“I am the Way” means….

Growing up I was often pointed to Jesus/Yeshua’s statement, “I am the way, the truth and the life…”  I am not sure I ever really pondered what that means.  We are going to break this down into several posts.

“I am the way…”  From John 14:6.

Jesus *said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.

⁷ If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; from now on you know Him, and have seen Him.”

⁸ Philip *said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” ⁹ Jesus *said to him, “Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? ¹⁰ Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own initiative, but the Father abiding in Me does His works.

So, what is the ‘way’ that would be the Father’s works?

Exodus 18:19-20,

Now listen to me: I will give you counsel, and God be with you. You be the people’s representative before God, and you bring the disputes to God, ²⁰ then teach them the statutes and the laws, and make known to them the way in which they are to walk and the work they are to do.

Deuteronomy 10:12-13,

“Now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require from you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and love Him, and to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, ¹³ and to keep the Lord’s commandments and His statutes which I am commanding you today for your good?

Joshua 22:5,

Only be very careful to observe the commandment and the law which Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, to love the Lord your God and walk in all His ways and keep His commandments and hold fast to Him and serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul.”

1 Kings 2:3,

Keep the charge of the Lord your God, to walk in His ways, to keep His statutes, His commandments, His ordinances, and His testimonies, according to what is written in the Law of Moses, that you may succeed in all that you do and wherever you turn,

Psalm 119:1,

How blessed are those whose way is blameless,
Who walk in the Torah of the Lord.

Isaiah 2:3,

And many peoples will come and say,
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
To the house of the God of Jacob;
That He may teach us concerning His ways
And that we may walk in His paths.”
For the Torah will go forth from Zion
And the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

Starting to get the picture?  Yeshua was/is the Word made flesh. (John 1:1-14).  The Word/Yeshua has not changed since the beginning.  When He says He is the way, He speaks of walking in Torah.  We are empowered by the Holy Spirit (Ruach ha Kodesh) to walk as He walked and to do all that He commanded, rightly loving Him and our neighbor!

Malachi 2:8,

But as for you, you have turned aside from the way; you have caused many to stumble by the instruction; you have corrupted the covenant of Levi,” says the Lord of hosts.

Mark 12:14,

They *came and *said to Him, “Teacher, we know that You are truthful and defer to no one; for You are not partial to any, but teach the way of God in truth. Is it lawful to pay a poll-tax to Caesar, or not?

Acts 24:14, Rav Sh’aul/Paul speaking,

But this I admit to you, that according to the Way which they call a sect I do serve the God of our fathers, believing everything that is in accordance with the Law and that is written in the Prophets;

What we see is that consistently through Scripture, the phrase, ‘the Way,’ points directly to keeping Torah and walking in the statutes and ordinances of the Father as given to Moses.

When Yeshua says, “I am the way,” He is saying, “I am the living Word.”  He is using a phrase with which His audience was very familiar.  Nobody asked, ‘What do you mean, I am the way?”  They all knew.

Notice that John 14:6 is followed by 14:15…  (I know, simple math, but the connection is too close for happenstance…)

If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.

What commandments?

Most will say, Matthew 22:34-40,

But when the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered themselves together. ³⁵ One of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, ³⁶ “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” ³⁷ And He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ ³⁸ This is the great and foremost commandment. ³⁹ The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’

They do not note Yeshua is quoting Torah, and they fail to quote the very next verse!!

On these two commandments depend the whole Law AND the Prophets.”

Simply, ‘the way’ is Torah.  Yeshua makes atonement and grafts us in, then we are called, out of love to respond by keeping His commandments.

1 John 5:2-3 says,

By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and observe His commandments. ³ For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome.

There is MUCH more supporting Scripture, but this gets you started.  Certainly, if you are like me, this isn’t what you were taught growing up in church…   Be challenged and ask the Father for TRUTH!  In Messiah, you will find it…  More on  Yeshua, the Truth, in the near future.

Shalom!!

“I am the Truth” means…