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The DEEP

One Way —>

Because it's true.

John 14:1–6 (ESV)

“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.”

Remember, Jesus just lit Peter up by predicting his triple denial of Him. That’s gotta be tough to hear, and not just for Peter either. Everyone within earshot must be taken aback a bit.

So now Jesus gives them some encouragement. Good things are coming. “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?”

My Father’s house is a reference to heaven; Jesus has always referred to God as His Father. So, His saying, “I go to prepare a place for you,” is yet another reference to His impending death.

But Thomas doesn’t understand. He says, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” He acts like Jesus is talking about His parents’ beach house or something.

That’s understandable. Thomas has been following Jesus around for years. Now he’s being told that they’re going to separate. Jesus has gone off to be alone on occasion, so Thomas seems to be thinking along those lines. He’s stuck in a literal thinking mode and that doesn’t fit what Jesus is saying.

Jesus’s reply is a source of great difficulty. “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

The problem is that this bluntly declares that He is the only way. There is only one path to God.

That’s not going to be popular.


People object to this, not by arguing that it’s false, but that it’s offensive. They don’t believe it because they don’t like it. That’s illogic. I don’t suppose I “like” all the laws of physics, but I believe them because they’re true. Whether I like them or not shouldn’t matter.

C.S. Lewis illustrates this thinking in his legendary depiction of a demon’s advice in the art of deception.

He doesn’t think of philosophies as primarily “true” or “false,” but as “academic” or” practical,” “outworn” or “contemporary,” “conventional” or “ruthless.” Jargon, not argument, is your best ally in keeping him from the Church. Don’t waste time trying to make him think materialism is true! Make him think it is strong or stark or courageous—that it is the philosophy of the future. That’s the sort of thing he cares about. — The Screwtape Letters – Letter 1, C.S. Lewis


These Monday—Friday DEEPs are written by Mike Slay. The Saturday DEEPs are written by Matt Richardson. To subscribe to all the DEEPs click here:

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The weekly study guides, which include the Monday–Friday devotionals plus related questions for discussion or meditation, are available for download here:

https://www.ailbe.org/resources/itemlist/category/91-deep-studies

Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. ESV stands for the English Standard Version. © Copyright 2001 by Crossway. Used by permission. All rights reserved. NIV stands for The Holy Bible, New International Version®. © Copyright 1973 by International Bible Society. Used by permission. All rights reserved. KJV stands for the King James Version.

Mike Slay

As a mathematician, inventor, and ruling elder in the Presbyterian Church in America, Mike Slay brings an analytical, conversational, and even whimsical approach to the daily study of God's Word.

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