“Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:3 ESV)

Names of God

God has many names and titles in the Bible. Each one tells us something important about Him—His character and how He relates to us. And how we must relate to Him. Here is another one of His many Names, which is The Way.

Jesus is The Way

Jesus is the way to the Father. The way of life. The way to salvation. Jesus lived on earth to show us the way. To follow Him on this way means that we are to walk as He walked. We are to follow in His footsteps, living as He lived.

The Way is narrow 

“Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.” (Matt. 7:13-14)

What to do

There is something you must do before you can start to walk on the narrow way that leads to life. Paul describes it perfectly in the following passage:

“But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ.” (Phil. 3:7-8)

We must leave behind everything that hinders us

Leave things behind like our own reasonings and ideas. Our belief in our own abilities. Relationships that hold us back. Status. Honor. Pride. Those have to be counted as loss and rubbish and left outside the gate; there is no room for them on the narrow way.

A way of action

“Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.”  (James 1:22) 

Therefore

There is actually great freedom on the narrow way. Freedom from being bound to commit sin when we are tempted! 

“Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind, for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for the will of God.” (1 Pet. 4:1-2)

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser.” (John 15:1 ESV)

Names of God

 God has many names and titles in the Bible. Each one tells us something important about Him—His character and how He relates to us. And how we must relate to Him. Here is another one of His many Names, which is The True Vine.

The True Vine – Jesus

A vine is what gives life to the branches, making them capable of producing fruit. Jesus said He is The True Vine. He gives life to his branches, us.

When a branch gets cut off

When a branch is cut off from the vine, it loses its ability to produce fruit; the branch is unable to produce any fruit outside of the connection to the vine. When you think about yourself and your Christian life, your ability to produce fruit is a direct result of being connected to Jesus, who is the true vine. Jesus gives credence to this by saying in the following verse.

“Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.” (John 15:4)

Pruned to be more fruitful

“He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.” (John 15:2)

Therefore

There is a big difference between the fruit that comes from your own nature and the fruit that comes from the Spirit of God. Those who belong to Jesus, who is the true vine, will have the Spirit of Christ in them.

“You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. (Rom. 8:9)

“Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6 ESV)

Names of God

God has many names and titles in the Bible. Each one tells us something important about Him—His character and how He relates to us. And how we must relate to Him. Here is another one of His many Names, which is The Truth.

Jesus is The truth

Jesus is the source of all truth, and the standard by which all things are to be judged as either true or false. There is nobody else, besides Jesus, who so embodies truth as to be entitled to identify Himself as being the truth.

Truth is reality

Over half the New Testament uses of “truth” (aletheia) are in John’s gospel. Truth is reality. It’s the way things really are. To know the truth is to see accurately. To believe what isn’t true is to be blind.

God has written His truth on human hearts, in the conscience

Shame and twinges of conscience come from a recognition that truth has been violated. The heart longs for truth—even the heart that rejects it.

“They show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts sometimes accusing them and at other times even defending them.” (Rom. 2:15 NIV)

As followers of Christ

We are to walk in the truth, love the truth, believe the truth, and speak the truth in love. 

“…and all the ways that wickedness deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.” (2 Thess. 2:10-12)

Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. (Eph. 4:32).

“It gave me great joy when some believers came and testified about your faithfulness to the truth, telling how you continue to walk in it.” (3 John 1:3 NIV)

“I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.” (John 1:9 ESV)

Names of God

God has many names and titles in the Bible. Each one tells us something important about Him—His character and how He relates to us. And how we must relate to Him. Here is another one of His many Names, which is Door.

Door - Jesus

A door is defined in the dictionary as a movable structure used to close off an entrance, typically consisting of a panel that swings on hinges or that slides or rotates—as in gate a barrier by which an entry is closed and opened; gate, hatch, portal. In John 1:9, Jesus said, “I am the door.” He said the way to eternal life is protected by a door, and He is that door.

Jesus is the only door to eternal life

“Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” (John 14:6)

Therefore

Jesus, as the gatekeeper to eternal life, has sheep who hear his voice (only those who know Him do), and He knows their names and leads them.

“The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen for his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.” (John 10:3)

“For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.” (Mark 8:38)

Names of God

God has many names and titles in the Bible. Each one tells us something important about Him—His character and how He relates to us. And how we must relate to Him. Here is another one of His many Names, which is Son of man.

Jesus often called himself the Son of Man as part of his interactions with people

On the one hand, saying he was the Son of Man would have been a very ordinary thing to say. Like it’s use in Ezekiel, ‘son of man’ can simply mean, ‘human being.’ But of course, Jesus also was speaking to his identity as the Messiah. He was alluding to Daniel, claiming his Messiahship and his role in the redemption of the world.

 “I saw in the night visions,

and behold, with the clouds of heaven
    there came one like a son of man,
and he came to the Ancient of Days
    and was presented before him.
And to him was given dominion
    and glory and a kingdom,
that all peoples, nations, and languages
    should serve him;
his dominion is an everlasting dominion,
    which shall not pass away,
and his kingdom one
    that shall not be destroyed.” (Dan. 7:13-14)

Jesus’ humanity mattered

Jesus was conceived by the Spirit and full of the Spirit of God, but he was birthed by Mary and born as a man. His ability to sympathize in all of our weaknesses.

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.” (Heb. 4:15)

Therefore

This means He is the only one who could redeem us.

“God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Cor. 5:21)

“And a voice from heaven said, ‘This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.’” (Matt. 3:17 NIV)

Names of God

God has many names and titles in the Bible. Each one tells us something important about Him—His character and how He relates to us. And how we must relate to Him. Here is another one of His many Names, which is Son of God.

Jesus - Son of God

Even before His birth, Jesus Christ held the title of the Son of God. When the angel Gabriel came to Mary to give her the news that she would be the mother of the Christ, he made the assertion twice. 

“He will be called great and will be called the Son of the Most High.” (Luke 1:32)

“...therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God.” (Luke 1:35)

Jesus claimed to be the Son of God

“‘I am the Son of God’? After all, the Father set me apart and sent me into the world.  Don’t believe me unless I carry out my Father’s work. But if I do his work, believe in the evidence of the miraculous works I have done, even if you don’t believe me. Then you will know and understand that the Father is in me, and I am in the Father.” (John 10:37-38 NLT)

Demons recognized Him as the Son of God

“And demons also came out of many, crying, ‘You are the Son of God!’ But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, because they knew that he was the Christ.” (Luke 4:41)

“And whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, ‘You are the Son of God.’” (Mark 3:11)

John the Baptist affirms Jesus as the Son of God

“And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.” (John 1:34)

The Apostles and Disciples said Jesus is the Son of God

“And those in the boat worshipped him, saying, ‘Truly you are the Son of God.’” (Matt. 14:33)

“He said to them, ‘But who do you say I am?’ Simon Peter replied, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’” (Matt. 16:15-16)

God called Jesus His Son

“This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased...” (Matt. 17:5)  

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him shall not perish, but shall have everlasting life.” (John 3:16)

Therefore

For us today, it means our faith in Jesus for salvation is well-founded. He advocates for those the Father has entrusted to Him. The action by God the Father that proves Christ’s nature is also the mechanism by which humanity is blessed by His nature - that as the Son of God, He died for our sins. As summarized by the Apostle Paul in Romans 1:4, “[He] was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord.”

l“He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David.” (Luke 1:32 NKJV)

Names of God

God has many names and titles in the Bible. Each one tells us something important about Him—His character and how He relates to us. And how we must relate to Him. Here is another one of His many Names, which is Son of the Highest.

Highest defined:

Of the highest order, quality, or degree; surpassing or superior to all others; top, upper, first, loftiest, topmost, uppermost, upmost, maximum, supreme, maximal, foremost, predominant, dominant, utmost, loftier, leading, principal, chief, uttermost, and head.

 Jesus the Great High Priest

“Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” (Heb. 4:14-16 NIV)

Therefore

“Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and He will reign wisely as King and will administer justice and righteousness in the land.” Jer. 23:5)

“This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” (1 John 4:10 NIV) 

Names of God

 God has many names and titles in the Bible. Each one tells us something important about Him—His character and how He relates to us. And how we must relate to Him. Here is another one of His many Names, which is Sacrifice.

Jesus – Sacrifice

“God presented Him as the atoning sacrifice through faith in His blood, in order to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance He had passed over the sins committed beforehand.” (Rom. 3:25)

He made us holy by the sacrifice of His body

“Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said: “Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me; with burnt offerings and sin offerings you were not pleased. Then I said, ‘Here I am—it is written about me in the scroll—I have come to do your will, my God.’” First he said, “Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not desire, nor were you pleased with them”—though they were offered in accordance with the law. Then he said, “Here I am, I have come to do your will.” He sets aside the first to establish the second. And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” (Heb. 10:5-8)

Therefore

“And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” (Eph. 5:2 ESV)

“For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them and the Rock was Christ.” (1 Cor. 10:4)

Names of God 

God has many names and titles in the Bible. Each one tells us something important about Him—His character and how He relates to us. And how we must relate to Him. Here is another one of His many Names, which is Rock.

Jesus is the Rock

Jesus is ‘the stone you builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone’” (Acts 4:11; See also 1 Peter 2:4–8).  

On the day of Pentecost, the disciples’ bold preaching demonstrated their certainty that Jesus truly was this same Rock.

Rock of salvation

“My God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold and my refuge, my savior; you save me from violence.” (2 Sam. 22:3 ESV)

“For who is God, but the Lord? And who is a rock, except our God?” (2 Sam. 22:32 ESV)

“The Lord lives, and blessed be my rock, and exalted be my God, the rock of my salvation,” (2 Sam. 22:47 ESV)

Therefore

Jesus is the Rock of our salvation, a sure and eternal refuge, the foundation on which rests the hope of heaven!

“The one who trusts in him will never be put to shame” (1 Peter 2:6).