“Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” John 14:6
John 14:6 is so often heard in the gospel, and rightfully so. Paul saw in the way on the road to Damascus, the Way to heaven and from that moment on was found in the way he had previously tried so hard to destroy (Acts 26:13,9:2,9:17). I hadn’t heard of John Stott, but recently ran across a quote of his that I appreciated: “Before we can begin to see the cross as something done for us (leading us to faith and worship), we have to see it as something done by us (leading us to repentance)… As we face the cross, then, we can say to ourselves both ‘I did it; my sins sent Him there’, and ‘He did it; His love took Him there.'”
But John 14:6 was not spoken to unbelievers… it was spoken to His disciples. What can I learn from that? The two in the way on the road to Emmaeus were asked, ‘What manner of communications are these that ye have one to another, as ye walk, and are sad?’ They replied, ‘Art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem, and hast not known the things which are come to pass there in these days?’ (Luke 24). How sympathizing was the Lord to listen to them pour out their grief, sadness and unfulfilled expectations… with no defense whatsoever to correct their view of Him as a stranger or His lack of knowledge… the only One who really did know all the things that had so recently happened. He didn’t just fill them with the glad hope of the future either… He showed them the purpose of the present. ‘Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into His glory?’ There was a reason… glory to God would be the result.
How often am I tempted to say, ‘Don’t You know?’. Of course He knows! And just as He spoke to those two, He wants to speak to me of all people (and you too!). He is the way… He’s not just the beginning and the ending… He wants to be known as the entire way in between as well. Am I too occupied with getting to the end of the road that I miss the things He wants to show me about Himself along the way? He wants me to know Him and His (fill in the blank with whatever need that is felt lacking), appreciating Him here and now, whatever that might mean. He can bring through each and every circumstance and wants each one to know Him better every step of the way. Am I surrendered to let Him be my way? Not just the beginning in salvation and the end if death comes before His return, but step by step. Oh to be able to say, ‘Did not our heart burn within us, while He talked with us by the way, and while He opened to us the scriptures?’ Luke 24:32. Can hardly imagine that this would be true, but what if when I get to the ultimate destination of heaven and see Him, if like these two, I’ll want to turn around and come all the way back… can’t imagine that to be so, but it’s neat to think that He’s just as much with me now as He will be then, and there are things He wants me to learn of Him every step of the way! His promise was ‘I am with you alway’ Matt 28:20 and in John 14:19-20 He said, ‘the world seeth Me no more; but ye see Me: because I live, ye shall live also. At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in Me, and I in you.’
“If now, with eyes defiled and dim,
We see the signs, but see not Him,
O may His love the scales displace
And bid us see Him face to face.”
(Believers Hymn Book #363)
– by Tabitha Bruley
The day had gone; alone and weak
I groped my way within a bleak
And sunless land.
The path that led into the light
I could not find! In that dark
night God took my hand.
He led me that I might not stray,
And brought me by a new, safe way
I had not known.
By waters still, through pastures green
I followed Him–the path was clean
Of briar and stone.
The heavy darkness lost its strength,
My waiting eyes beheld at length
The streaking dawn.
On, safely on, through sunrise glow
I walked, my hand in His, and lo,
The night had gone.
–Annie Porter Johnson