Jesus as the Revelation of God (01-25-16 pt. I)

Jesus made a number of “I am” statements during His life. These are self-descriptive phrases that refer to His identity and purpose. Here’s one of the major ones: “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me. If you really have known me, you will know who my Father is. From now on you know him and have seen him!” (John 14:6-7, NLT)

Notice the three ways Jesus describes himself: the way, the truth, and the life. What is He talking about? Is He saying that the only way to get to God is through Him? That there is only one way to God? Is this the kind of exclusivity that permeates the attitudes of so many Christians and turns off so many others?

If you read these two statements together, the idea Jesus is building is one of revelation and knowledge. Notice how He uses the word “know” several times. He’s saying that one of His roles is to make God known, to reveal God and God’s way of life, to show what the truth of life really is. The author who writes these words, John the disciple of Jesus, at the very beginning of this personal account of Jesus’ life, calls Jesus “the Word of God” (John 1:1-3, 14). He’s suggesting that Jesus’ primary mission or purpose is to reveal God and what God is like. Jesus is the spoken words of God made flesh, the one who describes God as “grace and truth” (John 1:17). Jesus comes to live life God’s way in order to show what that “way” is. “No one has ever seen God. But his only Son, who is himself God, is near to the Father’s heart; he has told us about him.” (John 1:18, NLT)

So Jesus is the human revelation of God. The question is, what did Jesus’ life reveal God to be like? What is God’s “way, truth, and life?”