Day 2 - Week 24 - John 14:6, "Jesus told him, 'I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to Father except through me.'"

At first I thought, "It's not really necessary to memorize the "Jesus told him" at the beginning of this verse...the important part is what He actually said." 

But then I thought, "But it is there, so it must be important and vital."  And when you start to think about it, it really is...for we are not told that this statement was made by the disciples after coming to their conclusion about Jesus based on what they had seen of Him...no, we are told, "Jesus told him, 'I am the way, the truth and the life..."

We are told that Jesus confidently and boldly stated that He was the only way to obtain access to God the Father.  So we are left, as C. S. Lewis poses, to decide whether Jesus was a legend, a liar, a lunatic...or the Son of God. 

In his famous book Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis makes this statement,

"A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic--on the level with a man who says he is a poached egg--or he would be the devil of hell. You must take your choice. Either this was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us."

"Jesus could only have been one of four things: a legend, a liar, a lunatic--or Lord and God. There is so much historical and archaeological evidence to support his existence that every reputable historian agrees he was not just a legend. If Jesus were a liar, why would he die for his claim, when he could easily have avoided such a cruel death with a few choice words? And, if he were a lunatic, how did he engage in intelligent debates with his opponents or handle the stress of his betrayal and crucifixion while continuing to show a deep love for his antagonists? Christ said he was Lord and God. The evidence supports that claim."

Think about it --- Jesus made bold claims.  We each, individually, have to decide what we think about those claims...whether Jesus was telling the truth, or whether He was a fraud, establishing a false ministry that against all odds would survive for the next 2,000+ years, despite multiple eras of  full-scale persecution.

My personal conclusion---Jesus was who He said He was and only because of His absolute truth, His Way has been preached to all corners of the earth and His message has survived throughout the centuries.  The Holy Spirit continues to empower those who believe in His name as the only means of eternal salvation. 

Acts 4:12  "Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved."

Jesus is THE way --- don't allow this world to confuse you with its accusations of narrowness...Jesus is the way for ALL who will accept Him as their Lord, as God's Son and believe in their heart that God raised Him from the dead.  (Romans 10:9)