IV. THE DISCIPLES’ PREPARATION BY THE SON OF GOD (13:1 – 16:33) A. THE DISCOURSE IN THE UPPER ROOM (Jn 13:1 – 14:31) 5. The Promise of Residence (14:1-3) 6. The Way to the Father (14:4-6)  Read Jn 14:4. ~ “The way” is the means by which the disciples are brought to the Father. ~ Jesus means, “You know Me; I am the way.”

 The statement is also a veiled invitation: “Come to the Father by means of this way.”  Read Jn 14:5. ~ His objection also reveals his devotion to the Lord – He cannot bear the thought that Jesus is leaving. ~ In effect Thomas means to say: “How can we be expected to know the way when we do not even know the destination?”

~ The objection raised by Thomas contains an element of truth: he who does not know the destination will not know the way.  Read Jn 14:6.  This is another of the seven great I AM’s of John’s Gospel.  “I am the way.”  Jesus does not merely show the way; He is Himself the way.

 Christ is God. ~ God is equal to each of His attributes, whereas He “possesses” each attribute in an infinite degree. ~ So also Christ is the way: in every act, word, and attitude He is the Mediator between God and His elect.  Notice also the pronoun “I”. ~ In the final analysis we are not saved by a principle or by a force but by a person.

~ Therefore, it is not strange that apart from living fellowship with the Person, Jesus Christ, who exists in indissoluble union with the Father, there is no salvation for us (cf. Rom 5:1, 2).  Now Jesus is the way in a twofold sense (cf. also Jn 10:1, 7, 9). ~ He is the way from God to man – all divine blessings come down from the Father through the Son (Matt 11:27).

~ He is also the way from man to God.  Jesus is both God and man, knowing intimately our experience and our needs. ~ Our personal relationship with Christ links us to God.  “I am... the truth.” ~ Jesus is the very embodiment of the truth: He is the truth in person.

~ Jesus is the truth because He is the real, and therefore, dependable source of redemptive revelation. ~ Jesus is the truth, because He embodies the supreme revelation of God (Jn 1:18; Jn 5:19ff; 8:29; Jn 1:1; 20:28)  But just as the way is a living way, so also the truth is living truth. ~ It is active; it takes hold of us and influences us powerfully.

~ It sanctifies us, guides us, and sets us free (Jn 8:32; cf. 17:17). ~ Basically, not it but He is the truth, He Himself in person.  Jesus is our source of intimate knowledge of the Father. ~ Our response should be to believe in Him and put into practice what He taught.

 “I am... the life.” ~ life as opposed to death ~ All God’s glorious attributes dwell in the Son of God (see Jn 1:4). ~ And because He has the life within Himself (Jn 5:26), He is the source and giver of life for His own (see Jn 3:16; 6:33; 10:28; 11:25). ~ And just as death spells separation from God, so life implies communion with Him (Jn 17:3).

~ Christ proves that He is “the life” because God, with whom is “the fountain of life” (Ps 36:9), cannot be enjoyed in any other way than by Christ.  Jesus gives us life both now and eternally. ~ He promises to join His life to ours. ~ There is no other source of life beside Him.

~ Our response should be to receive that life and allow it to work itself out in our daily experience.  How are these three related? ~ All three concepts are active and dynamic. ~ The way brings to God; the truth makes men free; the life produces fellowship. ~ Jesus is the way to God, precisely because He is the truth of God and the life of God.

~ He so mediates God’s truth and God’s life that He is the very way to God, and therefore the One who alone can say, “No one comes to the Father but through Me.”