The Way, The Truth, The Life

[Christsfreeservant]

“’Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also. And you know the way where I am going.’ Thomas said to Him, ‘Lord, we do not know where You are going, how do we know the way?’ Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.’” (John 14:1-6 NASB1995)​

If we pay close attention to what this is saying, in comparison with the Jewish marriage customs of Bible times, in comparison with the teachings in the New Testament which parallel, to a certain degree, a biblical marriage between a man and his wife to our marriage to Christ, with him as our husband, and with us as his bride, we should get a good picture of our salvation (which is progressive, and which will not be completed until Jesus’ return), and also of what our walks of faith in Jesus Christ should look like.

From the best that I understand it, the Jewish marriage was a contractual (covenant) relationship between a man and a woman, but that was more like an engagement period until the man went and prepared a place for himself and for his bride to live in, and then he came and got her and then they consummated their marriage relationship, and they lived together thereafter. So, Jesus going to prepare a place for us is our groom doing that for his bride, the church, the body of believers in Jesus Christ who follow him.

Marriage to Christ, Jesus the bridegroom, the church the bride

[Matthew 9:14-17; Mark 2:18-22; Matthew 25:1-13; John 3:25-30; John 14:1-3; Ephesians 5:22-33; 2 Corinthians 11:1-4; Revelation 19:6-8; Revelation 21:2-4,9-11; Revelation 22:16-17]

For Jesus and his NT apostles taught progressive salvation. We are saved (past), we are being saved (present active), and we will be saved (future) when Jesus returns, but only if we have been crucified with him in death to sin and raised with him to walk in newness of life in him, no longer to live as slaves to sin but as slaves to God and to his righteousness. And only if we deny self, die daily to sin, and follow our Lord in obedience, in practice, and if we continue in that faith until the end, and if we do not walk in sin.

Saved, Being Saved, Will Be Saved

[Romans 8:24; Romans 13:11; 1 Corinthians 1:18; 1 Corinthians 15:1-2; 2 Timothy 1:8-9; Hebrews 9:28; 1 Peter 1:5,9]

And if we follow the teachings of Christ and of his New Testament apostles, in the correct biblical context (not out of context), we will learn the requirements of our Lord for who will get to be received by the Lord into the place he is preparing for his faithful bride. For belief in God – in Jesus Christ – is not a mere formality, or lip service only, or a one time decision which secures heaven for us as our eternal destiny. It is, by faith, dying with him to sin and walking in obedience to his commands, in the power of God.

And when Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through me,” we need to not self-interpret his words and draw our own conclusions as to his meaning. But we should search the Scriptures and learn of his way, and of his truth, and of the life in Christ he is speaking of. For Jesus and his New Testament apostles laid it all out for us quite clearly that we must, by faith in him, die to sin, and now live to God and to his righteousness in walks of surrender to the will of God.

For Jesus Christ taught that to come to him we must deny self, take up our cross daily (die daily to sin), and follow (obey) him. For if we hold on to living in sin and for self, we will lose our lives for eternity. But if we deny self, die daily to sin, by the Spirit, and we walk in obedience to our Lord and to his commands, in his power, then we have eternal life with God. For not everyone who calls him “Lord” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one DOING (obeying) the will of God (see Luke 9:23-26; Matthew 7:21-23).

By God-gifted faith in Jesus Christ, which is not of our own doing, we are crucified with Christ in death to sin and raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, no longer to live as slaves to sin but as slaves to righteousness in walks of obedience to God’s commands. We are no longer to permit sin to reign in our mortal bodies to make us obey its desires. For if sin is what we obey, it results in death. But if obedience to God is what we obey, it results in sanctification, and its end is eternal life with God (see Romans 6:1-23).

And we learn in 1 John 1-3 that if we claim that we have fellowship with God, but yet we walk in darkness (sin), we are liars. If we claim that we know God, but we do not obey his commandments, in practice, we are liars. For it is not the one who claims he is “in Christ” who is “in Christ,” but it is the one who has denied self, died with Christ to sin, and who is now walking in obedience to our Lord and to his commands, in practice, and no longer in sin. We have the hope and the promise of eternal life with God in heaven.

Gospel:[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 2:5-10; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:3-6; 1 John 3:4-10; Revelation 2:1-29; Revelation 3:1-22]

Seek the Lord

Based off Isaiah 55
An Original Work / July 20, 2012
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love
Musical Instrumentation by Mark Bradley

“Come to Me all you who thirst; come to waters.
Listen to Me, and eat what’s good today,
And your soul will delight in richest of fare.
Give ear to Me, and you will live.
I have made an eternal covenant with you.
Wash in the blood of the Lamb.”

Seek the Lord while He may be found; call on Him.
Let the wicked forsake his way, in truth.
Let him turn to the Lord, and he will receive mercy.
Freely, God pardons him.
“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways,”
declares the Lord, our God.

“My word that goes out of My mouth is truthful.
It will not return to Me unfulfilled.
My word will accomplish all that I desire,
And achieve the goal I intend.
You will go in joy and be led forth in peace.
The mountains will burst into song… before you,
And all of the trees clap their hands.”

The Way, The Truth, The Life
An Original Work / September 6, 2025
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love