“Jesus told him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.’” (John 14:6 NLT)

 

You’ve probably heard more than a few objections to the inevitable answer to this question. “How can Christians say that Jesus is the only way to God?” “Are you saying that if someone doesn’t believe in Jesus, then they’re going to Hell?” “Do you understand how narrow-minded that thinking is?” “Why are you so intolerant of other people’s beliefs?” “Why can’t you be more inclusive?”

Let’s get one thing straight. The only reason I say that Jesus Christ is the only way to the Father is because Jesus Himself said it. Look again at those words in John 14:6: “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me” (NLT).

In Acts 4:12, the apostle Peter put it this way: “There is salvation in no one else! God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved” (NLT). Why? Because only Jesus Christ was qualified to bridge the gap between a holy God and sinful humanity. Jesus Christ—not just a good man, but the God-Man—died in our place and took the full wrath of the Father upon Himself because there was no other way that we could settle the debt that we owed God. Only Jesus Christ could conquer sin and death and make it possible for us to live forever with Him.

Such exclusivity is hard for a lot of people to embrace. Some say, “I choose to believe that whatever religion you want to follow is fine. As long as you sincerely believe, God will let you into Heaven.”

The problem with that reasoning is that Adolf Hitler probably believed in his heart that what he was doing was right. Does anyone want to suggest that his sincere belief should earn him a place in Heaven?

Others say, “I don’t believe that Jesus was God. I believe that He was an influential philosopher and a great moral teacher, but nothing more than that.” C. S. Lewis responded to that kind of thinking with these words: “A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic—on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg—or else he would be the Devil of Hell.”

Lewis concluded, “You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronising nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”

Jesus is the only way to God. The Christian faith is built on that truth.

 

Reflection question: What would you say to someone who believes that all paths lead to God? Discuss Today's Devo in Harvest Discipleship!

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