...the Bible
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2nd & Wallace
church of Christ

201 W. Wallace
P.O. Box 501
San Saba, TX  76877

Articles by

Rocky Whitely

 

“The Sealy [TX] News” February 22, 2002

...the Bible tells me so:

Jesus the Way

Rocky Whitely, preacher

Just across the street from Port City is a sign that says “Texas A&M 74 miles.” Go up twelve miles to Bellville on Texas Hwy. 36. Turn right on Texas Hwy. 159 and go seventeen miles to Hempstead. Turn left on Texas Hwy. 6 and go forty-five miles to College Station, exiting at Business 6 until you get to the A&M campus.

That is the way to Texas A&M. Oh yes, I know the Sealy to Lyons to College Station route. But that only confuses the issue. At some point or another, from whatever direction we travel, we must get on the road to College Station, if we want to go to Texas A&M.

The early Christians were known as “The Way” (Acts 9:2; 19:9, 23; 22:4; 24:14). The writer Luke tells us what is behind the description, “the Way.” In chapter 18:25-26, because Apollos was thoroughly taught in the way of the Lord and God, he was able to demonstrate from the Scriptures that the Messiah of the Old Testament was Jesus.

We are reminded of the statement of Jesus to His disciples in John 14:6: “I am the Way and the Truth and the Life” (NIV).

I met someone from the Baha’i faith. If you are not familiar with the Baha’ites, they generally claim to be a synthesis of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. They accept the basic tenets of pagan religions such as Buddhism and Hinduism, too, saying that all religions are from God.

This Baha’i follower was quick to say, “Yes, Jesus is the way. But he is not the only way!”

As with so many false interpretations of the Scriptures, the answer is found by either reading the verses before or the ones after. In this particular case reading the rest of the verse corrects the false teaching. Jesus said, “I am the Way and the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”

Thus, Jesus is the only Way. When we consider verses 1 to 4 we realize that He is the only Way to heaven. Jesus said,

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in Me. In My Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.”

With the heavens opened, the angels of God would ascend and descend on Jesus (1:51). Jesus came from heaven (3:13, 31), from the Father who sent Him (5:36-37). Jesus was going to the Father (14: 28; 17:13), to the One who sent Him (16:5, 17, 28).

Jesus is the only Way to heaven. It is just as Luke wrote, “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other Name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).

Accepting Jesus as the way to heaven is more than accepting Jesus the Man. We must also accept Jesus the plan. Again Jesus said, “As for the person who hears My word and does not keep them, I do not judge him. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save it. There is a judge for the one who rejects Me and does not accept My words; that very word which I spoke will condemn him at the last day” (John 12:47-48).

In contrast to following the way of Jesus the Way, wise Solomon wrote, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death” (Proverbs 14:12; 16:25; see verse 2; Jeremiah 10:23-24; 17:9-10). We all want to think that we are right before God. We follow conscience, opinion, philosophy and other human traditions or religions.

Yet, obeying His will through Jesus is the only way that we can be sure that we are on the road to heaven.

Again, it is as Solomon said, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight. Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and shun evil” (Proverbs 3:5-7).

Trust in and obey Jesus. Mohammed is not the Way, neither is Buddha, nor Krishna, nor Nostradamus, nor a psychic, nor a shaman, nor some self-proclaimed prophet, nor any other religious or pseudo-religious leader. Jesus is the only way to God and to heaven.

Trust in and obey the will of Jesus. The Koran is not His will, neither is the Bhagavad-Gita, nor the Book of Mormon, nor “The Science and Health Key to the Scriptures,” nor any other “holy” book. The Bible is the only way to follow Jesus the Way to God and the Way to heaven.

 

...the Bible
tells me so:
Index

2nd & Wallace
church of Christ

201 W. Wallace
P.O. Box 501
San Saba, TX  76877

Articles by

Rocky Whitely