Why is Jesus the only way?

All of us have attended the funeral of someone who was a faithful friend, faithful coworker, or faithful to their system of belief. We have also attended the funerals of Christians who didn’t live their lives by the admonitions of the Bible. John 14:6 is a difficult verse to understand and believe.

We want to believe that God rewards faith, even if that faith is placed in a different god. We want to trust that God understands how a person is raised to believe and therefore accepts their mistakes. Most of us have quietly questioned the blunt words of John 14:6, especially the phrase, “No one comes to the Father except through me.”

People have skirted that phrase by choosing to believe that Jesus died for everyone; therefore, everyone is saved. The problem with that belief, called universalism, is that Jesus spoke of hell and those who would go there.

In his parable of the sheep and the goats, Jesus taught that all people would be separated into those two groups. The sheep would “inherit the kingdom” while the goats would be sent away “cursed . . . into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matthew 25:41). If Jesus were going to save everyone, he would have taught that lesson instead.

If “faithful” people were going to be accepted into God’s kingdom, Jesus wouldn’t have been so angry with the Pharisees and Sadducees, and the disciples wouldn’t have sacrificed their lives in order to share the gospel with their devoted families and friends.

If people of any faith can be saved, then what about the people who worship Satan faithfully? If faithfulness is the answer, then heaven should belong to those who faithfully do evil in the name of their god. Universalism makes us feel better about those who remain outside the Christian faith, but it isn’t biblical truth. If Jesus didn’t teach universalism, then we should ask, “Who is the author of that idea?”

Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6, emphasis added). Jesus also said, “The gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few” (Matthew 7:14).

Jesus is the model for our own faith and the pathway for our eternal relationship with God. If there were another way to heaven, Jesus would have told us. He is our model, so his message must be our message.

Someone could enter that narrow gate one day and rush to find you, eternally grateful that you taught them the blunt truth of John 14:6. Jesus is the only way because only one way leads to eternal life in heaven.