Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
Here our Lord teaches that He is not merely the way to our Father's home in heaven, but that there is no other way, and that any person must either go to heaven by His atonement or not go there at all. It is a clear distinct limitation of heaven to those who believe on Christ. None else will enter in there. Rejecting Christ they lose all.
We should mark carefully what an unanswerable argument this sentence supplies against the modern notion that it does not matter what a person believes,—that all religions will lead a person to heaven if they are sincere,—that creeds and doctrines are of no importance,—that heaven is a place for all people—whether atheist, spiritual, or Christian,—and that the Fatherhood of God is enough to save all at last, of all sects, kinds, and characters! Our Lord's words should never be forgotten. "There is no way to the Father but by Me." God is a Father to none but to those who believe in Christ. In short, there are not many ways to heaven. There is only one way.
"Coming to the Father," in this place, we must remark, includes not only coming to Him in glory at the last, but coming to Him in a friendly relation for peace and comfort now in this life. "By Me," is literally, "through" Me,—as a door a gate, a road, a path, an entrance. It is an expression which would be peculiarly expressive to the Jews, taught from childhood to draw near to God only through the priests.
J.C. Ryle
Colossians 1:15-20 brings into sharp focus the creator, who made Adam from the dust of the earth in the image of God, and who was set over the creation. However, Satan deceived man, and man’s sin corrupted the world and all creation. It is apparent that creation, comprehends this, but not humans, in that Romans 8:22 states “For we know that the whole creation groans and labours with birth pangs together until now.” Sin has set the path of creation for the past 6000 years but it waits with anticipation: because “creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Romans 8:21).
In these few verses in Colossians we see God as the supreme Godhead, who dwells in such bright light no man can see him, else he would die. However, we have an image of God himself, in the Lord Jesus Christ, of whom Adam was a figure of what was to come. This one is the Lord Jesus Christ, although this title is not afforded him in this passage. So we see Christ the creator takes part in his own creation, sadly destroyed by the sinfulness of man.
The existence of all things on earth and in the heavens, whether we can see them or not, the dominions of power exist because of him; he created them to the glory of God. Mankind cannot comprehend this – he spends much time and energy devising fables to intimate the existence of creation arose from nothing in the absence of the glorious Excellency of God. They cannot acknowledge Him because they are blind and evil sinners, alienated from the Godhead.
However, there exists a microcosm of people brought out of the corrupted world, washed from their sin that separated them from God, into a body called the church, which Christ is the head. Hence from the fallen creation, which Satan corrupted and the world who Satan currently rules for a time, Christ has gathered to himself a small remnant to carry out what men and women should have done from the being – glorify His name. We do that by giving pre-eminence to Christ in his creation; his due as being the creator of the wonderful and complex universe the earth resides in.
To arrive at this condition, Christ, the image of the invisible God, entered creation to reconcile all things to himself. And this could only be done by death – evidenced by blood that flowed from the body of Christ on the cross, who died at the hands of evil men, but who overcame death and rose again three days later. In doing so, he reconciled, those that were alienated and enemies of the works of God. Much of the world’s seven billion people reject this reconciliation and these will be brought to account due to their wickedness in doing so. The sin of rejecting the preeminent one is the greatest sin of all, and leads to the Lord God Most High utilising hell, which was made for Satan and his angels, for people.
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