onlyway

Is Jesus the Only Way?

John 14:1-11
"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. ² In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you . I am going there to prepare a place for you. ³And 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. ⁴You know the way to the place where I am going." ⁵Thomas said to him, "Lord, we don't know where you are going, so how can we know the way?" ⁶Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. ⁷If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him." ⁸ Philip said, "Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us." ⁹Jesus answered: "Don't you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'? ¹⁰Don't you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. ¹¹Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves."

Arrogant and Intolerant?

In the single most outrageous claim He ever uttered, Jesus announced, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me."

Out of all the incredible statements by Jesus, this assertion has the greatest tendency to outrage people.

Many consider it arrogant, intolerant, and politically incorrect.

Even Jesus' claim to being divine doesn't upset people the way this statement does.

You could go to India, and tell some Hindus that Jesus is God, and they would reply, "No problem!"

If you pursued the issue by asking, "You're saying that you accept the fact that Jesus Christ is the Son of God?"

"Sure," they would say. "We have millions of gods. There's no problem adding Jesus."

But when you say, "No, you don't understand -- Jesus said he's the only Son of God, and the only path that leads to eternal life," that's when they get indignant and draw the line.

All Religions Basically the Same?

One reason Jesus' exclusivity claim is so controversial is because it contradicts the popularly held viewpoint that all religions are basically the same.

In other words, there are a variety of paths that people can take in their spiritual journey, and they all eventually lead to the same God.

Most Americans believe that when you strip them down to their essential beliefs, every religion is similar although they may use different languages and rituals in teaching God's universal nature.

In a Class by Itself

However, Jesus' claim to being the only way to God puts Christianity in a class by itself.

By contending that He is the only route to God, Jesus is stating that Christianity is unique and that it therefore cannot be reconciled with any other religion in the world.

For example, it has been said that:

Other religious leaders tell people, "Follow me and I'll show you how to find truth," but Jesus says, "I am the truth."
Other religious leaders tell people, "Follow me and I'll show you the way to salvation," but Jesus says, "I am the way to eternal life."
Other religious leaders tell people, "Follow me and I'll show you how to become enlightened," but Jesus says, "I am the light of the world."
Other religious leaders tell people, "Follow me and I'll show you many doors that lead to God," but Jesus says, "I am the door."
Then Jesus says, "So follow me."

Do versus Done

All other religions require you to "do." That is, they are based on people doing something, through their struggling and striving, to earn the good favor of God.

Adherents must go on a pilgrimage, give alms to the poor, scrupulously maintain a religious diet, perform good deeds, chant the right words, use a Tibetan prayer wheel, go through a series of reincarnations, or faithfully follow some other religious drills.

These are the attempts of people to reach out to God.

By contrast, Christianity is "done," because it's based on what Jesus Christ has done for us on the cross.

The Bible teaches that we're all spiritual rebels and that nobody can do anything to merit heaven, but that Jesus died as our substitute on the cross and is offering forgiveness and eternal life as a gift of his grace.

Christianity, then, is God reaching out to us.

Other religious leaders can offer pithy and helpful insights, but only Jesus -- because He is the unique and perfect Son of God -- is qualified to offer Himself as payment for our wrongdoing.

Moses, Mohammed, Buddha, Confucius

No leader of any other major religion even pretends to be able to take the punishment for our sin.

"Moses could mediate the law; Mohammed could brandish a sword; Buddha could give personal counsel; Confucius could offer wise sayings," said R.C. Sproul, "but none of these men was qualified to offer an atonement for the sins of the world."

The Element of Grace Unique to Christianity

This element of grace is unique to Christianity.

The contrast becomes stark when you compare a parable taught by Jesus with a similar story found in Buddhist literature.

Both stories involve sons who became rebellious and left home but later recognized the error of their way and decided to return.
In the Buddhist story, the errant son is required to work off the penalty for his past misdeeds by spending years in servitude.
But the Christian parable concludes with the prodigal son receiving a warm welcome from his father and being showered with undeserved forgiveness.

Does God Tell Different People Contradictory Messages?

The message of grace, "done," and the message of working off past wrongs, "do," are fundamentally incompatible.

It wouldn't make sense that both could come from the same God.

After all, God isn't schizophrenic.

It would be unlikely that a God who embodies love and truth would go to one side of the planet and say, "Let me tell you how you can become reconciled with Me," then go to another spot on the globe and describe a completely contradictory way for humans to understand and worship Him, and tell a third population something totally new.

One Path for all Man

Instead, it seems logical that God would provide one path for humankind to follow in finding Him and that He would reveal that path in an extraordinary and unprecedented manner -- which He did by sending Jesus Christ to enter human history.

So it does matter which route you take in your spiritual journey.

As astounding as it sounds, Jesus is saying that all other routes are ultimately dead ends, but His is the only way to God.

Jesus' claim of exclusivity skewers the myth that all religions are basically the same.

"One Philosophy Among Many?"

But there's another view, which says that even though Christianity may be different, it's just one philosophy among many, and it's only as valid as any other system of religion.

This is the "you have your truth, I have mine" idea.

R.C. Sproul points out that this belief has a certain amount of appeal because, on the surface, it reflects the tolerant and pluralistic attitudes of our country.

Under our Constitution, all religious opinions are equally protected; people are free to believe whatever they want.

But some people jump to the conclusion that just because different religious viewpoints are equally protected, they therefore must be equally valid.

That's just not the case.

While the law protects everyone who expresses an opinion, it says nothing about which viewpoints are based on truth and which are misguided or blatantly false.

History's Colorful Contenders

But how do we know Jesus was telling the truth when he claimed to be the only path to God? Anybody could make that assertion. In fact, lots of people have.

David Wallechinshky and Irving Wallace (The People's Almanac #3) have researched several of them, including Sabbatai Zebri one of the most intriguing people to pose as the Messiah.

Sabbattai Zebri

Born in 1626, the son of a chicken farmer, Zebi was a manic depressive with a mesmerizing speaking style.
He declared he was the messiah in 1648, later married a Polish prostitute, and attracted thousands of followers with his teaching that promiscuity and nudity were virtues.
His message was that he was the only way to God.
In 1666, however, he was arrested by Turkish authorities on charges of trying to overthrow the sultan.
He was given a choice: be tortured to death or become a Muslim.
According to Wallechinsky and Wallace, "Without batting an eye, he renounced Judaism for the faith of Mohammed and took the name Mahmed Effendi."

Jemima Wilkenson

Another example is Jemima Wilkenson born in 1752 to a Quaker family in Rhode Island. She used to tell people she had died when she was twenty years old but God had resurrected her.
She ended up with more than two hundred fiercely loyal disciples who believed that she was their ticket to God.
Wallechinsky and Wallace describe how she was on the banks of a lake one day and announced she was going to walk across the water just as Jesus did.
She turned to her followers and asked, "Do you believe I can?" They chanted, "Yes! Yes!" Then she said, "Well, in that case, there's no need to actually do it," and she walked home on dry land.
That event probably did not bolster the faith of her flock. And it didn't help when she died in 1820 and they followed her instructions not to bury her because she was going to rise again.
As her body slowly decomposed, the remainder for her sect drifted away.

Hung Hsiu Ch'uan

Also in the 1800's, hallucinations prompted by a nervous breakdown convinced Hung Hsiu Ch'uan that he was Jesus' younger brother, sent by God to save China.
He helped instigate the T'ai P'ing Rebellion, which cost millions of lives, before poisoning himself in 1911.

Jesus Was Different

But Jesus was different.

He not only contended he was the way, the truth, and the life, but he had credentials that no other religious leader has ever had. And that gives him unique credibility.

If I claimed to be Bill Clinton, you'd say I was crazy. But if Bill Clinton claimed to be Bill Clinton, you'd believe him. Why? Because there would be confirming evidence -- he'd look like Clinton, talk like Clinton, have Secret Service protection, be surrounded by a crowd of reporters, and so on.

Similarly, There's plenty of confirming evidence that Jesus is God and therefore credible when he claimed to be the only way to eternal life.

And he did make that claim. Skeptics sometimes argue that Jesus never pretended to be God and that he was only a spiritually enlightened leader who would roll over in his grave if he thought people were worshipping him.

However, as British author John Stott points out, Jesus clearly asserted that:

"to know him was to know God; to see him was to see God; to believe in him was to believe in God; to receive him was to receive God; to hate him was to hate God; and to honor him was to honor God."

Among the evidence that backs up those bold declarations are his miracles, which are documented by the reliable historical records that make up the New Testament.

Jesus said, "Don't believe me unless I do miracles of God," because he knew that they would be strong affirmation of his identity.

He performed many miracles in broad daylight and in front of skeptics.

He demonstrated power over nature by walking on water and turning water into wine, he proved his power over disease by healing people, and he showed his power over death by bringing Lazarus back to life after four days in a tomb.

His Character Confirmed His Claim

In addition, his character provides confirmation of his claim. So often when we really get close to other people, we see their flaws all the more clearly.

Yet the exact opposite happened with those who knew Jesus. The closer they got to him, the more they marveled at his integrity and purity.

For instance, nobody was closer to Jesus during his three-year ministry than John and Peter. What was their opinion of his virtue?

Said John, "In him is no sin." I John 3:5
Peter wrote, "He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth." I Peter 2:22

Another powerful bit of corroboration came in the way that Jesus embodied the attributes of God.

In other words, you can look at those qualities that make God who he is -- such as omnipotence, omniscience, righteousness, eternal existence, and so forth -- and you'll find evidence that Jesus fulfilled those very same characteristics.

Only Jesus Matches the Prophecies

The Old Testament of the Bible contains sixty specific predictions about the coming Messiah, and when you piece them together, they create a kind of fingerprint. The Bible says we can have absolute confidence that whoever fits this fingerprint is truly the Messiah -- and of all the people who have lived down through the ages, only Jesus Christ matches the fingerprint.

The odds against anyone doing this are astronomical. University mathematician Peter Stoner, in his book Science Speaks conservatively calculated that the likelihood of any one person throughout history fulfilling forty-eight of the prophecies would be on chance in ten to the 157th power! (10¹⁵⁷)

The odds of Jesus fulfilling forty-eight prophecies would be the same as trying to find one specific, predetermined atom among a trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, billion universes the size of our universe!

That's about as close to being impossible as you can get! And that's based on just forty-eight of the sixty prophecies.

Jesus said he came to satisfy those prophecies.

Jesus said, "Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms." Luke 24:22

History Does Not Laugh

When you add all of this up, it's clear that Christianity isn't merely a philosophy; it's reality. It's not just a way of life; it's a faith that's uniquely grounded in history.

Therefore when Jesus makes the claim that he's the only path to God, history does not laugh.

Taken from Sunday School Lesson

By Dr. Philip Douglass

Emmanuel Presbyterian Church (E.P.C.)