Is Jesus the Only Way? (article)

Article 13 of 34 from the Ponder This - 2000 series

March 2000 - The following e-mail arrived a few days ago: There is one fundamental thing I still have such a problem with. That is that Jesus Christ is the only way to God. What about the people who just don’t get it? I can’t seem to reconcile Jesus Christ and God with not giving good people another chance. Is there a loophole? Is believing this just a process? I believe this is my salvation because I have been given grace and enlightened, but is it everyone’s only chance?

Here is part of my answer: First, lots of people today struggle with that so you’re in good company. Second, the only way to answer this question is to go by what God says. After all, He’s in charge and He gets to set the entrance rules for Heaven. Third, the bottom-line answer is “Yes, Jesus is the only way to God.” Look up these verses: John 14:6, Acts 4:12, 1 Timothy 2:4-5. Does God love the world? Yes-John 3:16. Does God want anyone to perish in Hell? No-2 Peter 3:9. The whole purpose of God giving His Son was to provide a way of salvation. If there was or is some other way outside of Jesus, then God made a terrible mistake by allowing His Son to suffer and die for our sins. If we could just “clean up our act” or “be good” or even “be religious” or be Hindu or Muslim or read the Bible, if any of that mattered in terms of our sin then God made a terrible mistake and the death of Christ is history’s greatest tragedy.

We know God is a God of justice and a God of mercy. Therefore, we can be totally 100% certain that no one will ever go to Hell who doesn’t deserve to be there. And because of His great mercy God surely will save many people who didn’t seem like good Christians or perhaps not even like Christians at all. But even those people will be in Heaven because of Jesus Christ and not because they followed some kind of Plan B.

We don’t need to pass judgment regarding who is going to Heaven and who is going to Hell. That’s God’s job because only he can read the human heart. As I like to tell people, I don’t speculate on eternal destinies of individual people because “I’m in sales, not administration.”

Final point. It’s important that we don’t apologize for the truth that Jesus is the only way to God. We should be bold and say that openly and take the criticism that comes with it. If Jesus really is the only way, then we need to get busy spreading the Good News so that everyone will have a chance to believe and be saved.