In this message we shall cover more aspects of what Christ is in His person to the believers.
In His person Christ is the believers’ way to the Father. In John 14:4 the Lord Jesus says, “You know where I go, and you know the way.” Notice that the Lord uses the words “where” and “way.” In verse 5 Thomas replies, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?” Then the Lord answers, “I am the way...no one comes to the Father except through Me” (v. 6). This verse reveals that Christ is the way and indicates that the “where” is the Father. Because the way is a living person, the Son, so the place must also be a living person, God the Father Himself. Therefore, both the way and the where are living persons. The way is the Son, and the where, the place, is the Father.
To have Christ as our way to the Father means that when we take Christ, we get the Father. When we walk in Christ as the way, we arrive at the destination, which is the Father. Hence, we take Christ as the way and we reach the Father as the place. The living way for us to get into God the Father, the living place, is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.
In John 14:6 the Lord Jesus does not say, “No one comes to heaven except through Me.” He says, “No one comes to the Father except through Me.” Christ’s intention is not to bring us into heaven but to bring us into God, into the Father. Christ is not the way to bring the believers into heaven; He is the way to bring the believers into the Father. Through the Son’s death and resurrection we have been brought into the Father. The Son is in the Father, and we also are in the Father because we are in the Son.
The Father is holy and dwells in unapproachable light (1 Tim. 6:16), and we are sinful. We are also involved with the world, Satan, and other negative things, all of which are obstacles that make it impossible for us to come to the Father. Sin, the world, and Satan are three great obstacles that make access to the Father impossible. It is impossible for us to overcome these negative things and to clear the way. Therefore, we need Christ as the way to the Father, as the means by which we may come to the Father.
Through His death on the cross the Lord Jesus dealt with sin, the world, and Satan. This means that He has cleared away all the negative things, all the obstacles, between us and God. Now, having dealt with the negative things, Christ Himself is our way to the Father. We simply need to enter into Christ, and He will bring us to the Father. Through His death Christ cleared the path, and now He Himself becomes our way, the only way, into the Father. When we get into Christ as the way, we arrive at the Father as our destination, because the Son is one with the Father. Therefore, to be in the Son is also to be in the Father. Once we are in Christ Jesus, there is no longer any distance between us and God. Because we are in Christ we are immediately brought into the Father. This is not a mere doctrine; it is a spiritual fact. When we call on the name of the Lord Jesus, we are immediately in the Triune God in an experiential way. Christ is the unique way for us to enter into God.
As believers we can testify that we have God and that we enjoy God. The way by which we enter into God the Father is the crucified and resurrected Christ with His redemption (John 14:2b-3; Heb. 10:19). Christ has taken away sin, He has judged the world, He has destroyed Satan, and He has terminated the old creation. Now there are no longer any obstacles between us and God. When we call on the Lord, we are immediately in the presence of God. We experience the fact that God is in us and that we are one with Him, and then God becomes our enjoyment through the divine dispensing.
Ephesians 2:18 says, “Through Him we both have access in one Spirit unto the Father.” This indicates that through Christ as the way we have access in the Spirit unto the Father. When we call, “O Lord Jesus,” we have the sense that we are in the presence of God and that God is within us. Today Christ is the life-giving Spirit. This life-giving Spirit is now the access for us to touch God the Father and to enter into Him.
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