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Volume. XXIV, No. 15 Jesus The Only Way! Part 3"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). Introduction
In the past two weeks, I covered the following: Jesus is “The Way”, Jesus is “The Truth”, and Jesus is “The Life”. I bring your attention to the use of the definite article “the” of each heading. This means that our Lord Jesus Christ is unique as He has both a divine nature and a human nature, and He is like none other the world has ever known. It is only through Him and Him alone that we can be saved. This verse "Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved" (Acts 4:12) is a potent declaration of the authority and power of His name! Many realise this too late!
Many professors of our Lord Jesus Christ seek other ways to heaven in disobedience to God’s Word. In light of John 14:6, this is clearly wrong! Whether it is intentional, accidental or out of ignorance, I do not really know. However, I do know that many professors of Christ Jesus have been deceived by people who are supposed to be leaders of their own church.
The Word of God is very clear on this matter and it is our duty to read and study it so that we know what is right and what is wrong in the sight of God. God wants us to worship Him the way He wants it and not how we want to.
Jesus is “The Only Way to The Father”.
The last part John 14:6 reads: "no man cometh unto the Father but by me." This reinforcesthe reality that Christ is the ONLY way of access unto the Father. Satan likes us to think otherwise. Satan, in his deception, sets up other religions to deceive man, and diverts man\'s contact with God from direct through Christ, to indirect through other channels. We can only go "directly" to God the Father through our Lord Jesus. Christ is the vehicle, the transport, and the medium of our communication.
How do we go directly to God the Father through Jesus Christ? By faith in Christ!
Faith in Christ
There are many who believe that they can go to God through their good works, by being helpful to others, practicing charity, obeying the laws of nature and the country, committing no murder or theft, being good neighbours, attending regular worship services, and by a belief in God (but not necessarily in Christ and His works). To these people, belief or faith is unimportant. The Bible says otherwise! Ephesians 2:8-9 says "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast." The Scriptures say clearly that salvation is by faith in our Lord Jesus. Romans 10:13"For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved."
Salvation is not by works. We cannot accumulate merit points by our good works to go to God. If one does not believe in Christ, all the good works count for nothing. All the community work, donations to charity, etc, done by a non-believer, a person who has no faith in Christ, will be a waste!
Through our Ancestors?
I knew of a lady who told me that she prayed regularly to her dead mother and her beloved ones to ask them to intercede on her behalf. She said she was a Christian! There is NO scriptural basis for this, and in fact, there is nothing in our Bible that encourages us to pray to or for the dead, or petitioning the dead to go to God on our behalf. In fact, if you read the Bible carefully, there is nothing about the dead. The dead are gone. They are buried (or cremated as some are), but their souls are elsewhere. Our God is the God of the living, not of the dead. Their souls are either in hell or in heaven, and they have no communication with the living. The departed souls do not come back to earth to visit us as some do believe. This is brought out very clearly in the case of the Rich man and Lazarus, the poor beggar, in Luke 16:19-31. Where is purgatory? There is no purgatory! Purgatory is borrowed from paganism. The Bible is about the living and our preparations for the next life. It is not of the dead.
How about through Pictures, Icons, and Statues of Angels, Dead Prophets and Saints?
There are people who believe they can go to God through the angels, dead prophets and saints. There is no verse in the Scriptures that permits or encourages us to do such things. We are not allowed to worship other gods or images of God.A careful study of the first two of the Ten Commandments will enlighten us!The First Commandment in Exodus 20:3 states that "Thou shalt have no other gods before me." This commandmentclearly directs us to worship and pray to the One True God. No other god is permitted.
Then the Second Commandment (which is not listed in the Roman Catholic Ten Commandments) in Exodus 20:4 states that "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth". We cannot go to the true God through representations made by the imaginations of man. Not only are we not allowed to make all these images, we are not to "…bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me" (Exodus20:5).
Any person who kneels or bows or prays before an image of God or any image, whether in the form of statues, pictures, carvings or any images whatsoever, contravenes God\'s Second Commandment! Basically these people are worshipping idols, not God. God will not listen to their prayers for they were not through Jesus. Some explain that these statues help them to have a mental picture of the person or God they are praying to, and therefore, helps them to communicate with God. This is the greatest deception created by Satan! The Scriptures say we cannot worship God through any representations in the form of images, or pictures. What is more: 1 Corinthians 10:19-20 states "What say I then? That the idol is any thing, or that which is offered in sacrifice to idol is any thing? But I say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God: and I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils". So, if we make an image of God, or an image of anything, whether statue or picture, and worship it, we are worshipping an idol. According to the Apostle Paul, anyone worshipping an idol is actually worshipping Satan!
How about praying to Angels and Saints?
Referring to angels, "And I John saw these things, and heard them. And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which shewed me these things. Then saith he unto me, See thou do it not: for I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book: worship God" (Revelation 22:8-9).
The Apostle John was overwhelmed by the revelation of future events by the angel that he sought to worship a created being. The angel instructed the Apostle John not to worship him, but instead instructed him to worship God and God only!
Referring to saints, "And as Peter was coming in, Cornelius met him, and fell down at his feet, and worshipped him. But Peter took him up, saying, Stand up; I myself also am a man” (Acts 10:25). The Apostle Peter was asked by the LORD to see this Roman centurion in a dream. As soon as Cornelius met Peter, he "fell down at his feet, and worshipped him". Peter immediately "took him up" and said he was only a man. What Peter was saying here was that he should not be worshipped. If Peter should not be worshipped that means we should not worship, pray, adore, or kneel infront of the departed saints, and images of them. If we pray to all these people, we are communicating with the dead. The Bible prohibits that! Deut 18:10-11 reads "There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch. Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer". What is a necromancer? A necromancer is one who practises communication with the dead. This is an abomination "unto the LORD" in the next verse! “For all that do these things are an abomination unto the LORD: and because of these abominations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee” (Deut 18:12).Believers must therefore not pray to God through other means except through the Lord Jesus Christ!
Conclusion.
John 14:6 is an important verse, full of truths and doctrine. It is the vital doctrine of "the faith which was once delivered unto the saints" (Jude 3).To pray to God the Father, we must do so through His Only-Begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. We must not pray to the Virgin Mary, the dead apostles, saints, and angels, and we must not kneel, or bow or pray to anything that represents God or His angels and saints. We must not pray to God through our departed loved ones. Only Jesus! Only through Him to God the Father!
This verse clearly reveals that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Second Person in the Triune God is "the way, the truth and the life". Jesus Christ is the only way to heaven, the source of all truth, and the source and sustainer of life. Furthermore, He is the only way to God the Father. Our Lord Jesus Christ is our intercessor, our advocate, and our mediator. The Bible tells us that we cannot go to God through other ways. Let us accept what the Bible says and obey it. Let us listen to God’s wisdom rather than to man’s philosophies!
God bless you all!
Elder Michael D Lee |
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