Jesus Built A Bridge

John 14:5-6 (KJV)

5 Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way?

6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

Some time ago while they were still working on the West 13th St and 235 exit ramp, we would drive by and notice their progress. One day we noticed the huge concrete supports, then the steel beams and forms for the over pass bridge, then one day it was complete. As I drove over it I told the boys, this is the bridge we saw them building the other day.

Bridges are a structure built to span physical obstacles without closing the way underneath such as a body of water, valley or road… (Wikipedia)

Jesus in this passage declares to all who will listen - that he is not only the truth and the life, but that HE IS THE WAY. He explains what he means by that at the end of the sentence - NO MAN COMETH or gains access to the Father, but by ME by JESUS. What a powerful statement.

What Jesus is saying is - I AM BUILDING A BRIDGE FOR YOU TO CROSS OVER TO THE FATHER!!!

It started back in the Garden of Eden - Man and God had a tremendous relationship. There was nothing between them - then man sinned and was cast out of their paradise. A Chasm or great gulf was fixed between God and Man. There was no way to get to God by Himself.

But man wasn't left helpless. God said - I have a plan. I'm working on a bridge. It will be born of the woman.

Then Seth was born, Enoch, Noah, Abraham While it seems things were moving slow - kind of like the construction in Wichita. But if you want it done correctly let them take their time to do it right.

You know how it works - Isaac, we see the pre-figure of the bridge building process. Jacob, Joseph, Moses and then the Law came - God now had a people, His people now had a way to approach Him. I think it has been a learning process for mankind.

But the Law wasn't the bridge- it was just there to teach us how sinful we really are, and to point us to one who could finally bridge the gap between us and the Father.

All along the chassam you find the broken, twisted wrecks of man's devices and ways to get to God.

Good works it failed before it even began The payment plan - No one could afford it False religions came up short

Nothing had bridged the gap yet.

Finally when the fullness of time came - in a little manger lay the baby king.

He grew up preached, did miracles, gathered several around him, and then was arrested and falsely accused. He was put through a mock trial where they couldn't even get their testimonies to agree. He was whipped, slapped, spit on, mocked, nailed to a wooden cross, and hung out in the sun for hours.

Every ring of the hammer, every snap of the whip, every slap of the hand, every wag of the head, and point of the finger plank after plank Jesus was building a bridge, he was making a way to the Father - making the way for our eternal life. Making it possible to make it to heaven.

The Bridge Builder

BY WILL ALLEN DROMGOOLE

An old man going a lone highway,

Came, at the evening cold and gray,

To a chasm vast and deep and wide.

Through which was flowing a sullen tide

The old man crossed in the twilight dim,

The sullen stream had no fear for him;

But he turned when safe on the other side

And built a bridge to span the tide.

“Old man,” said a fellow pilgrim near,

“You are wasting your strength with building here;

Your journey will end with the ending day,

You never again will pass this way;

You’ve crossed the chasm, deep and wide,

Why build this bridge at evening tide?”

The builder lifted his old gray head;

“Good friend, in the path I have come,” he said,

“There followed after me to-day

A youth whose feet must pass this way.

This chasm that has been as naught to me

To that fair-haired youth may a pitfall be;

He, too, must cross in the twilight dim;

Good friend, I am building this bridge for him!”

Source: Father: An Anthology of Verse (EP Dutton & Company, 1931)

From <https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/52702/the-bridge-builder>

If you haven't walked across that bridge yet this morning, I want you to know it is not hard, Jesus just simply says "COME"

Come unto me all you that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me for I am meek and lowly of heart and you shall find rest for your souls.