John 14:1-13 (KJV)
Jesus Says He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life
1 Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.
2 In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.
4 And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know.
5 Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way?
6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
7 If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him.
8 Philip saith unto him, Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us.
9 Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Show us the Father?
10 Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.
11 Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works' sake.
12 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.
13 And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
Acts 26:9-29
Paul Believes in Jesus
9 “I too was convinced that I ought to do all that was possible to oppose the name of Jesus of Nazareth. 10 And that is just what I did in Jerusalem. On the authority of the chief priests I put many of the Lord’s people in prison, and when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them. 11 Many a time I went from one synagogue to another to have them punished, and I tried to force them to blaspheme. I was so obsessed with persecuting them that I even hunted them down in foreign cities.
12 “On one of these journeys I was going to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests. 13 About noon, King Agrippa, as I was on the road, I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, blazing around me and my companions. 14 We all fell to the ground, and I heard a voice saying to me in Aramaic, ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’
15 “Then I asked, ‘Who are you, Lord?’
“ ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,’ the Lord replied. 16 ‘Now get up and stand on your feet. I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen and will see of me. 17 I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them 18 to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’
19 “So then, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the vision from heaven. 20 First to those in Damascus, then to those in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and then to the Gentiles, I preached that they should repent and turn to God and demonstrate their repentance by their deeds. 21 That is why some Jews seized me in the temple courts and tried to kill me. 22 But God has helped me to this very day; so I stand here and testify to small and great alike. I am saying nothing beyond what the prophets and Moses said would happen— 23 that the Messiah would suffer and, as the first to rise from the dead, would bring the message of light to his own people and to the Gentiles.”
24 At this point Festus interrupted Paul’s defense. “You are out of your mind, Paul!” he shouted. “Your great learning is driving you insane.”
25 “I am not insane, most excellent Festus,” Paul replied. “What I am saying is true and reasonable. 26 The king is familiar with these things, and I can speak freely to him. I am convinced that none of this has escaped his notice, because it was not done in a corner. 27 King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know you do.”
28 Then Agrippa said to Paul, “Do you think that in such a short time you can persuade me to be a Christian?”
29 Paul replied, “Short time or long—I pray to God that not only you but all who are listening to me today may become what I am, except for these chains.”
Acts 17:24-31
God Has Given Us Proof That There is Eternal Life Through Jesus and His Resurrection
24 “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. 25 And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. 26 From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. 27 God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. 28 ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’
29 “Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by human design and skill. 30 In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. 31 For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.”
Truth is exclusive, because everything cannot be true...We believe in things that are true...Why would we believe in something if it were not true?...
Jesus said He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life and that no one gets to God except through Him...So let us search for Truth in that statement and the statements surrounding that particular statement...Jesus adds that if you really know Him, then you also know His Father, God, as well...So since one knows Jesus from that point on, then you also know God...And if you were one of those who did get to see Jesus while He walked the earth, then you also have seen God...So Jesus is telling us that Him and God do have a very Unique and Special Relationship...
By making this statement, it makes Jesus Very Unique and and Exclusive Man, and the Only Mediator to God...Before Jesus, believers in God had the three Patriarchs, Moses, the Prophets, and the wise men to get to God and to heaven...But since Jesus ministry, life, and death on the cross, there is no other way with His statement that He makes to His Disciples and us...So for me this is the statement that He is, in fact, the Messiah that was to come from the Old Testament Prophecies...
Many people have made different and unique statements over the years, but their claims of uniqueness and exclusiveness does not make them necessarily true...So one can read and listen to other peoples statements and believe them or not believe them...But Jesus being so Unique and so Exclusive including the statements He made about Himself, that I believe one has to take note of Him particularly...And as one reads the gospels and the total New Testament, we can see quite well Jesus' Uniqueness and His Exclusive Way of Being, Acting, and just Living -in the four different gospels, by four different authors...In fact, the whole New Testament is about Him...And in the Epistles and Revelation we continue to read about His Unique and Exclusive Truth... And we also must believe that He does fulfill the Old Testament Scripture, if you believe what He says, and believe that He and God do have this Special Relationship...
Let us look at the exclusive this statement here, and what He says in John's Gospel, with a little more context...Jesus is comforting His Disciples before His arrest and death on the cross, and He says that He is going to prepare a place for His Disciples in His Father's house in heaven...And the Disciple Thomas is a little confused about what He is saying, when Jesus says you know the way to the place where He is going...So Thomas asks or comments that he does not know where He is going...So Jesus replies to Thomas and the other Disciples and also to us...Jesus answered by saying, “I AM the way and the truth and the life...No one comes to the Father except through Me...If you really know Me, you will know My Father as well...From now on, you do know Him and have seen Him.”...So this is the statement that tells us that if we know Jesus, then we also know God...And if one has seen Jesus, then they also have seen God...
Now everyone may not believe this statement...But Paul, formerly known as Saul, and was a Pharisee...And Paul had a great learning of the Old Testament and great knowledge of Scripture...Paul believes the claims of Jesus and His different statements of Truth...Paul tells us about Jesus in the Book of Acts and how He believes in Him...Paul says that before Jesus was known our times of ignorance have been overlooked by God...But now God commands all men everywhere to repent, because He has fixed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness way by a Man whom He has appointed, and of this He has given assurance to all men by raising this Man from the dead...
And this is a statement written by Luke and in the the book the Acts of the Apostles, and said by Paul...And Luke had written the Gospel According to Luke, and Paul would go to write thirteen books for the New Testament...So Scripture tells us that Jesus IS our Savior, our Messiah, our Mediator, and our Way to God...And God has proven these things by raising Jesus from the dead...
We do not know why God did it this Way, or why He chose this Plan, but Truth is Truth and it is exclusive...And in this case (the case of Jesus) this particular Truth is both very unique and very exclusive...