternal life, and He provides life eternal to those who believe. He is the life whereby we live eternally.

So “Who is Jesus?” He is the I AM and the Son of God, Who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

And “no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me,” Christ said. He is the only access to the Father. Christ, faith in Him, is the only and exclusive way to come to the Father, to be able to enter and dwell in God’s presence forever.

In the future eternal state on the new earth, the new Jerusalem will descend from God out heaven to the earth, and Revelation 21:3 says, “And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God.”

Through Christ the way, the truth, and the life, because of Him and His shed blood, believing Israel will come to the Father and have continual access to His presence on the new earth and in the new Jerusalem eternally.

For us, the Church the Body of Christ, the Apostle Paul tells us, “For through Him [or Christ] we both [Jew and Gentile in the Church] have access by one Spirit unto the Father.” We have access and will dwell in the Father’s presence in heaven eternally.

In verse 7, Christ stated, “If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him.”

After referring to coming unto the Father, Christ told the disciples that in knowing Him, they knew the Father. Christ came to this world to declare and reveal the Father.

As John 1:18 says, “No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.”

To know Christ is to know the Father and to see Christ is to see the Father, because of their perfect oneness and unity in the Godhead.

Earlier in John when Christ was interacting with unbelieving Pharisees, John 8:19 reads, “Then said they unto him, Where is thy Father? Jesus answered, Ye neither know me, nor my Father: if ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also.”

Christ told the disciples that “from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him.” After spending over 3 years with Christ, they had the opportunity to know the Father and had seen Him in and through Christ’s life and ministry and going forward they would always have that knowledge from their experiences with Christ.

And also “from henceforth” meant from then on by Christ’s farewell discourse in chapters 14-17, then by His death and resurrection, followed by when the Spirit came and taught them, the disciples would know and see the Father also through these things as well as when they were reminded of the things that Christ taught and showed them.

John 14:8-11: “Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us. Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?

“Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.

“Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works’ sake.”

After Christ’s words, that “ye know Him and have seen Him,” Philip made a request, “Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us,” or we will be satisfied and contented.

The word “shew” calls for a display or demonstration. He wanted a personal revelation of the Father. Like in the past with Moses who asked the Lord to “shew me Thy glory” (Ex. 33:18), Philip wanted to see a glorious glimpse of God the Father.

But for over three years they had seen a glorious glimpse of God the Father! Every single day they spent with Christ was a glimpse of the Father. Philip failed to understand that Christ had already revealed the Father by His words and works.

Thus, with a gentle rebuke, “Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?”

This reminds us how the Lord had to be patient with the disciples, as it took time and repetition to get truth through to them. But we are no different than them, and it often takes time and repetition for the truth of God’s Word to get through to us too.

Philip had been with Christ from the beginning of His ministry, but he had not yet grasped the full significance of Christ’s Person and life and what it showed them.

Everything the Lord Jesus was, did, and said, was a revelation of the Father. The Father is completely revealed in the Son. And this is so because Jesus Christ is God in the flesh.

Like Christ told Philip here, in John 12:45 the Lord said, “And he that seeth me seeth him that sent me.”

Although we do not see Christ in physical form (yet, as we will one day in glory), we do see Him in and through the Word of God. And through His revelation in God’s Word, we too both see and know the Father like the disciples.

The Lord appealed to Philip believe in His perfect union with the Father, and that He is in the Father and the Father is in Him, and to believe because of His words and His works.

He told Philip that “the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself.” Earlier in John 12:49-50, Christ said, “For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak…whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak.”

Christ’s WORDS and teachings demonstrate Who He is and are the Father’s declaration of His identity. Over and over, He called God His Father, He said He was sent from God in heaven, He said that His Father was greater than all and then said, “I and my Father are one,” because He too like the Father is greater than all.

Christ claimed the name of God and that He is eternal when He said, “Before Abraham was, I am.” He told the healed blind man He is the Son of God. He told the woman at the well that He is the Messiah.

He explained His authority as the Son of man to be the Judge of all and that “the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice,” and He will raise all the dead in the last days, some to the resurrection of life, others to damnation.

He taught that He had power to lay His life down, and He had “power to take it again,” and to rise from the dead.

He taught that to honor the Son is to honor the Father, to hear the Son is to hear the Father, and to see the Son is to see the Father. He said, “I am the Light of the world,” “I am the Bread of Life,” and “I am the Resurrection and the Life.” And on and on.

Not only did His words demonstrate Who He is, but also His WORKS. The Lord told Philip, “the Father that dwelleth in me, He doeth the works. Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works’ sake.”

He knew things about people whom he had never met, telling the Samaritan women at the well that she had had 5 husbands and was living with a man who was not her husband. He saw that Nathanael had been sitting under a fig tree before He came to meet the Lord.

At the wedding at Cana, He changed the water into wine. From Cana, He healed the nobleman’s dying son in Capernaum from a distance.

At the Pool of Bethesda, He healed a man who was lame for 38 years. He miraculously produced and multiplied five loaves and two fishes to feed 20,000 people.

He walked on the stormy Sea of Galilee. He healed a man blind from birth. He raised Lazarus from the dead. And on and on.

And the greatest work of all that showed clearly Who Jesus is, is that after He died on the Cross, three days later, He rose from the dead and He came out of that tomb in victory and power.

All these things tell us Who Jesus is. Jesus is the Messiah of Israel, and her King; He is the Son of God, God in the flesh.

It can’t be said any better than Thomas after he saw the risen Savior, Jesus is “My Lord and my God.”