Jhn 14:6 יהושע said to him, “I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
In today’s Bible verse, Yeshua speaks with His disciples about the betrayal that was to happen soon that would lead to His arrest and ultimately His death. It starts off in the previous chapter, for those that would like more context to the story. Amid everything He said, He makes a very interesting statement in verse 6. This is a very iconic verse. In fact, it could be grouped right along with those other famous verses that everyone seems to know. You could say the first few words, and everyone listening would jump in and finish it for you.
But have you every really taken the time to really understand what He was getting at? Last Sabbath at church, I was speaking with one of the church mothers about “the church” and their lack of understanding, as it relates to certain things in the Bible. I began to share with her that the church has embraced church tradition so long, that for many Christians, it even overrides Biblical truth. In fact, most Christians are so committed to church tradition that if your view contradicts theirs, they will start quoting Scriptures towards you that group you in with the Pharisees.
I recently shared a post on my Facebook page that talked about how Yeshua did NOT do away with the Torah at the cross. The post had several supporting Scriptures that validated it’s point. In any case, a Christian friend chimed in quoting Matthew 23:23, where Yeshua rebuked the Pharisees for being hypocrites as it relates to the Law, and how the focused more on the externalities while ignoring justice. According to him, we need keep in mind that Yeshua emphasized mercy, judgement and faith or else we risk becoming unbalanced and Pharisee-ish. Puzzled, I asked him to elaborate on his point, seeing as the verse I quoted was in no way being judgmental towards anyone, but rather addressing misconceptions.
Still waiting for his reply, but he and I have had countless conversations over the years, and regardless of what I show him in the Bible, he is dead set on the Law being done away with because this is a core theological truth for most Christians today. The bad thing is, because they refuse to accept what the Bible says in black and white, many of them will never come to the knowledge of the truth. In our verse text, Yeshua tells the Disciples that He is the way, the truth and the life, and that no man comes to the Father, but by Him. In taking a deeper look at this verse, Yeshua is letting us know that outside of coming through Him it is not possible to get to the Father. In other words, Yeshua is the door to the Father.
With this in mind, we must go back to the reason for Yeshua coming in the first place. There was a debt that needed to be paid for our sin. The problem is that this debt was an individual thing. Every one of us owed this debt, yet none of us were able to pay it. Until this debt was paid, we are unable to be in right standing with YHVH. It had always been YHVH’s desire to be in relationship with mankind, however, our sinful nature made that impossible. For this reason, Yeshua came in the form of man, lived a sinless life, and died for the sin of all. Prior to this point, there was no other way to God. So having died and resurrecting, Yeshua paid our debt, now making a way for us to finally get to the Father again. Most Christians understand up to this point but are lost when it comes to the next part.
With sin now being paid for, through the acts of Yeshua, we are now able to come before the Father. But what does this look like? We need to fist go back to Matthew 5, where Yeshua makes it clear from His own mouth that heaven and earth would pass away before the smallest letter or pen stroke would fall from the Torah or the Law. We also understand that in Revelation 21, that there indeed will be a new heaven and earth, however, this will not be until almost everything spoken about in the Book of Revelation occurs. This lines up with the words of Yeshua because He also states that all things written must first be fulfilled, and clearly all things have not been fulfilled at this point.
I had to point this out because I believe that Yeshua is indeed the door to the Father, but what happens after we come before the Father. There are so many Christians that have come do the door, by means of accepting Yeshua as Lord, but not many have walked through that door. There is a common misconception that coming to Yeshua is the end of the road, but in looking at what He said in our subject text, no man comes to the Father but through Him. In other words, He is the door leading to the Father, but to reach the Father, we must walk past the door.
YHVH earnestly desires to be in relationship with His people. The question that needs to be asked is, where in the Bible can we find where it flat out tells us what it takes to be in relationship with Him? The answer to that question can be found in the Book of Exodus, where YHVH speaks to Moses on Mt Sinai, and tells him to tell the people that if they would obey His words and keep His covenants, that they would be His people and He their God. Upon hearing this, the people with one voice declared, all that YHVH says, we will obey. At this moment, the terms of the covenant were agreed upon, and the people became His people, and He their God. Ultimately, anything short of obeying His voice and keeping His covenant will not guarantee to us that we are His people. Almost everyone claims that He is their God, but the question is, is He claiming them as His people?
I’m reminded of the parable Yeshua told the Disciples about the people that talked about all the things they had done in His name, to even include miracles, but His response to them was, “depart from me, I never knew you”. Imagine doing countless good deeds but none of them being counted to your merit simply because He never knew you. Am I saying that people who are anti-Torah compliance are lost? Not at all. I believe that YHVH deals with us according to what we know, not what we don’t know. This is what grace is all about. However, as I said time and again, when revelation comes, change always follows. When truth is revealed and we accept it, change comes. On the flip side, when truth is revealed and we refuse to change, we go from operating in ignorance to operating in disobedience.
In conclusion, having now learned that we must enter in through Yeshua, as the door to the Father, and not just stand in the entrance, let us move forward and stand alongside of Moses and the host of Israel, at the base of Mt Sinai, shouting with them “all that YHVH says, we will do”. What good is an open door before us if we are just going to stand there and look at it? Yehsua’s goal was to bring mankind before the Father, that they may all hear the terms of the covenant and accept them, that they may all be in covenant relationship with the Father, having the assurance that not only is He our God, but we are His people as well.
