Way, Truth, Life

“Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me’” (John 14:6).

Christ as The Way

The idea of life being a journey is as old as human speech. In the fifth chapter of our Bibles we are told that “Enoch walked with God” (Genesis 5:22). The long and winding path of the Israelites through the desert created an enduring metaphor for the Christian’s experience from the cross to the promised rest. Isaiah anticipated the building of a highway which would be called the way of holiness, reserved solely for the ransomed of the Lord on their way to Zion (Isaiah 35:8–10). But the prophet never dreamed that God Himself would stoop to become the path.

Christ as The Truth

Christ is more than a teacher, He is the Truth of God. All truth is embodied in Him. All the mysteries of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in Him. To know Christ is to know the truth in its most complete, most convenient, and most accessible form. If you know Christ intimately and fully, even if you know nothing else, you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.

Many true things may be said about Christ, but we are not saved by truths about Him, but by Christ Himself, who is the Truth—

Not the fact that Jesus died, but the Person of Him who died for our sins.

Not the fact that Jesus lay in the grave, but the blessed Man Himself, who lay there for me.

Not the facts of His resurrection and ascension, but the One who has achieved a victory which sets me free from sin and death.

You may accept truths about Christ, as you would any well-authenticated historical facts, but you will not be benefited or saved until you have come to rest your trust in the Savior Himself.

Christ as The Life

Knowing Christ leads to life: “This is eternal life, that they know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent” (John 17:3). It was into a world of death that the Son of God came. Even the best of mankind was dead in trespasses and sins. Then the Son of God brought life from the Eternal Throne. His words were spirit and life: He was Himself the Resurrection and the Life. “My sheep hear My voice,” He said, and “I give them eternal life, and they will never perish” (John 10:27–28).

If you are wanting life, and life more abundantly, you must have Christ. Do not seek it, but Him—not the stream, but the fountain; not the word, but the speaker; not the fruit, but the tree. If you have Christ, you have life. “Whoever has the Son has life” (1 John 5:12).

—F. B. Meyer, adapted