The Way. The Truth. The Life.

This statement is one of the seven “I Am” statements of Jesus. On the last night before the Lord Jesus went to Calvary, He prepared His disciples for the days ahead. These men had been following Him for over three years, learning from His teaching and example. They had placed their hopes in Him as the Messiah, the promised deliverer, yet they still didn’t understand how He would accomplish that deliverance. After the Passover, the Lord began speaking about His departure, which led to questions from His disciples. In John 13:33, the Lord Jesus said, “Little children, I shall be with you a little while longer. You will seek Me, and as I said to the Jews, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come,’ so now I say to you.” This prompted Peter to ask where He was going (13:36). Peter and the others did not understand that He was speaking of His death and ascension to heaven. The Lord Jesus responded, “Where I am going, you cannot follow now, but you will follow later.”

Peter is the first of four disciples to ask questions that flow out of our Lord’s statement in verse 33. Peter in 13:36-14:4, Thomas in 14:5-7, Philip in 14:7-21, and Judas (not Iscariot) 14:22-31. In the tabernacle, we have the table of showbread.

It is also interesting to recall that part of the Passover ritual was a time for questions to be asked (Exodus 12:26-27). Peter was still misunderstanding and declared that he would follow the Lord anywhere and even lay down His life if necessary. The disciples had been troubled and had grieving hearts (14:1, 27, 16:6, 20-22), which tells us the atmosphere in the upper room was very serious!

As we look at our Lord’s reply, we can see a three-fold answer. First, we learn that Christ is the object of our faith, His Person (14:1). Then we learn of the Promise of a Heavenly Home (14:2), then of the Prospect of His Return for Us (14:3). Then the Lord said, “And where I go you know, and the way you know.” (verse 4). Speaking for the others, Thomas said they did not know where He was going, so how could they know how to follow Him there? In answer to this question, the Lord Jesus uttered the sixth “I am” statement.

I AM

In the Greek language, “I am” is a very intense way of referring to oneself. It would be comparable to saying, “I, myself, and only I, am.” Several other times in the Gospels, we find the Lord using these words. In Matthew 22:32, Jesus quotes Exodus 3:6, where God uses the same intensive form to say, “I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” In John 8:58, the Lord Jesus said, “Truly, truly I say unto you, before Abraham was, I am.” The Jews clearly understood Jesus to be calling Himself God because they took up stones to stone Him for committing blasphemy in equating Himself with God. In Matthew 28:20, as Jesus gave the Great Commission, He emphasized it by saying, “I am with you always, to the end of the age.” When the soldiers came seeking Jesus in the garden the night before His crucifixion, He told them, “I am he,” and His words were so powerful that they fell to the ground (John 18:4–6). These words reflect the very name of God in Hebrew, Yahweh or Jehovah, which means “to be” or “the self-existing One.” It is the name of power and authority, the name of the self-existing, self-sufficient God of relationship, and the Lord Jesus declared it as His own.

We must point out that the Lord Jesus is saying this to His disciples. We often use John 14:6 as a gospel verse, which certainly has that aspect, as we will see. But in the context of the upper room, there is something else here. Not only do we see the Lord Jesus as the way of salvation, but He is introducing to His disciple something brand new that is not seen in Judaism, which is the way of approaching the Father! Up to this point in the gospel of John, the Lord Jesus has spoken of “the Father” (Jn. 1-12). But starting in John 13, he speaks of “My Father.” Then after His death and resurrection, He speaks of “My Father and your Father” (Jn. 20:17). Here He gives us a new name for God, Father! In the Sermon on the Mount, the Lord Jesus uses the term “Father” 17 times (Mt. 5-7). But here in John’s gospel, He uses it almost 120 times, appearing 50 times between John 13-17. He leads them up to what the Cross will bring them into, a new relationship with God as their Father. In verse 6, He declares, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” He is the Way and takes believers to the Father’s house. He is the Truth and reveals the Father’s heart. He is the Life and brings the Father’s help.

“I Am the Way” is explained in v7-14. “I Am the Truth” is explained in v 15-17. “I AM the Life” is explained in v 18-24. Let’s look at each of these three things a little closer.

I Am The Way

The Lord used the definite article to distinguish Himself as “the only way.” A way is a path or access, and the disciples expressed their confusion about where He was going and how they could follow. As He had told them from the beginning, He tells them once more (and us), “follow me.” There is no other path to heaven, no other way to the Father. Peter reiterated this same truth years later to the rulers in Jerusalem, saying about Jesus, “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). The exclusive nature of the only path to salvation is expressed in the words “I am the way.” He is the door of the sheep and the narrow gate (Jn. 10:9-10; Mt. 7:13-14).

But not only is He the Way for salvation, in Hebrews 10:19-22 we read, Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, and having a High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.” We have an entirely new approach to God and the throne through our great High Priest, the Lord Jesus Christ.

This leads us to a third point about the Lord as the Way. He brings us into a new way of worship. In John 4, the Lord Jesus had a conversation of worship with the women at the well. He mentions to her, “But the hour is coming, and now is when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him” (Jn. 4:23). He had told her that the place of worship is “neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.” He went on to say to her that we worship the Father! He told her of the Person and principles of true worship, “God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” The Lord Jesus is the Way by which our worship ascends to the Father!

This brings us to our final point on Christ as the Way. It is in His name that our prayers go up to the Father. Starting at John 14:13-14 in answer to Philip’s question, the Lord mentions this seven times in these chapters that we ask in His name (14:13, 14, 26; 15:10; 16:23, 24, 26). We pray in the authority and according to the character of the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the Way to the Father in prayer.  

I Am The Truth 

Again, the Lord Jesus used the definite article to emphasize Himself as “the only truth.” Pilate asked the Lord Jesus, “What is truth (Jn. 18:38)?” But Pilate wasn’t willing to surrender to Him, who was the Truth. Psalm 119:142 says, “Your law is the truth.” In the Sermon on the Mount, The Lord said, “You have heard it said, but I say unto you . . .” (Matthew 5:22, 28, 32, 34, 39, 44). He was equating Himself with the Law of God as the authoritative standard of righteousness. He declared that He came to fulfill the Law and the prophets (Matthew 5:17). The Lord Jesus, as the incarnate Word of God (John 1:1), is the source of all truth. In Psalm 1:1-2 we read, “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful; But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law, he meditates day and night.” If we want the full blessing of these verses, we must not separate the way from the truth! The Lord Jesus prayed to sanctify them by Your truth; Your word is truth (Jn. 17:17). He is truth, and His word is the truth!

It might be helpful also to notice that our Lord promised the disciples that He would send the Spirit of truth who would dwell in them and now in us (14:17) and testify of Him who is the Truth (15:26) and guide them into all truth (16:13-15).

I Am The Life

The Lord Jesus had just been telling His disciples about His death, and now He was declaring to be the source of all life. In John 10:17–18, He announced that He would lay down His life for His sheep and then take it back again. He spoke of His authority over life and death as being granted to Him by the Father. In John 14:19, He promised that “because I live, you also will live.” The deliverance He was about to provide was not a political or social deliverance (which most Jews were seeking) but a true deliverance from a life of bondage to sin and death to a life of freedom in eternity. This is the eternal life which He who is life has given us, as He prayed, “You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him. And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent” (Jn 17:2-3). We have been given everything that pertains to life and godliness (2 Pet. 1:3). Look back at John 14:22, Judas (not Iscariot) asked, “Lord, how is it that You will manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world?” How is the Life manifested in us today? The Lord Jesus answered, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.” Then He goes on to speak of the Person and work of the Holy Spirit again. Through the indwelling power of the Spirit of God, this life is manifested to us and even through us! As we follow the word of God, living it out daily in our lives, the Holy Spirit empowers, strengthens, and conforms us to Christ! I want to close by noticing something else about this Life. Look at verse 27, “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”

Now, look at 15:9-11, “As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full.”

He who says, “I Am the Life,” says, “My peace I give to you” and that “My joy may remain in you.” This is the life we have in Christ.

It has been said that these three significant designations of the Lord Jesus can be contrasted with three Old Testament people found in Jude 11;

“For they have gone in the way of Cain, have run greedily in the error of Balaam for profit, and perished in the rebellion of Korah.”

Christ as the Way contrasted with the way of Cain, religion without faith; it is the flesh instead of faith. Christ as the truth is contrasted with the error of Balaam, which is seeking to merchandise one’s gifts and ministry; it is religious evil. Christ as the Life is contrasted with the rebellion of Korah, which was an open rebellion against God’s man. We can say that Cain rebelled against God’s way of Salvation, Balaam rebelled against God’s truth of Separation, and Korah rebelled against God’s life of Service. These things are still present today, and we must guard against them.

When our Lord Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” He was saying salvation, fellowship with the Father, enjoyment of the truth, and genuine life full of joy and peace can only be found in and through Him!