Do All Roads Lead to Heaven?

 

The context of this passage deals with Jesus Christ and His disciples at the Last Supper, the night he was betrayed by Judas.

Jesus answered, "1 am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." John 14:6

Jesus is reassuring his friends that everything will ultimately be alright, that he's going to make eternal provision for them, and, by inference, for every other Christ follower that will come after them.

But taken by themselves, the final words of this passage have stirred up a lot of strong feelings from a lot of people over a lot of years: No one comes to the Father except through me.

Did Jesus really mean that?

Is He really saying what it seems like here, that He, and only He is the one means by which earthbound men and women have any hope of reaching heaven?

That's awfully narrow, even egotistical, isn't it?

I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but by me.

To make matters worse, Jesus doesn't just say it once; He says it several times, in several different ways. In His most famous sermon, the message most widely acclaimed as the single greatest speech in history, the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says it this way:

"Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it." - Matthew 7:13-14

His followers understood clearly what He was saying. Soon after His death, you hear them proclaiming publicly, in the streets of downtown Jerusalem: “ Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.” Acts 4:12

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The Seven Blessings in Revelation

Revelation 1:3 (NLT)

^“God blesses the one who reads the words of this prophecy to the church, and he blesses all who listen to its message and obey what it says, for the time is near.”

Revelation 14:13 (NLT)

“ And I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Write this down: Blessed are those who die in the Lord from now on. Yes, says the Spirit, they are blessed indeed, for they will rest from their hard work; for their good deeds follow them!”

Revelation 16:15 (NLT)

“Look, I will come as unexpectedly as a thief! Blessed are all who are watching for me, who keep their clothing ready so they will not have to walk around naked and ashamed.”

Revelation 19:9 (NLT)

^“And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding feast of the Lamb.” And he added, “These are true words that come from God.”

Revelation 20:6 (NLT)

^“Blessed and holy are those who share in the first resurrection. For them the second death holds no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him a thousand years.”

Revelation 22:7 (NLT)

“Look, I am coming soon! Blessed are those who obey the words of prophecy written in this book.”

Revelation 22:14 (NLT)

^“Blessed are those who wash their robes. They will be permitted to enter through the gates of the city and eat the fruit from the tree of life.”

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How does the Bible as a whole fit together?

The events in the Bible took place over a span of thousands of years and in several different cultural settings. So what is the unifying thread?

One unifying thread in the Bible is its divine authorship. Every book of the Bible is God’s word. “All scripture is God-breathed…”(2 Timothy 3:16) The events recorded in the Bible are there because God wanted them recorded, and He had them recorded with His people and their instruction in mind:

^“For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.” Romans 15:4 (ESV)

The Bible makes it clear that God has a unified plan for all of history. His ultimate purpose ,” a plan for the fullness of time” is “to unite all things in Him[Christ], things in heaven and things on earth” (Ephesians 1:10), “to praise of His glory.” (Ephesians 1:12)

This has all happen on God’s timetable: But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.” Galatians 4:4-5 (ESV)

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Opening Doors and Stepping Through Them

 

^“ Devote yourselves to prayer with an alert mind and a thankful heart. Pray for us, too, that God will give us many opportunities to speak about his mysterious plan concerning Christ. That is why I am here in chains. Pray that I will proclaim this message as clearly as I should. Live wisely among those who are not believers, and make the most of every opportunity.“

HOW TO OPEN ANY SPIRTUAL DOOR:

1. Pray for an opportunity

2. Watch for the opportunity

3. Make the most of the opportunity

4. Create a thirst for more

 

Through our campaign,”The God Questions we will be looking at four big questions.

1. Is God Real?

2. Is the Bible true?

3. Do all religions lead to heaven?

4. If God is so big and smart and good and loving, then how could He allow such suffering and hardships in this world?

1 Peter 3:15-16 (NLT)

¹⁵ Instead, you must worship Christ as Lord of your life. And if someone asks about your Christian hope, always be ready to explain it.
¹⁶ But do this in a gentle and respectful way. Keep your conscience clear. Then if people speak against you, they will be ashamed when they see what a good life you live because you belong to Christ.

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The Result of Christ Exaltation

 

^“For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. “Philippians 2:9-11 (NASB)

There is going to come a day when every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. It is pointed out to us that there will be three groups who will do so.

Those who are in heaven will do so. The angels, the living creatures and the redeemed of the Lord who are in heaven will bow and confess. These have long been worshiping the Lord Jesus Christ. It will be nothing new to them.

Next , those on the earth both the redeemed and the unredeemed. Those who know and love Jesus Christ will continue their worship and exalt the Lord Jesus. The unredeemed, those who have rejected the gift of eternal life, will be forced to kneel and confess.

The third group is under the earth, the demons, the Devil, the anti-Christ, the False Prophet and all those who have died in their sins who had rejected Jesus Christ will bow and confess the Lord Jesus Christ. Those who had cursed God will now confess Him. Those who once denied Him and refused to believe in Him, will now acknowledge the King of kings and the Lord of lords.

Isaiah prophesied of this hundreds of years before Paul wrote this. Isaiah 45:22-23 (NASB)

"Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth; For I am God, and there is no other.
"I have sworn by Myself, The word has gone forth from My mouth in righteousness And will not turn back, That to Me every knee will bow, every tongue will swear allegiance.”

Oh, what a glorious and wonderful day this will be! Glory to God in the highest.

 

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