One way or many ways?

"Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. And you know the way to where I am going."

Thomas said to him, "Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?"

Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."

(John 14:1-6 ESV)

"You know the way to where I am going," Jesus said. Thomas, the really honest disciple, said, "we don't even know where you're going, so how can we know how to get there?"

Jesus called our ultimate destination his "Father's house." Heaven? The new creation, the new heavens and earth? "My Father's house" suffices, emphasizing not the location but the relationship. What is amazing is that the way to that personal place is also a Person. He himself is the road. And he is the only road.

Those outside the household of faith find this very troubling and intolerant. Yet, if the way back to the Father means a perfect human must act as a substitute for us all, being as it were, a champion or representative for this condemned human race... then how many candidates are out there? If he must be human, sinless, and somehow divinely powerful in order to bear the full responsibility of people before a holy God, then who else has done this? Who else has said, "I and the Father are one" and fully demonstrated it with his life? Who else said, "I came to give my life a ransom for many"? Who else was vindicated by the victorious resurrection?

No one else -- no other religious leader or government or saint -- can do what Christ did to reconcile us to the Father. That's why there's no other way. If religion is just having another road for us to follow, a set of rules or disciplines whereby we might work our way to God, then perhaps there are many roads to God. But if God himself must do it, if he must make the road come to us, then that's different.

What a joy to hear the many testimonies on Sunday, from so many different backgrounds -- Jewish, Buddhist, nominally Christian, and atheistic. And this shows that -- though there is only one way to God, there are certainly many different ways to get to Jesus!

clement quotes hebrews

Clement of Rome wrote to the church in Corinth around AD 90. This is perhaps the same Clement, companion of Paul, mentioned in Philippians 4:3. Many hold him to be the first bishop / pope in Rome, aka St. Clement I. Clement quotes from the letter to the Hebrews. Origin suggested that Clement was in fact the writer (as transcriber or amanuensis) of Hebrews. Perhaps this letter began as a "word of exhortation" given by Paul at the synagogue (Heb 13:22; cf Acts 13:15) which then became a circular letter for the churches. Other possible authors of Hebrews include Luke, Barnabas, or Apollos. The theology is Pauline, but the transcriber is obviously second-generation (Heb. 2:3-4). At any rate, this early church leader in Rome, is already quoting Hebrews in his letter in AD 90: CHAPTER 36 ALL BLESSINGS ARE GIVEN TO US THROUGH CHRIST This is the way, beloved, in which we find our Savior, even Jesus Christ, the High Prie...

Howard Hendricks on OT books chronology

When I was in seminary, Howard Hendricks (aka "Prof") gave us a little card with the books of the OT chronologically arranged. The scanned copy I have was a bit blurry and I wanted to make something like this available for our church class in OT theology ("Story of Redemption"). A few minor edits and here it is...

sword and trowel

"From that day on, half of my servants worked on construction, and half held the spears, shields, bows, and coats of mail. And the leaders stood behind the whole house of Judah, who were building on the wall. Those who carried burdens were loaded in such a way that each labored on the work with one hand and held his weapon with the other. And each of the builders had his sword strapped at his side while he built. The man who sounded the trumpet was beside me." (Nehemiah 4:16-18 ESV) The great London preacher, Charles Spurgeon, published a monthly magazine called The Sword and The Trowel; A record of combat with sin and of labour for the Lord. It was published from 1865 to 1892. The cover of the journal had a drawing taken from Nehemiah 4, which included both a trowel (representing the work) and a sword (representing the fight). The sword was necessary to protect what the men with trowels were building. These citizen-soldier-builders would successfully complete the wall aroun...

my burg

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