“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. 2 My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. 4 You know the way to the place where I am going.”
5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”
6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”
John 14:1-7
Dearly Beloved,
Greetings in the name of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ – who is our Resurrection and our Life!
Our Lord Jesus, having just raised Lazarus from the dead, now talks to His disciples about His own pending and inevitable death on the Cross for the sake of the world.
In this context of death, Thomas (notably Christ’s most dependable and loyal disciple, and if you have your doubts, please read John 11:16… and yes, pun intended.) ventures to ask the hard question, “Lord we want to follow you, so badly. But we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”
Thomas, as did the rest of the disciples, knew that the Lord Jesus was talking about His own death and their deaths that will follow.
By now, they were convinced that this was a man that they were willing to die for, maybe even die with.
But what they were still trying to comprehend, and understand, was that Jesus was no mere man.
Jesus is the Son of Man. Jesus is God.
I, am The Way.
I, am The Truth.
I, am The Life.
No one comes to the Father except through me.
To our modern, globalised, uber-information-age sensibilities, Christ’s statements really do not make much sense to us.
And when we attempt to understand the words of Jesus, we find ourselves dissecting and deconstructing the passage.
In doing so, we utterly strip the substance of His words that would have brought real meaning to what it means to be a believer.
So, what should we understand when we read this passage in its correct context?
Essentially, Christ’s declaration, “I am the way and the truth and the life” directs His disciples to Israel’s distinct and quintessential communion with YHWH through Tabernacle Worship - in the revelation that Jesus is the divine embodiment of the Tabernacle through whom all worshipers will encounter God.
And when nestled in the context of His own pending death, our Lord Jesus makes the connection between the encounter of God through worship, and our individual and certain death.
Our Lord Jesus makes it clear – worship of the living God through Him not only prepares us for our own certain death, it removes the sting of death that plagues the lives of every unbeliever.
Worship is the training that prepares us for the moment of our physical death.
When we truly worship God, He grants us glimpses of eternity that nullifies the fears of our mortality.
When we truly worship God, He grants us glimpses of eternity that empowers us to live resurrected, new creation lives in the face of our own pending and eventual death.
The deeper our worship, the lesser our fear of physical death becomes.
This is significant because when we cease to fear death, what else is there to fear in this world?
Paul the Apostle exemplifies this precise and intimate connection between life, death and worship as he revealed his heartbeat in this classic declaration of faith, “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain”(Philippians 1:21)
The point of every worship experience we have as believers, must be an experience of death; the death of our sinful selves, the death of our old-creation selves.
This is understood when Paul said, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!”(2 Corinthians 5:17)
When we are found truly ‘in Christ’, we are found truly in the authentic worship of the one, true, living God.
In those divine moments, ‘new creation’ dawns upon our lives and God’s kingdom paradigm breaks into our very existence - allowing us to live in the resurrection power of Jesus Christ as ‘new creation’ beings.
The point of worship is the point of death; death of our old and sinful selves, and resurrected in its place, a life with Christ; a life free from sin.
‘We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his.
For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— 7 because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.
Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.
Romans 6:4-8
So every time we worship God, individually or corporately, be mindful that death must take place. For only in that surrender and death of our ‘old creation’ self, will we then be able to experience Christ’s power of resurrection and ‘new creation’ in and through our lives.
Christians should not be afraid to die - for we have become familiar with death, through every single encounter with our living God whilst in this world.
Death becomes an annex of worship.
David understood this reality so deeply as he concluded his timeless Psalm 23 with these words, “And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” (Psalm 23:6)
He understood that when he lives a life of constant worship, he lives a life of constant awareness, acknowledgement and assurance of the real presence of God. So that even if it was time to die, death was simply an annex, an extension, of his life of worship.
His awareness, acknowledgement, and the assurance of the real presence of God remains, as he passes from this world, just as God remains with him - through it all.
Death ceased to represent the end, but the continuation of a life accustomed to worshipping the living God; a life, accustomed to dwelling in the house of the Lord.
It does not matter if it was on earth or in heaven.
Worship of the living God, made possible only through our Lord Jesus Christ, transcends time and space. The moment we truly worship God, is the moment we find ourselves dwelling in His holy presence.
Death becomes merely the gateway to the sacred and timeless reality in which we will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
Do you worship God? I mean, really, worship God?
Every opportunity you have to worship God – corporately or individually, at church or in your own home – do you accustom yourself to dwelling in the presence of God? Or are you easily distracted, bored, or even unfulfilled?
Do you allow the Holy Spirit to dwell in your heart and allow Him to transform you into Christ’s image? Or do you resist the work of the Spirit in your life?
Are you prepared for death?
Do you believe that when death does occur, Christ will resurrect you unto eternal life?
It all begins with believing.
Our Lord Jesus is profoundly clear in His declaration and challenge to all of us,
“I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:25-26)
My brother and sister in Christ, do you?
In Christ, fear death no longer, and death will fear you.
Shalom.
Let us pray.
Our Father in Heaven,
May the world revere Your Holy Name.
May Your Kingdom come, on earth as it is in heaven.
Thank You for Your divine revelation and assurance that Christ indeed has the power to save us.
Your victory over death proofs it.
Lord Jesus, we believe that You are the Way, the Truth and the Life. We believe that You are the Resurrection and the Life. We believe that no one can come to the Father except through You.
We believe that You are our Righteousness, and that through You alone, may we come before our heavenly Father.
Father, we acknowledge that we are sinners and that we have much sin in our lives; sin that makes us fall short of Your glory, and makes us fall short of Your perfect purposes for our lives.
Forgive us, Lord, by the blood of Jesus.
We repent of our sinful ways, Lord.
Remember us, Lord.
May we learn to worship You truly and deeply.
In Christ and through His finished work at Calvary, may we cease to fear death and live daily in His resurrection power as ‘New Creation’ witnesses here in this world.
May we live fully in God’s presence, purposes and power now and forevermore.
May we believe fully that You, our Lord Jesus, are the Resurrection and the Life.
Holy Spirit, teach us to live in faith, and teach us to live in the resurrection power and life of our Lord Jesus Christ.
We thank you, and pray all these in the Name of our Saviour, Jesus Christ. Amen.
5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”
6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”
John 14:1-7
Dearly Beloved,
Greetings in the name of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ – who is our Resurrection and our Life!
Our Lord Jesus, having just raised Lazarus from the dead, now talks to His disciples about His own pending and inevitable death on the Cross for the sake of the world.
In this context of death, Thomas (notably Christ’s most dependable and loyal disciple, and if you have your doubts, please read John 11:16… and yes, pun intended.) ventures to ask the hard question, “Lord we want to follow you, so badly. But we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”
Thomas, as did the rest of the disciples, knew that the Lord Jesus was talking about His own death and their deaths that will follow.
By now, they were convinced that this was a man that they were willing to die for, maybe even die with.
But what they were still trying to comprehend, and understand, was that Jesus was no mere man.
Jesus is the Son of Man. Jesus is God.
I, am The Way.
I, am The Truth.
I, am The Life.
No one comes to the Father except through me.
To our modern, globalised, uber-information-age sensibilities, Christ’s statements really do not make much sense to us.
And when we attempt to understand the words of Jesus, we find ourselves dissecting and deconstructing the passage.
In doing so, we utterly strip the substance of His words that would have brought real meaning to what it means to be a believer.
So, what should we understand when we read this passage in its correct context?
Essentially, Christ’s declaration, “I am the way and the truth and the life” directs His disciples to Israel’s distinct and quintessential communion with YHWH through Tabernacle Worship - in the revelation that Jesus is the divine embodiment of the Tabernacle through whom all worshipers will encounter God.
And when nestled in the context of His own pending death, our Lord Jesus makes the connection between the encounter of God through worship, and our individual and certain death.
Our Lord Jesus makes it clear – worship of the living God through Him not only prepares us for our own certain death, it removes the sting of death that plagues the lives of every unbeliever.
Worship is the training that prepares us for the moment of our physical death.
When we truly worship God, He grants us glimpses of eternity that nullifies the fears of our mortality.
When we truly worship God, He grants us glimpses of eternity that empowers us to live resurrected, new creation lives in the face of our own pending and eventual death.
The deeper our worship, the lesser our fear of physical death becomes.
This is significant because when we cease to fear death, what else is there to fear in this world?
Paul the Apostle exemplifies this precise and intimate connection between life, death and worship as he revealed his heartbeat in this classic declaration of faith, “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain”(Philippians 1:21)
The point of every worship experience we have as believers, must be an experience of death; the death of our sinful selves, the death of our old-creation selves.
This is understood when Paul said, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!”(2 Corinthians 5:17)
When we are found truly ‘in Christ’, we are found truly in the authentic worship of the one, true, living God.
In those divine moments, ‘new creation’ dawns upon our lives and God’s kingdom paradigm breaks into our very existence - allowing us to live in the resurrection power of Jesus Christ as ‘new creation’ beings.
The point of worship is the point of death; death of our old and sinful selves, and resurrected in its place, a life with Christ; a life free from sin.
‘We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his.
For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— 7 because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.
Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.
Romans 6:4-8
So every time we worship God, individually or corporately, be mindful that death must take place. For only in that surrender and death of our ‘old creation’ self, will we then be able to experience Christ’s power of resurrection and ‘new creation’ in and through our lives.
Christians should not be afraid to die - for we have become familiar with death, through every single encounter with our living God whilst in this world.
Death becomes an annex of worship.
David understood this reality so deeply as he concluded his timeless Psalm 23 with these words, “And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” (Psalm 23:6)
He understood that when he lives a life of constant worship, he lives a life of constant awareness, acknowledgement and assurance of the real presence of God. So that even if it was time to die, death was simply an annex, an extension, of his life of worship.
His awareness, acknowledgement, and the assurance of the real presence of God remains, as he passes from this world, just as God remains with him - through it all.
Death ceased to represent the end, but the continuation of a life accustomed to worshipping the living God; a life, accustomed to dwelling in the house of the Lord.
It does not matter if it was on earth or in heaven.
Worship of the living God, made possible only through our Lord Jesus Christ, transcends time and space. The moment we truly worship God, is the moment we find ourselves dwelling in His holy presence.
Death becomes merely the gateway to the sacred and timeless reality in which we will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
Do you worship God? I mean, really, worship God?
Every opportunity you have to worship God – corporately or individually, at church or in your own home – do you accustom yourself to dwelling in the presence of God? Or are you easily distracted, bored, or even unfulfilled?
Do you allow the Holy Spirit to dwell in your heart and allow Him to transform you into Christ’s image? Or do you resist the work of the Spirit in your life?
Are you prepared for death?
Do you believe that when death does occur, Christ will resurrect you unto eternal life?
It all begins with believing.
Our Lord Jesus is profoundly clear in His declaration and challenge to all of us,
“I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:25-26)
My brother and sister in Christ, do you?
In Christ, fear death no longer, and death will fear you.
Shalom.
Let us pray.
Our Father in Heaven,
May the world revere Your Holy Name.
May Your Kingdom come, on earth as it is in heaven.
Thank You for Your divine revelation and assurance that Christ indeed has the power to save us.
Your victory over death proofs it.
Lord Jesus, we believe that You are the Way, the Truth and the Life. We believe that You are the Resurrection and the Life. We believe that no one can come to the Father except through You.
We believe that You are our Righteousness, and that through You alone, may we come before our heavenly Father.
Father, we acknowledge that we are sinners and that we have much sin in our lives; sin that makes us fall short of Your glory, and makes us fall short of Your perfect purposes for our lives.
Forgive us, Lord, by the blood of Jesus.
We repent of our sinful ways, Lord.
Remember us, Lord.
May we learn to worship You truly and deeply.
In Christ and through His finished work at Calvary, may we cease to fear death and live daily in His resurrection power as ‘New Creation’ witnesses here in this world.
May we live fully in God’s presence, purposes and power now and forevermore.
May we believe fully that You, our Lord Jesus, are the Resurrection and the Life.
Holy Spirit, teach us to live in faith, and teach us to live in the resurrection power and life of our Lord Jesus Christ.
We thank you, and pray all these in the Name of our Saviour, Jesus Christ. Amen.