Jesus says: I am the way, and the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father except through me "(John 14: 6).
An old man of God often said that when He has in His hand the greatest mercies for us, then it is when most of us are sinning against Him, which makes His love for us even more glorious.
In the words we have read we find an example of this. Never before the heart of Jesus did his sovereign love flow with greater tenderness than when he said "do not let your heart be troubled."
The disciples were disturbed by many things. He had told them he was going to leave them, that he would leave them; he had also told them that one of them would betray him, that another would deny him, that they would all be offended that same night because of him. And perhaps they thought that he left them angry-against them. But whatever the cause of their confusion, the heart of Jesus was like a glass full of love to overflowing, and his words were the drops that spilled from his love: "Do not let your heart be troubled, believe in God, believe also In Myself".
Surely never before were words of tenderness so intimate in this cold world; Oh! then, think how cold, how obscure, how sharp is the question with which Thomas interrupts the heavenly discourse! "Thomas said to him: Lord, we do not know where you are going, how can we know the way?" And see then, in contrast, with what condescension Jesus speaks to their cold and dull hearts.
With how much love Jesus begins the explanation of the alphabet of salvation. He not only gives the answers to Thomas, but much more than the answers, thus granting his disciple much more than he asked or thought. He inquired about the way and the place where Jesus was going, but He answered him: "I am the way, and the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except through me". Examining this response, therefore, as a complete description of the salvation of the Gospel, let us enter into the study of its different parts
Christ is the way
"I am the way, nobody comes ... and so on." The whole Bible testifies that none of us can reach the Father, we are by nature full of sin and God is, by nature, infinitely holy, that is, he flees of sin, just as the sensitive plant, by its very nature, flees from the touch of every human hand, so God, given his nature, departs from the touch of sin, is eternally separated from sinners, is too pure of eyes to endure iniquity.
- This was taught to Adam and the patriarchs in a very impressive way. While Adam walked saintly, God dwelt in him and walked with him and with him maintained perfect communion.
When Adam fell, "God cast out the man, and placed at the east of the garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword that turned all around to keep the way of the tree of life." That burning sword among the cherubim was a perfect symbol of God, of his just hatred for sin. In the bush, God appeared to Moses as "consuming fire"; in the temple he appeared among the cherubim surrounded by the glory of the Shequina. In Eden he manifested among the cherubim like a flaming sword thus showing his perfect hatred towards sin.
I want to make you notice that this burning sword "was stirring everywhere" to keep the path of the tree of life, if the sword had not "turned around" if it had left some unsaved path, then Adam could have passed for her thus tracing her own path to the tree of life. But no; He could not try it by any path. It was not possible even if it was secret or narrow, even if it was steep and difficult, even if it tried to escape silently.
It is an open and free path, it is the path for sinners; Why wait a moment longer? There has been a time when there was a dividing wall between you and God, but Christ has torn it down; There was a time when God was angry with righteous anger against you, but His holy anger has departed thanks to this blessed path. God has certainly taken contentment in Christ.
Christ is the Truth.
The whole Bible, and also experience, gives us testimony that by nature we do not know the truth. Of course, it is true that there are many truths that the unconverted man knows. He is trained to know the truths of mathematics and arithmetic; You can know many of the common truths of daily life, but on the contrary, you can not say that an unsaved man knows the truth, because Christ is the Truth.
Christ can be called the key of the ark of truth. Take away the key of an ark, and everything inside it will have the same value as a lot of ruins. The same precious stones can be inside, but they are all mixed and untidy, without order, without end. In the same way eliminate Christ and the whole ark of truth comes to be worthless.
It is the same truths that remain there, but fall, without coherence, without order ... Christ can be called the sun of the system of Truth. Remove the sun from our solar system and all its planets will be mired in confusion. There would be the same planets, but the laws and forces that governed them would make them collide with each other and take them from here to there in an endless disorder. Thus, if you remove Christ, the whole system of Truth would enter into confusion.
Have you seen, dear friends, Christ? Has it been revealed to you, not by flesh or blood, but by spirit as the Truth? So you know how true it is that Jesus is "Alpha and Omega" the beginning and end of all wisdom, but if you have not seen Christ, you know nothing as you should know, all your knowledge is like an unlocked ark, as a system without sun.
What good will it bring you in hell that you have known all the sciences of the world, all the events of history and all the business and political affairs of the brief days of your sojourn on earth? Do you not know that your very knowledge will be turned into an instrument of torture there? Oh, how you wish that day to have read less the newspapers and more the Bible that you had cornered, so that, by it, you would have known the Savior, whom to know is eternal life!
Christ is life
The whole Bible declares that by nature all of us are dead in trespasses and sins and that such a death is not a death in which we are completely inactive, but in it we walk in accordance with the curse of this world, according to the prince and the evil powers of the fallen angels.
This truth is taught to us fully in the vision that the prophet Ezekiel had "when he was led by the Spirit and placed in the middle of a field full of dry bones, and as he passed near them all around, behold, there were many on the make the field and certainly dry in a great way. "
This is exactly the vision that each child of God has of the world. The dry bones are "many and very dry" and he asks the same question that God asked Ezekiel: "Will these bones live?" Oh, yes, my friends, and does not experience teach you this same truth? Certainly the dead can not know that they are dead; Only in the case that the Lord touches your heart can you realize it. We are preaching to dry bones. This is God's method; as we preach to them, the breath of God blows upon them. Look, therefore, your past life. Consider how you have walked, according to the condition of this world.
You have always been like the man who swims in favor of the current; you have never swum against the current. Look at your own heart and you will see how you have rebelled against all the commandments. You have felt that the day of the Lord, if you had to keep it according to the will of God sanctifying it, was a burden, instead of being a delight and an honor
Well, just like this happens with the believer when he joins Christ, since this is the life and from Him every soul receives it. He who is united to the Lord has his Spirit. Is your soul like a dead member, cold, inert and full of corruption? Come to Christ, join Him by faith and you will be with Him a spirit, you will receive his warmth, his vigor and the fullness of his activity for the service of God.
Is your soul like a branch broken, dry, fruitless, offering only leaves? Come to Christ, join 21 and you will have your Spirit. You will then realize that Christ is indeed life, that your life is hidden with Christ in God, you will say then! I do not live, but Christ lives in me and the life that I now live in the flesh I live in the faith of Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. "
Remember then, my unbelieving friends, that the only way for you to become saints is for you to unite with Christ. And you, dear friends, remember that if you live in an unsound way in holiness, it is due to your little vigorous union with Christ. "Be in Me, and I in you, that you may bear much fruit, for without Me you can do nothing."