Our title comes from words famously spoken by Jesus Christ which are found in John’s Gospel, chapter 14 verse 6:

“I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me”

Who was Christ speaking to? What was he speaking about? Where is He the way to? How is He the truth? What does He mean by saying He is the life? We’ll try and pick off a question each day starting today with the first – who was Christ speaking to?

The words were originally spoken as part of an address designed to comfort a close group of His followers, commonly referred to as his disciples: “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in me” (John 14:1). I am not sure if you are more startled by the thought of believing in God, or by Christ’s incredible insistence that He is worthy of your trust as equally as God is. Certainly the disciples had no problem with belief in God; after all, they were Jews whose scriptures taught them that they existed because of God’s special creation as described in Genesis, the first book of the Bible. As the godly Jew observed the universe all around, he did so worshipfully; recognising that all the beauty, all the intricacy, all the immensity – was the direct handiwork of God. One Jewish king expressed it with these emphatic words: “the heavens declare the glory of God” (Psalm 19:1).

So, who was Christ speaking to when He announced that He was the way, the truth and the life? He was speaking to people who believed, at least in the existence of God. That’s important; because we’ll never search for God, far less find God if we don’t believe that He exists; and indeed, if we don’t believe that our life is somehow better in His hands than ours. The Bible puts it this way: “without faith it is impossible to please Him [God], for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him” (Hebrews 11:6)