Jesus is “the Truth”
Before His crucifixion, Thomas, one of Jesus’ disciples asked Him – “Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?” Jesus response to him was profound – “’I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.’” (John 14: 6) Jesus did not point Thomas to a set of rules as “the truth,” but to Himself. Jesus, Himself, is “the truth.”
There is no denying that the apostle John boldly proclaimed that Jesus was God. John wrote – “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.” (John 1: 1-2) John went on to write – “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1: 14) Jesus declared to the Samaritan woman at the well – “’God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.’” (John 4: 24)
Eight hundred years before Jesus was born, the prophet Isaiah prophesied of Jesus’ birth – “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.” (Isaiah 7: 14) In Matthew’s gospel, he wrote that the meaning of Immanuel was “God with us.” (Matthew 1: 23)
Consider what Paul wrote to Colossians about Jesus – “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence. For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell.” (Col. 1: 15-19)
Contrast Jesus with the Qur’anic Allah, as revealed by Muhammad: Allah practices deceit in order to impose his will. Twenty passages of the Qur’an say that Allah leads people astray. Allah is not known as a father. He watches over man as a guard watches prisoners. He is not obligated to adhere to a standard of moral justice. Allah is arbitrary in how he offers mercy. He has no desire that people believe in him. Allah is not a redeemer or Savior. Man cannot be sure about entering into paradise unless he dies in battle for Islam (Zaka 114-116).
Entering into a relationship with Jesus Christ allows a person to be transformed from the inside out. Zaka and Coleman write about Islam – “Islamic faith is primarily a verbal agreement with a set of doctrinal statements and visible participation in acts affirming this agreement to others and to Allah. Admits Farid Esack, internationally known South African Muslim scholar and currently the Brueggemann Chair in Interreligious Studies at Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio, ‘One can be totally committed to Islam and yet not have it touch one’s inner being.’” (Zaka 19).
Jesus is God. He came in the flesh to pay for our sins. He desires all people to come to Him. He wants us to have a relationship with Him. Would you turn your heart to Him today?
REFERENCES:
Zaka, Anees, and Diane Coleman. The truth about Islam. Phillipsburg: P&R Publishing, 2004.
