The Way, the Truth, and the Life

Introduction

Turn with me in your Bibles to John 14.

We’re going to skip chapter 13 for now and come back to it next week. (Overview of next sermons)

Prayer for Illumination

Transition: In John 14:6, Jesus makes perhaps his most famous I AM statement: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” But what does that really mean?

Jesus is the Way to the Father

John 14:1–6 ESV

1 “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. 2 In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. 4 And you know the way to where I am going.” 5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” 6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Jesus’ death made a way for us to abide with him and the Father through the Spirit

When we read John 14:2-3, we assume that Jesus was promising his disciples and, by extension, us that he would go to heaven to prepare a mansion for each of us. We read it like this:

In [heaven], there are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I am going [to heaven] to prepare a [mansion] for you. And if I go and prepare a [mansion] for you, I will come again [at the second coming] and take you [to heaven] to be with me.

While that’s an incredibly comforting thought, and heaven will no doubt be a wonderful place, and Jesus will return to take us there, that’s not what Jesus was trying to say here. Instead, what Jesus is actually saying is:

There is plenty of room for you all to live with me and the Father. I’m going [to the cross] to prepare a way for you to abide in me. And I will come again [through the indwelling work of the Holy Spirit] to abide in you [so that you will have access to me and the Father].

“In my Father’s House...” (v. 2)

This is a symbolic reference to the dwelling place of God and our union with the Father through Christ.

In Ancient Israel, once betrothed to his wife, a husband would go to prepare a place for them to live on his father’s house compound. He would build a small house attached or immediately adjacent to his father’s house.

The father’s house often was composed of up to three generations and could number as many as 30 people, who lived together in one compound that might have consisted of multiple four-room houses with adjoining walls (Stager, “The Archaeology of the Family,” 20–22)

G. Vincent Medina and Stacy Knuth, “House, Ancient Near Eastern,” ed. John D. Barry et al., The Lexham Bible Dictionary (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2016).

The point here is not that Jesus is going to brush up on his carpentry skills and build us a house, but that he is preparing a way for us to be brought into his father’s family through union with Christ.

“…are many rooms/mansions...” (v. 2)

The picture here is not of Jesus building us all “mansions on the hilltop” but of him bringing us into his Father’s family.

When the KJV was written, the word “mansion” didn’t have the same meaning it does today. It simply meant “home” or “dwelling” not “a huge, extravagant house that only rich people can afford”

The word translated “mansion” in the KJV is mone, and it occurs only twice in scripture. Once here, and once in 14:23 where it clearly means “abode” or “home”

John 14:23 ESV

23 Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.

Furthermore, this word is the noun form of the word μένω, ‘abide, remain’ which is used all throughout John, especially in the following chapter (Jn 15)

“...I go to prepare a place for you” (v. 2)

This whole passage is metaphorical and symbolic. Jesus is not currently in heaven brushing up on his carpentry skills and building you a house.

Remember the original context—Jesus is comforting his disciples as he prepares to go to the cross. The work of preparation that he has to do is not with the hammer and nails of building a house, but with the hammer and nails of the cross!

Jesus is “going [to the cross] to prepare [a way for us to be united with him as part of the Father’s family.”

“I will come again and will take you to myself...” (v. 3)

Again, not a reference to the second coming but a reference to his post-resurrection appearances to the disciples and the coming indwelling of the Holy Spirit

John 14:18–20 ESV

18 “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.

This promise to “come again” and “take you to myself” is fulfilled when Jesus rises from the dead, appears to his disciples, and breathes into them the Holy Spirit.

Yes, there will be a much greater fulfillment of this when we finally see him face to face, but this passage ought to encourage us to live in light of Christ’s presence with us today!

Christ, through his death on the cross, has prepared a way for us to enjoy fellowship with him and membership in the Father’s household both now and forever in eternity. Jesus is the Way to the Father.

Jesus is the Truth (vv. 6-13)

John 14:6–13 ESV

6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.” 8 Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” 9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. 11 Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves. 12 “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. 13 Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

Jesus is the true reflection of the Father’s nature.

To know Christ is to know the Father

Hebrews 1:1–3a ESV

1 Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. 3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,

Jesus’ will reflects the Father’s will

Jesus brings Life

Union with Christ gives us the Holy Spirit who indwells us

Those who do the will of Christ experience the blessing of walking in communion with him and feeling his presence

The Holy Spirit reveals the will of the Father to us (v. 24, 26)

The Holy Spirit gives us peace (v. 27)

The Holy Spirit gives us joy (v. 28)

Conclusion