Jesus, the Only Way to Heaven
Jesus said, "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in Me. In My Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with Me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going... I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." (John 14:1-4, 6)
The Holy Scriptures teach clearly that heaven is a real place, a permanent place, a personal place, a holy place, a place only for the born again and a place of reunion. Jesus proclaims that He alone is the way to heaven.
The Holy Spirit moved the apostle Peter in his discourse about salvation to the Sanhedrin (the religious leaders of his day) to boldly proclaim, "Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12). There was no compromise or accommodation in Peter's preaching. In this anointed declaration, Peter wholly commits to Christ the unique status of being the one and only Savior. Peter and the other apostles never watered down the fact that apart from Jesus there is no salvation for anyone.
From the earliest beginnings of His earthly existence, Jesus was proclaimed to be the Savior. An angel appeared to Joseph in a dream and told him that the child conceived in Mary was from the Holy Spirit. He also told Joseph, "She [Mary] will give birth to a Son, and you are to give Him the name Jesus, because He will save His people from their sins" (Matthew 1:21). (The name "Jesus" comes from the Greek form of "Joshua" which means "Yahweh [the Lord] saves.")
Some may say that Jesus is a dogmatic and narrow-minded teacher when He says, "I am the way and the truth and the life." As Truth embodied however, the Lord alone can reveal truth to His people and unbelievers alike. He is our guide to living an abundant and fruitful life. His promise to the disciples who followed Him was that they should know the truth, and by the truth should be set free (John 8:32). When the crisis of His ministry and the hour of His sacrifice arrived, he summed up the whole purpose of His mission in the declaration that He had come into the world in order to "testify to the truth" (John 18:37). Jesus' own declaration is, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me will live, even though he dies" (John 11:25).
Jesus is serious when He says, "...No one comes to the
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