To Encourage You

Isaiah 30:21 “This is the way, walk in it.”

One of the most vehement objections I’ve heard to the gospel is against the claim that it is the only way to eternal life. I’ve seen people react as if they were offended by such a claim, e.g., “How dare you say that there is only one way?!!”  However, the Bible never apologizes for this claim. In the verse above, note that Isaiah talks about “the way.” He doesn’t say “one of the ways” or “a way.” No, he talks about “the” way, as if there was only one.  In Matthew 7:13-14 Jesus spoke like this as well.  He said there are actually two ways. One is narrow and one is broad.  He said that “the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.” He then lumps all other ways into what He called “the broad way,” and of this “way” He warned, “the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many.”  Even more astonishing was Jesus’ claim that He was the way, when He said the following words: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).  It is these words that reveal the heart of the matter about there being just one way. You see, there was only one Jesus.  Anyone else that has ever claimed to be Him either is or was a liar.  There is only one. 

And then notice how Jesus also claimed to be the Truth.  In thinking about this, it’s not surprising that there are so many other ways that people claim to be true.  I’m reading a book right now about the many religions that have found there way to America.  Here’s a list of some of them: Unitarian Universalism, Hasidism, British-Israelism, Jehovah’s Witness, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Christian Science, The Boston Church of Christ, Hare Krishna, Bahai, Subud, Black Judaism, Black Islam, Peoples Temple, The Church of Scientology, The Branch Davidians, Theosophy, New Age, etc., etc.  As I’ve read through the history and nature of these various belief systems, these “ways,” if you will, I’ve been intrigued by the incredible differences between them all, yet they all have claimed to be a way that is true.  Last night as I was thinking about this, I thought about the relationship of lies to any given true statement.  Do you realize that for any statement that is true, there are an infinite number of lies? That’s why it’s so hard to keep a lie straight, but relatively easy to speak the truth.  Is it any wonder then, that if Jesus is, indeed, the Way and the Truth that there should be so many other claims that don’t match what He has told us? If He is, indeed, the Way and the Truth, should it be so shocking that there are so many variations of other “way” and “truth” claims?  That’s the nature of lies, you see, with their infinite number of alternatives. 

And then there’s Jesus’ third claim from John 14:6. He also said that He was “the Life.”  Here He was again speaking in the starkest of terms. There are only two possibilities: things either have life are they don’t have life. Although we talk about things being “half-dead,” the truth is that anything that is in such a condition is still alive.  You can’t have it both ways.  You can’t be both alive and dead.  Likewise, something is not both true and false, and the right way can’t also be the wrong way. 

So, how do you see such things?  What about the “way” you are on? Does it align with the truth of God’s Word?  Is it the path to life?  Or is it some other way, something other than the Way Jesus spoke about?  If so, take note: there are an infinite number of lies.