Divinity of Jesus - Week 7
- May 25
- 10 min read
Open up to John chapter 14, verse 1, and while you are turning there let me give us a recap. We are on week seven of The Divinity of Jesus, and I want to tell you - ANOTHER bold statement/truth is coming from Jesus today.
Over the past six weeks we have been walking through the Gospel of John together, and John has been building a case. Every week has been one more piece of the picture. Let me remind you where we have been.
Week 1 - The Word Became Flesh (John 1:1-18). We started at the very beginning. Before Bethlehem. Before creation. Jesus - the eternal Word - has always existed. He did not begin in a manger. He stepped into one. The eternal Word became flesh so that God could be seen, touched, and known.
Week 2 - I Am the Bread of Life (John 6:25-40). The crowd followed Jesus because He fed them. He turned around and told them they were chasing the wrong thing. He is not a vending machine. He is the bread itself. The soul hunger that nothing else satisfies - that hunger was designed for Him.
Week 3 - Before Abraham Was, I Am (John 8:48-59). Inside the temple courts, Jesus made the most explosive claim He had made yet. He took the divine name - the I AM of Exodus 3, the name God gave Moses at the burning bush - and He said, that is Me. They picked up stones. They understood exactly what He was claiming.
Week 4 - I Am the Light of the World (John 9:1-12, 35-41). A man born blind received his sight, and the religious leaders completely missed what had just happened in front of them. Physical blindness was healed. Spiritual blindness was exposed. Jesus is the light. And light does not negotiate with darkness - it displaces it.
Week 5 - I Am the Good Shepherd (John 10:7-18). He is not just a shepherd who watches the flock from a distance. He is the door to the sheepfold - the only way in. He is the shepherd who knows His sheep by name. And He is the shepherd who lays down His life and takes it up again. No one takes it from Him. He chooses.
Week 6 - I Am the Resurrection and the Life (John 11:17-44). Lazarus was in the tomb for four days. Dead. And Jesus showed up and called him out. But before He did, He said something we need to carry into this week: I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live. Death is not the end of the story when Jesus is in it.
Six weeks. Six claims. Each one building on the last. And today - we land on week seven. And if you have been with us from the beginning, I think this is the one that ties it all together.
Because everything we have seen Jesus claim - the eternal Word, the bread, the I AM, the light, the shepherd, the resurrection - all of it comes into focus when He says these four words: I am the Way.
INTRODUCTION
Let me set the stage here a little. This is the Upper Room, and it is the night before everything takes a wild turn. If you remember that supper, Jesus just told them that one of their closest friends is a traitor. He just looked Peter in the eye - the rock, the leader, the guy who always talks big - and told him he is going to deny Him three times before the sun comes up. And to top it all off, Jesus says He is leaving, and where He is going, they cannot come yet.
Their world is not just shaking - it is about to completely fracture. Everything they were living for, or so they thought, over the last three years seems like it is slipping through their fingers. They have every legitimate, human reason to be in full panic mode.
And right into the middle of that rising panic, Jesus does not offer a superficial pep talk. He does not say, "Hey guys, chin up, it is not that bad." He says something far more radical. He gives a command that proves exactly who He is.
"Believe in God; believe also in me."
You need to feel the weight of that statement. For a first-century Jew, that is either blasphemy or it is absolute reality. Jesus is placing Himself on the exact same level as Yahweh. He is saying, "You know that absolute, unshakable trust you have had in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob since you were kids? Put that exact same trust in Me. Right now. In the dark."
He is anchoring their very being not to a change in circumstances, but to His own divine identity. When the storm hits, you do not anchor to the weather. You anchor to the rock. Jesus is the rock.
Let's get into it.
1. Jesus Comforts His Disciples with Hope (vv. 1-4)
John 14:1-4
"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 take you to myself, that where I am you may be
also. And you know the way to where I am going."
"Let not your hearts be troubled." Easy to say. I would feel like they have plenty of reasons to be troubled. Their world is about to fall apart, but remember who is talking to them.
Jesus offers them something to hang onto. Not just comfort - a promise. He is going somewhere and He is preparing a place. And He is coming back to get them.
The Greek Word: Mone
"In my Father's house are many rooms." That word in Greek - mone - means dwelling places, places of remaining. This is not a hotel. This is a home. Permanent. Personal. Prepared.
The Cultural Background: Ancient Near Eastern Wedding Imagery
In ancient Near Eastern culture, when a son got married, he did not move across town and buy a new house. He went back to his father's estate and built an extension - a new room - right onto the main house. The family grew, but they stayed together. It was a community of intimacy.
Jesus is using that exact imagery. This is not a sterile hotel where you check in, get a keycard, and never talk to your neighbors. This is a home. It is permanent. It is personal. It is prepared.
You are not heading for a generic eternity. You are heading for a place that Jesus went ahead and prepared. For you. Specifically. Think about what it means when someone prepares a place for you - they were thinking about you in advance. Making it ready because they know you are coming. That is what Jesus is doing right now.
Jesus is not just saving you from something. He is bringing you home to something.
The Certainty of Return
The "going" - via the cross, resurrection, and ascension - guarantees the "coming back." This is not wishful thinking. This is a divine promise from the One who controls the end of the story.
Application
Trade Your Panic for Personal Trust. When your world feels like it is falling apart, Jesus does not offer a superficial pep talk. He demands the exact same trust you place in Yahweh - because He is God in the flesh. This week, instead of anchoring your hope in a change of circumstances, choose to anchor your anxious heart in the unshakeable character of the One who holds your life.
Live with the Peace of an Expected Guest. Because Jesus went ahead to personally design an extension on His Father's house specifically for you, your future is not an uncertain question mark - it is a settled home. Let this truth strip away your daily survival mentality, allowing you to face the chaos of this world with the quiet confidence of someone who already knows exactly where they belong.
2. Jesus Declares Himself the Only Way (vv. 5-7)
John 14:5-7
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. If you had known me,
you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and
have seen him."
Thomas asks the honest question. We do not know where You are going, so how can we know the way?
And Jesus gives the answer that has defined Christian faith ever since: I am the way, and the truth, and the life. Three claims. All enormous.
Three Claims That Change Everything
The Way. Not a map. Not a method. Not a set of principles. A Person. The path to God is not a path - it is Jesus Himself. You do not navigate your way to the Father by following instructions. You follow a Person.
The Truth. In a world with competing truth claims, Jesus does not say He teaches truth. He says He is it. The ultimate reality. The measure by which all other claims are evaluated. If Jesus is the truth, then anything that contradicts Him is false - regardless of how many people believe it.
The Life. We heard this in John 1. In Him was life. He is not just the life-giver - He is the life itself. Without Him you can exist. With Him you actually live.
The Exclusive Claim
And then the exclusive claim that makes everyone uncomfortable: "No one comes to the Father except through me."
I will not pretend that is an easy statement in our culture. We live in a world that values all paths as equal. But notice what Jesus is doing - He is not making a rule. He is making a statement about reality.
It is like saying the only way out of a burning building is through that door. Not because someone decided to be exclusive - but because that is actually where the exit is. Jesus is not the gatekeeper of heaven. He is the gate. He is not blocking the way. He is the way.
Thomas's Honest Doubt
Thomas is thinking literally, geographically, spatially. He wants a map, an itinerary, a physical destination. He represents every human being who has ever tried to grasp spiritual realities using only earthly logic. And Jesus did not scold him. He used the doubt to reveal truth.
Application
Stop Following a Map and Start Following a Person. When we try to figure out our faith, we naturally look for a checklist, a set of principles, or a spiritual map. But Jesus looks at Thomas and completely changes the game: "I am the way." He does not give us a moral GPS - He gives us Himself. Stop treating your relationship with God like a set of instructions you have to execute perfectly, and start treating it like a walking relationship with a living Person.
Build Your Reality on the Exit, Not the Culture. Our culture wants us to believe that all spiritual paths are equal, but Jesus makes an unapologetic reality claim: "No one comes to the Father except through me." This is not narrow-mindedness - it is rescue. If a building is on fire, pointing people to the only open door is not arrogant - it is the only thing that saves them. Stand firmly on the reality that Jesus is the only true exit from darkness.
3. Jesus Reveals the Father Because He Is God (vv. 8-11)
John 14:8-11
Philip said to him, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us."
Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know
me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say,
'Show us the Father'? 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
authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that
I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of
the works themselves."
Philip wants proof. Show us the Father and that will be enough. And Jesus says something that should stop us cold: "Whoever has seen me has seen the Father."
This is the payoff of the whole series. The eternal Word who became flesh. The I AM who existed before Abraham. The bread of life, the light of the world, the good shepherd, the resurrection - all of it comes together right here. If you want to know what God is like, look at Jesus.
When Jesus healed people, that is what God thinks about suffering. When Jesus welcomed sinners, that is what God thinks about the outcast. When Jesus wept, that is how God feels about our grief. When Jesus forgave, that is who God is.
Jesus is not a representative of God. He is not God's spokesperson. He is God. In the Father and the Father in Him.
Philip's Request - The "Theophany" Desire
Simple definition means the appearance of God…. In the Old Testament, great leaders like Moses and Elijah experienced theophanies - visible, spectacular manifestations of God's glory. Philip wants that. A grand, mountaintop revelation. He thinks if Jesus could just "pull back the curtain" to show them the Father, the disciples' anxiety would vanish.
Jesus's response…: I AM, He Is, God is right in front of him.
The Doctrine of Mutual Indwelling
Jesus describes His relationship with the Father using spatial language: "I am in the Father, and the Father is in me." Theologians call this perichoresis - mutual indwelling. They are distinct persons, yet completely unified in essence, purpose, words, and actions. Jesus is so perfectly aligned with the Father that His human mouth speaks divine words, and His human hands do divine works.
Two Streams of Evidence
And He says - if you cannot believe the words, believe on account of the works. The evidence is there. Look at what He has done. This is Jesus's gracious fallback for struggling faith: when His identity alone does not convince you, look at the undeniable weight of His miracles.
Application
Stop Looking Past Jesus to Find the Heart of God. We often think of God the Father as a distant, angry judge, and view Jesus as the loving Savior trying to protect us from Him. But Jesus completely shatters that idea when He says, "Whoever has seen me has seen the Father." If you want to know how the Creator of the universe feels about your suffering, your flaws, and your heartaches - look directly at how Jesus treats people.
Lean on the Facts When Your Feelings Fail. Jesus gives us a concrete backup plan for moments of deep, dark doubt: "Believe me... or else believe on account of the works themselves." There will be weeks when your emotions crash, your prayers feel empty, and you cannot feel God's presence. In those moments, stop trying to manufacture feelings. Look at the historical receipts of what Jesus has already done. Write down 3 to 5 times God provided, comforted, or moved in your life. Keep that list close.
GOSPEL CONNECTION
The disciples were troubled because Jesus was leaving. And He said - let not your hearts be troubled.
He was going to a cross. He was going to die. He was going to be buried. And none of that was an accident or a plan gone wrong. It was the way - the one way - that the Father's house could be opened to anyone who believes.
Jesus is the way because He paid the price to make the way. He is the truth because He showed us who God actually is. He is the life because He walked out of a tomb to prove that death does not win.