Jesus is the way back to God

I am the way, the truth, and the life.
— JOHN 14:6a

What did Jesus mean when He said, “I am the way?” The way to whom, to what? He meant the way to God the Father, the way to eternal life.

Children, you remember that when God created Adam and Eve, He gave them a beautiful garden to live in, the Garden of Eden. He told them they could eat the fruit of all the trees except for one tree. That was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God told them if they disobeyed and ate the fruit of this tree, they would surely die.

Adam and Eve were perfectly happy living with God and with all He had given them. One day, however, Satan, the great enemy of God, came to Eve in the form of a serpent and told her a lie about eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. He said to her, “Ye shall not surely die, for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:4–5). Adam and Eve believed Satan’s lie rather than God’s word. God’s word is truth. By disobeying God and eating the fruit of the tree they were told not to eat, Adam and Eve separated themselves from God and were now afraid of Him. They remembered His command, so they ran away to hide from Him, expecting to die. Adam and Eve died spiritually. There would also now come a day that Adam and Eve would have to die physically. Then their bodies would die and be buried in the ground.

Then something amazing happened. God called Adam. Why did He call him? He must kill Adam and Eve, must He not? Adam was trembling behind the trees. But what does God do? Finding them, does He raise a knife to kill them? No, instead God kills an animal, pouring out its blood (its life) until it died, showing that by the shedding of the blood of another there is forgiveness of sins. And with the skin of this animal God made clothes for Adam and Eve to cover their nakedness, which they had tried to cover with the leaves of trees. The blood of the animal did not wash away their sin, but God showed them that without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins. He told Adam and Eve to look forward to the Savior who would one day be born on earth to live a sinless life and to suffer and die on the cross to pay for the sins of His people. His name is Jesus, which means Savior, “for he shall save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:20).

So Jesus is the way back to God. He is the truth whose word never fails and who is always right and sure, not like Satan who always lies. And He is the life, for true Christians not only learn to find life in Jesus, but also learn to live out of Him by faith. Pray that Jesus Christ may be your Savior too! When you pray to God, always say at the end of your prayer, “For Jesus’ sake, Amen.”

Excerpt from
God’s Alphabet for Life: Devotions for Young Children
by Joel R. Beeke and Heidi Boorsma