John 14:6 has not only been a challenge, but has been a thrilling joy. Jesus said, ” I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life; no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me.”
What a confession that was!
When the Master said, “I am the Way,” the Spirit at once began to bring to my mind excerpts from the 9th Chapter of Acts, of Paul going to Damascus to see if he could find any that were in the Way, whether men or women, so he could bring them to Jerusalem. Christianity was the Way.
“But some were hardened and disobedient, speaking evil of The Way.” (Acts 19:9).
What did they mean by calling Christianity The Way? Back yonder in the Garden, Adam lost the Way, the Way into the Father’s presence, the Way into the Father’s heart. He left the place of light and glory and went out into the world without light. All down through human history men have been groping for the lost Way, the Way back into fellowship with the Father; back into that Eden condition where condemnation would not rule as a Master over the heart. When Jesus said, “I am the Way,” He meant He was the Way to the Father’s heart-the Way of Life.
Then I saw that everyone of us is a light, a sign-board pointing to the Way. Now notice carefully what it means to you. You are taking the Master’s place; you are the “Way, and if your life is not in tune with the Master, and you are not living the Word, you may be pointing the wrong way.
He not only said, “I am the Way,” but He said, “I am the Truth,” or, “I am the Reality.” When I saw that word translated Reality, it gripped me. Jesus is the answer of the age-old cry of the human spirit for Reality.
One translation of Rom. 1:25 reads, “For they exchange the reality of God for the unreal.” Satan is the God of vanity. The major pleasures of the Senses of natural man have no actual reality in them. There is no reality in the moving pictures, in the dance hall, in gambling, or in drinking. There is nothing in them that the spirit of man can feed upon. Satan has not given to men one thing that has in it any permanent value. The pleasures of the Senses perish with the using.
When Jesus. said, “I am the Way, the Reality, and the Life,” He was pointing to something that is different. In John 16 :13 Jesus said, “When he, the Spirit of Reality, is come, he wiII guide you into all Reality.” Jesus is the Way into the thing that the heart has craved through the ages-Reality.
It is a strangely realistic truth that no one who has ever actually found Eternal Life, has ever turned to any other religion. The metaphysical religions that are born of the senses have no appeal for the man who has found Reality. The human heart can find no Reality outside of the man Jesus. The New Creation is real. Our fellowship with the Father is real. The Word is a real message to the spirit of the New Creation. We walk in the light of Reality. Jesus said: “I am the Way, the Reality, and the Life.” The Greek word here for Life is “Zoe.” That is the new kind of Life Jesus brought to the world. ”I am come that ye might have life and have it in abundance.” What is Life? It is the Nature of the Father. In that Nature of the Father is all Wisdom, all Ability, all Love.
John 6 :47: “He that believeth hath Eternal Life.” Believing is actual possession, so the believer is a possessor of this the greatest gift ever given to man-Eternal Life. John 1 :4 “In him was Life, and that life is the light of men.” How little we have appreciated the fact that Eternal Life in man has given to us all the creative ability manifested in this mechanical age. (Paragraph edited)
There are two words translated Life in the New Testament: “Zoe”-the Nature of the Father that Jesus brought, and gives to man in the New Creation; and “Psuche”-the natural human life. ”Psuche” has never produced any great literature; has never given to man anything that was of any real value. Let this become clear in our minds, that “Zoe,” this new kind of Life, is the Nature of the Father, and the Father is Love.
So when this new kind of Life comes into a man, it drives out the old nature and the New Nature takes possession. It is just like Israel moving into the promised land, driving out the inhabitants, and taking over the country for themselves. Eternal Life has taken us over.
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The believer is the sign-board pointing toward Jesus-the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and we must be bold in our confession that we are in the Way; that we have the Reality and are enjoying the fullness of this marvelous Life.
Jesus made another. confession. “I am the Good Shepherd.” The Good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” (John 10:11) What a beautiful confession, so full of suggestion-the Shepherd. It brings before the heart the 23rd Psalm: “Jehovah is my shepherd; I do not want. He causeth me to lie down in green pastures, and he leadeth me beside the waters of gentle stillness”; he restores my thinking processes so I can think God’s thoughts.
He is the caretaker, the bread-provider, the shield and the protector of His people. His ministry is guiding and leading us into the real pastures where the heart learns to feed. Can you see what this means to you? The moment we receive Eternal Life, that moment we become under-shepherds of the flock: we become leaders and teachers of this New Order, this new Life.
(E.W. Kenyon, New Creation Realities, 1964, Kenyon’s Gospel Publishing, pp29-31)
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